Managing Cold Temperature and Brittle Fracture Hazards in Pressure Vessels

Dan Benac, PE, CFEI, ASM Fellow

Mr. Benac is a member of BakerRisk’s Materials Engineering Group. His work focuses on structural integrity and material issues, failure analysis of plant equipment, materials evaluations, and materials selection for designs. Mr. Benac has conducted hundreds of in-depth investigations and analyses of service failures and mishaps for a variety of structures for the nuclear, refining, petrochemical, and fossil-power industries. He currently supports the investigation of equipment such as pipelines, rotor shafts, valves, pumps, diesel-engine components, heat exchangers, reactor vessels, piping, compressor, and turbine blades and disks.

Mr. Benac has co-authored fifty peer-reviewed technical papers related to equipment reliability. Mr. Benac also serves as program manager for the global Ammonia & Fertilizer Joint Industry Program and subject matter expert on damage mechanisms and mitigation options for ammonia and fertilizer equipment.

David Wood, PE

Mr. Wood is a member of BakerRisk’s Structures Group. Mr. Wood joined the company in 2011, bringing nearly a decade of progressive structural and diverse forensic experience and expertise in structural design for new and existing buildings and non-building, combining over 20 years of structural engineering experience. He has prepared restoration documents for various structures in need of repair/reinforcement/strengthening, which included the design of new additions, renovations, upgrades to existing buildings, evaluation of existing structures to sustain new loads, and evaluation of individual building components for both conventional and impulsive loads.