Dr. Luis San Andres (left) and Dr. Dara W. Childs (right) pose with their Best Paper Award at the 2017 ASME Turbo Expo.
A Turbo Lab professor, former director, and two former students are gearing up to lead a short course in Mexico.
Dr. Luis San Andres, Mast-Childs Chair professor and Dr. Dara W. Childs, former Turbo Lab director are teaming up with former students Dr. Oscar de Santiago and Dr. Sergio Diaz to offer Fundamentals of Steam Turbines and Centrifugal Compressors. The five-day, 40-hour course is set for July 16-20, 2018 in Queretaro, Mexico at the Hotel Crown Plaza. It is hosted by ETU i+D, a Mexico-based designer and developer of turbomachinery components. De Santiago is part owner of the company, which recently joined the Turbo Lab’s Turbomachinery Research Consortium.
The course, taught in both English and Spanish, is intended for engineers and technicians in the steel, sugar cane, chemical, food and other industries where rotating equipment is a priority. At the end of the course, attendees will be able to explain the fundamental principles of vibrations that effect machines and learn principals and diagnoses of the events that cause failure. Topics to be covered include:
- Components of steam turbines and compressors
- Vibration fundamentals
- Rotordynamics with case studies
- Bearings and seals
- Gas bearings
The cost to attend is 20,000 Mexican Pesos, or $1000 USD. To attend, complete this form, scan and email it to [email protected].
About the Instructors
Dr. Dara W. Childs was director of the Turbomachinery Laboratory from 1984 to 2018 and held the Leland T. Jordan Chair in Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University. He received B.S. and M.S. degrees (Civil Engineering, 1961, 1962) from Oklahoma State University, and his Ph.D. (Engineering Mechanics, 1968) from the University of Texas. He was named ASME Fellow Member in 1990, and received ASMEs Henry R. Worthington Medal in 1991. Dr. Childs’ expertise is in dynamics and vibrations, with an emphasis in rotordynamics. He has conducted research and engineering projects for NASA, DOD, and private firms. Current research includes high-pressure testing honeycomb and hole-pattern gas damper seals; testing high-pressure laminar oil seals; force measurements in magnetic bearings using fiber-optic strain gauges. Dr. Childs has authored numerous reviewed publications related to rotordynamics and vibrations, and the book, Turbomachinery Rotordynamics. He is presently completing a new dynamics book entitled, Dynamics in Engineering Practice.
Dr. Sergio Diaz is full professor at Universidad Simon Bolivar in Caracas, Venezuela, and is current director of the industry outreach unit for the university. Dr. Diaz has conducted investigations in the area of turbomachinery rotor supports for passive and active vibration control, including squeeze film dampers, as well as gas and magnetic bearings. Dr. Diaz has led many projects for diverse industries in the last 10 years where it is necessary to find root cause to vibration problems, directly impacting plant productivity.
Dr. Luis San Andrés is the Mast-Childs Chair Professor of Mechanical Engineering in the Turbomachinery Laboratory at Texas A&M. He conducts research in fluid film bearings and seals for turbomachinery, gas foil bearings for high temperature oil-free turbomachinery, hybrid fluid film bearings for turbopumps and squeeze film dampers for aircraft jet engines. His computational codes, benchmarked against test data, are standards in the rotating machinery industry. San Andrés and his students have authored over 160 journal papers and 80 conference papers, several of which have earned Best Paper awards. San Andrés is a fellow of ASME and STLE.
Dr. Oscar de Santiago is director and co-founder of ETU i+d, the research and development division of especialistas en turbopartes, a refurbishing and spare parts producer in Mexico. Dr. de Santiago has more than 15 years of experience in development for international and domestic turbomachinery industries. He has experience as a designer and developer of advanced centrifugal compressors for Dresser-Rand in New York, USA, and as principal investigator in national research center Ciateq, in Mexico. Amongst his latest developments are optimized grooves and solid lubricants for dry gas seals.