ASME PTB-15-2023

ASME PTB-15-2023 PDF: Full Matrix Capture Training Manual

ASME has been around for more than 140 years, starting with the first meeting in the spring of 1880 in New York. As ASME was born during the industrial revolution, the meeting was largely attended by prominent industrialists of the time. The intention was to provide a forum for discussion and collaboration to better serve the needs of engineers and designers. The history of ASME cannot be appreciated without mentioning some of the consequences from the industrial revolution, two of which are boiler explosions and the need for standardization. Safety and standardization are still the main vision and mission for ASME.

The industrial revolution was made possible by the application of steam power as an energy source. In fact, the advent of steam power quickly became the industrializing nations’ dominant power source. For example, the use of steam power increased from just 5% to 80% of the total power in the United States over a 20-year span in the mid-1800’s. Today, steam energy (i.e., steam-driven turbines) still supplies 80% of the world’s electricity.

When water converts to steam it expands ~1600 times in volume, which can generate enormous pressures. The use of steam to drive machinery was discovered to be a vast improvement over existing water mills, windmills, and even beast-of-burden power. However, early boilers from this period commonly suffered from catastrophic failures (i.e., explosions), mainly due to poor materials, poor design, and poor maintenance.

The earliest boilers were made of small wrought iron plates that were riveted together, but other materials such as copper were also commonly used. Quality improved with the use of rolled steel plates, but construction consisted of gusseted or slip-joint designs with rivets (see Figure 1-1). Acetylene was not discovered until 1836, and “conventional welding,” as it is presently known, was not developed until 1881. Repairs made to boilers were left up to “best practice,” which meant there were no standards of methods or quality.