Combustible Dust Testing

Laboratory testing to quantify dust explosion and reactivity hazards

Safety Data Sheets

Develop critical safety data for inclusion in SDS documents

Gas and Vapor

Laboratory testing to quantify explosion hazards for vapor and gas mixtures

UN-DOT
Classification of hazardous materials subject to shipping and storage regulations
Hydrogen
Testing and consulting on the explosion risks associated with devices and processes which use or produce hydrogen
Safety Data Sheets

Develop critical safety data for inclusion in SDS documents

Thermal Stability

Safe storage or processing requires an understanding of the possible hazards associated with sensitivity to variations in temperature

Adiabatic Calorimetry
Data demonstrate the consequences of process upsets, such as failed equipment or improper procedures, and guide mitigation strategies including Emergency Relief System (ERS) design
Reaction Calorimetry
Data yield heat and gas removal requirements to control the desired process chemistry
Battery Safety

Testing to support safe design of batteries and electrical power backup facilities particularly to satisfy UL9540a ed.4

Safety Data Sheets

Develop critical safety data for inclusion in SDS documents

Cable Testing
Evaluate electrical cables to demonstrate reliability and identify defects or degradation
Equipment Qualification (EQ)
Testing and analysis to ensure that critical equipment will operate under adverse environmental conditions
Water Hammer
Analysis and testing to identify and prevent unwanted hydraulic pressure transients in process piping
Acoustic Vibration
Identify and eliminate potential sources of unwanted vibration in piping and structural systems
Gas & Air Intrusion
Analysis and testing to identify and prevent intrusion of gas or air in piping systems
ISO/IEC 17025:2017

Fauske & Associates fulfills the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025:2017 in the field of Testing

ISO 9001:2015
Fauske & Associates fulfills the requirements of ISO 9001:2015
Dust Hazards Analysis
Evaluate your process to identify combustible dust hazards and perform dust explosion testing
On-Site Risk Management
On-site safety studies can help identify explosibility and chemical reaction hazards so that appropriate testing, simulations, or calculations are identified to support safe scale up
DIERS Methodology
Design emergency pressure relief systems to mitigate the consequences of unwanted chemical reactivity and account for two-phase flow using the right tools and methods
Deflagrations (Dust/Vapor/Gas)

Properly size pressure relief vents to protect your processes from dust, vapor, and gas explosions

Effluent Handling

Pressure relief sizing is just the first step and it is critical to safely handle the effluent discharge from an overpressure event

FATE™ & Facility Modeling

FATE (Facility Flow, Aerosol, Thermal, and Explosion) is a flexible, fast-running code developed and maintained by Fauske and Associates under an ASME NQA-1 compliant QA program.

Mechanical, Piping, and Electrical
Engineering and testing to support safe plant operations and develop solutions to problems in heat transfer, fluid, flow, and electric power systems
Hydrogen Safety
Testing and consulting on the explosion risks associated with devices and processes which use or produce hydrogen
Thermal Hydraulics
Testing and analysis to ensure that critical equipment will operate under adverse environmental conditions
Nuclear Safety
Our Nuclear Services Group is recognized for comprehensive evaluations to help commercial nuclear power plants operate efficiently and stay compliant
Radioactive Waste
Safety analysis to underpin decomissioning process at facilities which have produced or used radioactive nuclear materials
Adiabatic Safety Calorimeters (ARSST and VSP2)

Low thermal inertial adiabatic calorimeters specially designed to provide directly scalable data that are critical to safe process design

Other Lab Equipment and Parts for the DSC/ARC/ARSST/VSP2 Calorimeters

Products and equipment for the process safety or process development laboratory

FERST

Software for emergency relief system design to ensure safe processing of reactive chemicals, including consideration of two-phase flow and runaway chemical reactions

FATE

Facility modeling software mechanistically tracks transport of heat, gasses, vapors, and aerosols for safety analysis of multi-room facilities

Blog

Our highly experienced team keeps you up-to-date on the latest process safety developments.

Process Safety Newsletter

Stay informed with our quarterly Process Safety Newsletters sharing topical articles and practical advice.

Resources

With over 40 years of industry expertise, we have a wealth of process safety knowledge to share.

Water Hammer Testing

When fluid flow is suddenly stopped or subjected to a change in direction, a pressure surge commonly referred to as a water hammer event will occur. The momentum of the fluid abruptly stopping creates a pressure wave that travels through the media within the pipe system. This same principle is also applicable when the flowing medium is steam rather than water. In the case of steam, the pressure surge is known as a steam hammer event. Both water and steam hammer events have the potential to cause catastrophic damage.
 

Water hammer events are transmitted through the system at the speed of sound as applicable to the fluid-pipe combination (speed of sound varies with the density of the fluid). For water in a steel pipe, this is essentially the speed of sound in water (~4600 ft/s or 1400 m/s which is close to 1 mile/s). With this high transmission velocity, pipe segments are loaded in a highly transient manner causing them to shake. As a consequence, significant dynamic loads can be transmitted to the piping supports as well as the system components, i.e. valves, instrumentation, etc.

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Testing Services


A structured approach to addressing water hammer solutions provides an efficient, cost effective and safe solution to address your water hammer issues. Our engineers have the ability to determine the associated loads with water hammer testing and analysis tools.

Our expert team of engineers has extensive experience addressing and resolving various types of water hammer issues utilizing the following: 

  • Analysis using key industry recognized transient analysis software including GOTHIC, owned by EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute) and RELAP5 , a product of Idaho National Laboratories, and FAI-developed GW2
  • Experimental testing simulating water hammer events
  • Training on how to mitigate or resolve future water hammer issues

Our experimental facilities are designed to conduct non condensable gas-water or steam-water water hammer tests simulating conditions of interest in plants including those situations where a non-condensable gas volume is formed in the pump discharge piping. Water hammer pressures are measured during the experiments and translated to plant conditions. This data can be used to set the limits of acceptable gas accumulation. Tests are conducted in an extended length piping configuration of the plant system and most importantly, the tests are run for a range of initial void sizes in the piping high point.

Our experts have experience testing multiple components at our facilities including:

  • Different piping high point configurations in terms of riser, downcomer and high point lengths
  • Influence of a check valve and mini-flowline
  • Multiple void distribution
  • System rigidity, and flow visualization (as an aid in model development) through transparent PVC piping
 

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Related Services

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Understanding Water Hammer - Resources

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Dynamic Benchmarking of Tremolo - A Program for Pipeline Two-Phase Flow Transient Analysis
Prediction of Control Valve Capacities Under Flashing Flow Conditions
Waterhammer, Column Separation, and Boiling Inside Cooling Water Systems
Waterhammer Experiments in Support of a Feedwater Leakage Control System Modification
Waterhammer in Horizontal Lines During the Voiding Phase