Process & Machinery Project Team’s Specialization with Lewis Barbe

Process & Machinery

ESI’s Process and Machinery personnel consist of senior engineers with extensive

experience in utility and industrial power generation, petrochemical processing, and other heavy industrial engineering and manufacturing concerns. Prior to joining ESI these engineers gained their experience in previous technical and senior management positions at large national and international Fortune 500 companies, major Federal organizations, or independent research laboratories.

Typical Projects Involve:

Compressors and Compression Stations

Cranes

Drilling Rigs

Equipment Failures

Gas Processing Plants

Machinery Failures

Physical and Chemical Explosions

Pipelines for Oil and Gas

Power Generation Facilities (including Cogeneration)

Pressure Vessels

Production Facilities

Refineries & Processing Facilities

Storage Tanks

Turbo Machinery

Representative Projects

The knowledge obtained from prior job responsibilities includes the precise echnical understanding of complex industrial systems, multidiscipline project management, and detailed training, safety, and equipment maintenance requirements. In addition, the senior engineers gained experience interacting with other organizations and professions, such as, government regulatory agencies, professional codes and standards committees, legal professionals, accountants and financial professionals, other organization’s engineers and managers, labor organizations, subcontractors, etc. BOILER EXPLOSION

ESI was assigned to investigate the cause of the explosion of a large boiler used for power generation. The analysis performed by ESI confirmed that the boiler explosion resulted from the accumulation of combustible gases inside the boiler. The reason for the accumulation of the gases resulted from the gradual failure of the combustion air adjustment lever links shown in the picture below. WASTE HEAT BOILER FAILURE ESI was asked to investigate the origin of cracking found on a large waste heat boiler used in an ammonia plant. The analysis done by ESI determined that the

cracks propagated throughout the entire thickness, but the origin of the cracks were determined to emanate from a weld overlay applied to the boiler’s tube sheet using an incorrect alloy during a prior repair. GAS TURBINE FAILURE

ESI was asked to investigate the failure of a large gas turbine at a cogeneration plant. Our investigation determined that the damage resulted from the failure of a cooling seal that allowed excessive air to enter the turbine’s gas path, causing high temperature oxidation and the failure of turbine buckets and nozzles.