fire and explosion analysis
The remarkable technical team is what sets Rapperport Associates, Inc. apart. Our group of distinguished scientists and engineers is drawn principally from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University. They have impeccable academic credentials and an impressive list of accomplishments. Rapperport Associates, Inc. offers exceptional capability in failure analysis, mechanical engineering design, structural analysis, metallurgy, electrical engineering, accident reconstruction, and fire and explosion analysis and investigation.
Selected Cases
Fires at Malden Mills Textile Plant:
Our firm was retained to investigate the cause and origin of two separate fires that occurred at a textile plant in Lawrence, Massachusetts on March 6, 1993 and December 11, 1995. The latter, catastrophic fire, destroyed approximately one square block of the textile production facility resulting in total damages of approximately $500 to $800 million, making it one of the most costly industrial fire losses in United States history. We assisted in sifting through tons of rubble during the site investigation, participated in taking witness statements and reviewed voluminous file material. We developed a combustion model for the first fire that accounted for fuel load generation and was consistent with the physical evidence as well as witness statements and testimony.
Fire at Shenandoah Industrial Rubber Company:
We were selected to determine the cause of a fire in which two workers were severely burned in an industrial tank lining facility in Roanoke, Virginia. Our aerospace group developed a proof-tested computer model to determine those regions where combustion could have occurred during contact cement application. This two fluid, gravity stratified, computational fluid dynamics model of hydrocarbon vapor formation was verified with smoke experiments conducted in the actual plant. The results ruled out ignition from an overhead heater pilot or exhaust fan blade/shroud contact as claimed. The ignition source was demonstrated to be within the tank, where a cigarette lighter was found.
Explosion and Fire at Aerosol Research Laboratories:
A propane/butane mixture was in process of being pumped from a reservoir to charge canisters of oven cleaner with propellant. An explosion and fire occurred which killed five workers and injured nineteen others. Through sophisticated photogrammetry we ascertained that the “vee” belts on a missing large vacuum pump were severely burnished and heat damaged. Experiments with infra-red techniques on an exemplar pump and drive motor setup showed that the evaporating propane/butane mix in the pump cooled the pump oil to the point of stopping it and the driving “vee” belts were then heated by the still rotating motor pulleys to above the propane ignition temperature.
Nitroglycerine Pump Explosion:
Our firm was retained to analyze a nitroglycerine explosion that occurred on April 20, 1999 in which two men were killed during the mixing process of nitroglycerine and various polymers to manufacture heart patches. The failure analysis required the detailed examination of approximately one hundred fragments of an exploded pump to determine the failure sequence.