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See Contact Page to Submit an Inquiry

See Contact Page to Submit an Inquiry. We provide engineering design, analysis and troubleshooting services to industries including Petrochemical, Mining, Materials, Transportation, Aerospace and Power.

Blog: Failure Analysis – The Basics

Failed Wire Rope Weld Failure Failure Analysis – The Basics Call Tom O’Donnell, PE (412) 835-5007 Failure Analysis is the process of understanding equipment failure. Failures happen, often despite the best efforts of designers, engineers, and fabricators. One of the first steps to take after equipment failure should be to check similar in-service components. Although …

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Article on Weld Defects in Stainless Steel World

Weld Defects and Failures: Quantifying Fitness For Service – How Finite Element Mathematical Simulations can Mitigate Risk and Cut Costs Article by Dr. William J. O’Donnell, PE, President – O’Donnell Consulting Engineers Fatigue in Welded steel components is often initiated by mathematical vibration, corrosion and thermal cycling. Fitness for service analysis is the most viable …

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Quantifying Fitness-For-Service – Article by Bill O’Donnell, Sr.

Fitness-for-Service analysis is the most viable step in determining the safety and financial risk factors related to component repair or replacement. This Stainless Steel World article (written by Bill O’Donnell, Sr.) shares insight about managing risk specific to weld failures. As President of O’Donnell Consulting Engineers, Inc., he began his professional career at Westinghouse Bettis …

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Blog: Basics of Pressure Vessel Design & Analysis

FEA Model of Vessel at Nozzles Introduction to Pressure Vessels Call Tom O’Donnell, PE (412) 835-5007 Pressure vessels have wide applications in power plants, and industries including pharmaceutical and petrochemical which require the safe storage and transportation of gasses and liquids under high pressure. In order to avoid catastrophic accidents, careful attention to design detail …

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Fatigue of Welded Components

Fatigue of Welded Components – Quantifying Fitness for Service Fatigue in welded steel components is often initiated by mechanical vibration, corrosion, and thermal cycling.  Fitness-for- Service analysis determines the safety and financial risk factors related to component repair or replacement. Bill, Sr. shares insight about managing risk specific to weld failures in his article Quantifying Fitness …

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See Updates to OCE Portfolio Page

See updates to our Portfolio Page – we are continually adding to it. Above is a finite analysis element analysis (FEA) model of a base skid containing a Vapor Recovery Unit.

See Resume Summaries of our Senior Engineers

See resume summaries of our Senior Engineers at Our Team. See Also:Who We Serve to see a list of a few of our clientsPopular Links to see what’s trending No Time? – Call Tom O’Donnell, PE

BLOG: What is a Primary Stress?

What is a Primary Stress? Call Tom O’Donnell, PE (412) 835-5007   Most engineers are familiar with the terms “Normal Stress”, “Shear Stress” and potentially “Equivalent Stress.” However perhaps not so much with the terms “Primary Stress” and “Secondary Stress”. What do these terms mean and why are they important? “Primary Stress” is a term …

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Book Release – Handbook of Lessons Learned in Engineering

Bill O’Donnell, Sr., recently published “Handbook of Lessons Learned In Engineering, Design, Manufacturing and Construction.” It is intended for engineers, designers, manufacturers and constructors – depicting failures from thermal, structural, vibration, corrosion and other failure mechanisms. Read a sample of this book, Section 1 Designers’ Lessons. This book can be purchased at Amazon.com.

Small Modular Reactors Gain Momentum in Europe

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) and NuScale Power, two leading companies in the race to build small modular reactors (SMRs) for power generation, have recently announced deals that could result to new plants being constructed in Europe. See the Power Magazine article.

Advantages of Dual Linear Array Probes for Corrosion Inspection

Advantages of Dual Linear Array Probes for Corrosion Inspection. The power generation industry is among those whose aging infrastructure contributes to increased safety concerns, and can lead to costly unscheduled maintenance and shutdowns. Facilities must be vigilant about monitoring corrosion in their in-service pipes and vessels to help ensure their integrity. Read the Power Magazine …

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Don’t Let Vibrations Shake Up Operations

The reliability and integrity of equipment, structures and piping can suffer because of vibration and dynamic responses. These depend mainly on excitation forces, stiffness, mass distribution and damping. Modal analysis, which focuses on natural frequencies and associated modal shapes, provides an important tool in understanding potential issues. Indeed, usually the first step in checking for …

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