Similar Cases:

Automobile Fires

Mountain Bicycle Front Fork Failure

Steam Turbine Failure and Explosion

Aircraft Collision

Racing Boat Steering Gear Failure

During a dragboat racing event, one of the contestant boats lost control as it crossed the finish line at 190 mph. This boat then veered off course, ran ashore, and killed a spectator. APTECH performed a complete root-cause investigation of this event, including metallurgical and stress analyses of the failed steering gear and an analysis of the hydrodynamic forces on the boat hull and supercavitating rudder and propeller. APTECH also performed an extensive risk analysis of the course layout. The failure of the Woodruff key in the steering gear was explained in terms of the extreme forces that existed on the boat's rudder during deceleration after crossing the finish line.

Satish Almaula		Plant failure and root cause analysis; process and design engineering analysis; process technology development and testing; plant engineering, operations, maintenance and safety management; plant and process control system management.

Kimble Clark, Ph.D.		Failure analysis, heat transfer & thermodynamics, process plant equipment failures & explosions, fuel science, combustion, industrial fires and explosions.

Michael Cronin, P.E.		Stress analysis, design evaluation, engineering mechanics

Eric Sullivan, P.E.		Metallurgy, welding, failure analysis, fire and explosion investigations, equipment, piping.

Steve Paterson		Metallurgy, welding, boiler pressure part and machinery failure analysis.