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People | Fire Litigation Support | Fire Experts |
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Carlos Fernandez-Pello, PhD  
Dr. Carlos Fernandez-Pello is an internationally-recognized fire expert with 30 years of fire litigation experience. He has published hundreds of journal and conference papers related to combustion and fire. Dr. Fernandez-Pello received a PhD from the University of California San Diego in 1975 with a dissertation on fire spread. His post-doctoral work took him to Harvard and Princeton Universities where he conducted fire and combustion research. In 1980, Dr. Fernandez-Pello became Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley where he has remained since.
Professor Fernandez-Pello has testified as a fire expert witness in several State and Federal courts. His fire litigation activities have involved many aspects of fires such as ignition of solid, liquid, and gaseous fuels; flame spread and fire spread; flammable liquid pool fire burning; self heating and spontaneous combustion; smoldering and transition from smolder to flaming; ignition of spot fires by embers and heated particles; wildland fires; vehicle fires; warehouse and industrial fires and explosions; laptop fires; smoke detector product liability; residential fires; fire reconstruction and modeling; and many other areas. It is this broad range of experience that makes Dr. Fernandez-Pello an effective fire expert witness across many areas of fire and combustion science.
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Chris Lautenberger, PhD, PE
 Chris Lautenberger received an MS in Fire Protection Engineering from WPI with a thesis related to computational fluid dynamics modeling of fires, and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering (Combustion) from the University of California Berkeley with a dissertation related to materials' flammability and fire modeling. Before joining Reax Engineering, his work experience included building code consulting and performance-based fire protection engineering design at Arup Fire (San Francisco, California) and Code Consultants, Inc. (St. Louis, Missouri), and several years of fire litigation support as an independent technical consultant. Dr. Lautenberger is a licensed Fire Protection Engineer in the State of California, making him one of the few fire experts that understands real world fire protection engineering design, highly technical fire dynamics details, and issues specific to fire litigation.
One of Dr. Lautenberger's areas of expertise is computer fire modeling and its application to forensic fire reconstruction. He is a leading fire expert in the rapidly growing field of fire growth modeling where computational fluid dynamics is used to predict how fires would spread under different conditions. Dr. Lautenberger is highly skilled at applying fire modeling to investigate how fires would be affected by fire protection systems such as sprinklers, smoke control systems, and roof vents; determine activation times of fire detection systems such as smoke detectors; assess how various materials or products would contribute to fire development; and determine when a building would become untenable due to smoke or heat. Due to his fire growth modeling expertise, Dr. Lautenberger was recently invited to participate as a panel member, alongside several other international fire experts, at the Fire Spread Modeling Workshop held at the 9th International Symposium on Fire Safety Science. Dr. Lautenberger has published several journal and conference papers on different aspects of flammability, fire modeling, ignition of solid combustibles, computational fluid dynamics modeling of fires, and related topics.
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David Rich, PhD
Dr. Rich brings a diverse background to the field of engineering with research and development experience in combustion, bioengineering and mechanics of materials in both the academic and private sector. He completed BS and PhD degrees in UC Berkeley's Department of Mechanical Engineering with an emphasis in Combustion. Dr. Rich is an adjunct Professor of thermal fluid sciences at Santa Clara University, conducts Post Doctoral research in the Combustion and Fire Processes Laboratory at the University of California, and provides engineering support to the private sector in support of product design, legal issues and infrastructure development. Dr. Rich has background as a Rescue Captain and Paramedic with the San Francisco Fire Department (SFFD) and Department of Public Health (SFDPH) providing 911 services, and development of municipal disaster plans for the SFFD, SFDPH and San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC).
Dr. Rich is a fire expert with comprehensive experience in the fire testing laboratory and with sophisticated analysis and modeling tools. Dr. Rich's primary area of expertise is development of experimental platforms for the study of fire and combustion phenomena including research into material flammability, internal combustion engine performance, building smoke control and studies of vehicle emissions. Methods include IR thermometry, particle image velocimetry, laser induced fluorescence, continuous mass loss measurement, high speed and IR videography, engine dynamometers, gas sampling, and a range of analog and computer measurement techniques. Work in engine performance, includes mini rotary engine research, piezo-ceramic spark ignition technology and emissions and alternative fuels research. This work includes development of alternative fuels and mitigation of engine pollutants and particulate emissions using a number of innovative methods like ammonia treatment, water injection, bio-fuels, particle traps, afterburning, and radio isotope tracing of particulates. NASA sponsored fire safety research investigated flame propagation rates of through porous media in microgravity and investigation of the mechanisms governing ignition delay and flame spread of materials, particularly composites, intended for use on spacecraft. Building studies include scale modeling and laser imaging of building smoke flows, particularly for innovative ventilation schemes. In bioengineering, projects include tumor ablation with combustion catalytic probes, heat transfer mechanisms and energetics of birds and measurements of the shear strength of post operative bone. |
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PARTNERS
Rapperport and Associates
For cases requiring fire expert witness services related to structural design and analysis, fracture mechanics, fatigue analysis, fractography, and metallurgy, Reax Engineering works closely with Rapperport and Associates, our East coast affiliate. |
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| Contacts |
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Reax Engineering Inc.
1958 University Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94704 |
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Based in the San Francisco
Bay Area but serving clients
across the US and abroad |
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