Dr. Rick Martin, Principal
Martin Thermal Engineering - Case Studies
Dr. Martin, principal of Martin Thermal Engineering, has served as consulting and/or testifying expert on approximately 200 cases. Below are several examples of projects and issues he has addressed.
- Vehicle Fires. Auto, truck, bus, and off-road vehicle fires involving electrical shorts, combustible fluid releases, defective aftermarket installations, and incendiary causes.
- Residence Fires. Residence fires involving property damage and personal injury; causation attributed to smoking materials, candles, electrical wiring, furnaces, water heaters, spontaneous combustion, and misuse of flammable materials.
- Restaurant Fires. Fires originating on cooking surfaces, in exhaust ducts and within electric machinery, frequently involving accumulated grease, failure of fire suppression equipment, and non-compliant duct construction.
- Lumber Mill Fires. Rotary screw compressor failures involving pressure vessel rupture, oil mist explosion, and rapid fire spread, causing injuries and property damage.
- Hair Care Product Fires. Personal injury fires involving hair ignition by candles and barbecues, where hair care products allegedly increased hair flammability.
- Paint Shop Fires. Rapid fire spread through combustible materials stored in paint and coating application areas.
- RV Explosions. Motorhome and travel trailer explosions involving propane released from appliances improperly used or repaired.
- Incendiary (Arson) Fires. Residential fires involving unusual burn patterns and no evidence of ignition sources in the area of origin.
- Boiler Failures. Boiler tube ruptures, furnace overheating due to level control failures, inadequate maintenance, sludge accumulation.
- Industrial Freezer Failures. Defrost failures, ice accumulation, moisture intrusion, piping defects, alarm failures.
- Compressed Natural Gas Tank Ruptures. CNG vehicle fueling station pressure explosions leading to property damage and injury.
- Hot Beverage Scalds. Hot-tea scald injuries at restaurants involving mishandling of containers.
- Bath and Sauna Scalds. Scald injuries involving apartment building hot water systems and athletic club steam saunas.
- Drift Boat Fire. A drift boat passenger was injured by a flash fire caused by a defective connector on an improperly installed propane tank.
- Kerosene Heater Fire. A homeowner was fatally injured when attempting to re-fill a kerosene heater while it was operating.
- Chemical Warehouse Fire. A divided warehouse storing garden supplies and pharmaceuticals caught fire due to spontaneous combustion of a swimming pool chemical, causing over $100 million in property damage.
- Landfill Fire. Evaluation of likelihood of self-heating chemicals to ignite ordinary combustibles under the surface of a landfill.
- OSB Plant Fire and Explosion. Wood particles accidentally ignited during a chipboard manufacturing process were drawn into a large ventilation duct where they initiated a fatal explosion and fire.
- Coke Calciner Fire. A coke refining facility suffered property damage when a conveyor belt overheated, ignited, and conveyed burning solids throughout the facility before the emergency shutdown was actuated.
- Agricultural Equipment Fire. A smoldering fire involving sawdust and hydraulic oil caused damage to an orchard hedger and nearby fruit trees.
- Hydrometallurgical Plant Fire. A refining plant utilizing an organometallic process to extract a primary metal from its ore caught fire when a small amount of the extraction liquid spilled into an uncovered electrical junction box.
- Drying Oven Explosion. A worker was fatally injured when a solvent drying oven exploded due to an over-cycled heat recovery system.
- Coffee Roasting Oven Explosion. A worker was fatally injured when a conveyor belt failed and the coffee bean product overheated, caught fire, and initiated a dust explosion.
- Brick Kiln Explosion. A multi-burner kiln suffered an explosion when flame safeguarding devices were disabled and failed burners were not automatically shut-off, allowing gas to accumulate and ignite.
- Catalytic Oxidizer Fire. A regenerative catalytic oxidizer was unable to meet performance targets for pollutant destruction and caught fire on multiple occasions. Failures were due to an accumulation of organic particulate matter on the ceramic matrix that was subsequently vaporized and ignited.
- Water Damage Causation. Improperly repaired air conditioning system led to freezing and rupture of a hot-water coil and the subsequent release of water into a residence. Improperly installed toilet and floor drain led to flooding of a hospital.
- Heated Massage Bed Injury. A defectively-controlled mechanical massage bed caused overheating of and burns to a client's skin.
- Trash Incinerator Ash Assessment. A historical investigation into the operation of a 1960's hospital waste incinerator demonstrated that the ash could not have been the source of certain contaminants found in the groundwater beneath a municipal waste landfill.
- Baghouse Failure Assessment. An analytical method was developed to compute release rates of particulate matter from metallurgical baghouses with one or more failed bags, and the published method was used to compare the fractions of nearby soil contamination due to routine versus accidental particle releases.
- Fluid Heater Explosion. A worker was killed when he failed to use proper operating procedures to light a natural-draft, hot-oil heater that met applicable industry standards, but failed to include additional safeguards that could have prevented the explosion.
- Butane Cookstove Explosions. Overheating of cookstoves and failures of safety features caused fuel canisters to explode, causing multiple burn injuries.
- Solid Waste Assessments. Evaluation of industrial wastes for characteristics of flammability, corrosivity, toxicity or reactivity.
- Carbon Monoxide Poisoning. Improperly vented combustion appliances led to injury of hotel patrons.
- Fire Spread Analyses. Non-compliance with fire and mechanical codes leading to rapid fire spread.
- Baking Oven Fire Protection Assessment. Reviewed causation pathways, and prevention, detection, and suppression options to reduce the frequency of oven fires at a baked goods factory.