Sofronas, A.
Consulting Engineer, Houston, Texas
Tony Sofronas, D. Eng, was the worldwide lead mechanical engineer for ExxonMobil Chemicals before retiring. He now owns Engineered Products, which provides consulting and engineering seminars on machinery and pressure vessels. Dr. Sofronas has authored two engineering books and numerous technical articles on analytical methods.
Hydrotesting is performed on piping and vessels to verify their integrity.
The gas processing and pipeline industries use many integral gas engine reciprocating compressors with crankshafts more than 20 ft long.
Some situations in failure analysis demand an understanding of the wave motion of a liquid wave in a tank, called “sloshing.”
With the help of an excellent mentor, I became adept at analyzing equipment and structures at the start of my career, using analytical techniques.
Engineering calculations can help an engineer’s career by controlling the risks taken. The author has followed this path.
The term confirmation bias recently came up in a book I was reading,1 and it was then that I realized how relevant it was to engineering.
I have spent most of my career in the mechanical engineering technical area because that is what I do best. I was a manager of advanced engineering for many years, but then realized that it was not my calling.
When you are involved with a major failure and find yourself staring at pieces of debris scattered all over the area, it can be easy to become overwhelmed.
When I started working in industry 50 years ago, it was management’s job to have a senior engineer watch over my work. Much of the quality of my analytical work and technical discipline were formed early in my career with help from these engineers.
Gathering accurate data is essential for failure analysis and other types of research.