What is a gas turbine? Let's first look at an engine that most of us know well; the gas engine in your car. In a gasoline reciprocating engine, the piston compresses the air fuel mixture, the mixture is ignited and the expanding gases push the piston inside the cylinder, the exhaust is purged from...
In a perfect world of consulting engineering, every investigation would result in a single, concise cause of damage to the product, structure, or system under investigation. In the real world, this rarely happens.
During rain events, water was intruding into a Church. The Church was concerned that damage had occurred to the roofing of the building, which was allowing rainwater into the facility.
EDT was called to investigate a case where a victim was burned at a gas station due to static ignition of gasoline. Based on the measurements and the unique circumstances, we found that the victim created a static charge when he left the nozzle still pumping gas to return to his driver seat...
When working on scope of damage/value of loss files, I am frequently asked how long should electrical equipment last? In this case, I was tasked with a fire origin and cause in a lumber yard. Upon first look, it was obvious that this was not actually a fire - it was something else...
An amusement park was built along the United States’ east coast. The theme park was designed to be constructed in a location both away from and above the floodplain extents, or floodwater spread. However, six months post-opening, during hurricane season, the amusement park general manager discovered...
Have you ever arrived at a large loss site and wondered, “how are we going to help this client keep business while repairs progress?” Well, that’s where a scope of damage consulting engineer with a facilities/process/production background helps.
Even with its long and trusted history, questions can arise regarding the performance of a brick veneer system. When these performance issues arise, the property owner, adjuster, or attorney are often barraged with various terms such as water-resistive barrier, veneer, or exterior wall envelope...
Have you ever walked around in your socks at home, stepped onto the air conditioning (AC) vent and your socks got wet? Have you ever noticed water dripping from a ceiling AC vent? You might say to yourself, my vents are leaking water; do I need to call the plumber?
When you hear the word “Turbine” what is the first thing that comes to mind? Perhaps it is the gas-turbine engine of the last airplane you caught a ride on. The first turbine-powered aircraft wasn’t developed until WW2. That’s when the word “Turbine” entered common usage. Turbines, however, were in...
EDT was asked to investigate a computerized numerical control/analysis (CNC) plasma cutting machine which had been involved in an explosion. The purpose of the EDT investigation was to determine the cause of the explosion.
Many times electrical engineers are confronted with trying to classify damages to electrical and electronic equipment as the result of a lightning strike. More specifically, was the damage the result of a surge or a direct lightning strike? The answer is “maybe neither.” The chances are the damage...
In forensic investigations, engineers may not always have access to all the information they desire. Consider a 70-year old building that was damaged, following a snowfall. In this scenario, the building is one of three attached structures with curved (barrel-style) roofs. So, how did the snow do...
Engineers should never have their heads in the clouds, and a good engineer would never be as subjective as Hamlet and Polonius were when observing the shapes of clouds in Shakespeare's "Hamlet". However, pattern recognition is not just the stuff of playwrights... the ability to see patterns is key...
A portion of a warehouse roof gave way during a snowstorm. Months earlier, solar panels had been installed on the majority of the roof. Concern was raised about the added weight of the solar panels, in conjunction with the snow, on the roof framing. However, that wasn't the case...
