Expert No. 55533 – Engineering Expert – CA(N)
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Expertise Description: Ph.D. - Consulting Aeronautical / Mechanical Engineer specializing in fire physics, thermodynamics, combustion, and heat / mass transfer. Expertise includes: micro-gravity combustion; micro-combustion power generation; meso- and micro-scale combustion; self-heating, pyrolysis, and self-ignition of combustible materials; liquid fuel pool burning; smoldering and transition to flaming; ignition / fire propagation in solid and liquid fuels; wild-land fire propagation; and wild-land fire spotting through burning particles and embers. Additional experience in explosions and accidental fires in vehicles, aircraft, residential / commercial buildings, and petro-chemical plants. University professor and associate dean. Expert witness consultations, depositions, and courtroom testimony.
Areas of Expertise:
Representative Litigation Experience:
- Wildland fire involving power lines
- Fire and crash of a general aviation aircraft
- Explosion of liquid fuel
- Structure fire involving large television
- Fire in enamel drying industrial facility
- Fire in an industrial oven facility
- Industrial Fire involving naphthalene
- Electrical heater fire in warehouse
- Residential fire originating in kitchen
- Automobile/structure fire
- Rack storage fire in a paper recycling warehouse
- Smoke detector product liability in structure fire
- Crash and subsequent fire of a general aviation airplane
- Electrical transformer fire
- Ignition of spilled solvent by water heater pilot
- Residential fire involving ignitions of solvent
- Tanker fire
- Smolder initiated structure fire in a commercial building
- Office building fire involving transformer
- Oil well gas ignition and explosion
- Propane container gas explosion
- Explosion in a rocket propellant plant
Representative Consulting Services and/or Projects:
- work related to combustion with emphasis on fire development for government, industry, and private sector
- development of a generalized pyrolysis model
- research concerning smoldering and transition to flaming of foams, composite, and cellulosic materials
- experimental studies performed at normal gravity and in reduced gravity
- research on the initiation and spread of flames over solid and liquid fuels
- long-term research for NASA Flight Program and NASA Ground Based Program
Education:
| Degree | Subject | Institution | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ph.D. | Engineering Science | University of California, San Diego, CA | |
| M.S. | Engineering Science | University of California, San Diego, CA | |
| Dr. Eng. | Aeronautical Engineering | Polytechnic University of Madrid, Spain | |
| Eng. | Aeronautical Engineering | Polytechnic University of Madrid, Spain |
Professional Appointment/Association Affiliations:
- National Institute of Standard and Technology, Center for Fire Research
- Royal Academy of Engineering of Spain
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories
- Universities Space Research Association
- NASA Space Station Science and Applications Advisory Committee
- Sandia National Laboratory
- Center for Pure and Applied Mathematics, U.C. Berkeley
- The Combustion Institute
- ASME Fellow
Awards & Honors:
| Pi Sigma Tau Award for Excellence in Teaching ME/UCB |
Other Career Highlights:
| Over 160 refereed archival publication in technical journal |
| More than 200 other publications |
