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American Society of Mechanical Engineers
North West Houston Sub Section

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Welcome to the website of the North West Houston Sub Section of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers International (ASME), the Internet resource of choice for mechanical engineers in the Houston area.


Meetings for 1996-97

Meetings Prior to September 2001

Meetings 2001 - 2002

Meetings 2002 - 2003

Meetings 2003 - 2004

Meetings 2005

Meetings 2006

Meetings 2007


Previous Meetings 2008

February 28, 2008 Luncheon
The Alcoa 50,000 TON Forge Press
Mr. Wes Wells
Technical Manager, Oil & Gas, Alcoa
March 20, 2008 Luncheon
Evaluation Of Load Damage In Steel
Using The LCR Ultrasonic Technique

Don E. Bray, Ph.D., P. E.
President and Chief Engineer
Don E. Bray, Inc.

April 24, 2008 Luncheon
Gaskets and Gasket Selection
Stephen Bond, Ph.D.
Vice President of Technology
Flexitallic

May 22, 2008 Luncheon
Engineering Ethics and Practice Update
Charles B. Pennington, P.E.
Engineering Specialist
Texas Board Of Professional Engineers

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Thursday
May 22, 2008 Luncheon

Charlie Pennington
Engineering Ethics and Practice Update

with

Charles B. Pennington, P.E.
Engineering Specialist
Texas Board Of Professional Engineers



This presentation will update you on recent changes to professional engineering laws and rules, important issues related to engineering practice and ethics, and other issues related to being a Professional Engineer in Texas.

Charles Pennington will bring us recent news about the issues we all have interests in. Bring your questions and opinions to share with everyone.

If you would like to contact Charles, you may do so via email at charles.pennington@tbpe.state.tx.us or by phone at (512) 440-7723.


Additional information is found online at these web sites:




When & Where :

Stress Engineering Services Conference Center
13800 Westfair East Drive, Houston

Cost: Free Admission, and Brown Bag lunch is $12 with reservation. Membership Not Required. Bring a Guest!

Reservations Requested. Please contact Wendy Davis at 281-890-8441.

Click here for directions.
.

If you would like to be placed on an e-mail update list, just send Wendy Davis a note and you will get timely reminders each month of the upcoming meeting with details of the topic and speaker.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

  • 11:30 am     Lunch served
  • 11:45 am     Announcements
  • 12 noon     Presentation begins
  • 1:00 pm     Official Meeting Closes



A few notes about our Distinguished Speaker :

Charles Pennington has provided engineering expertise since 2002 to the Board investigators. He participates in outreach programs to educate the public and licensed engineers on engineering matters pertaining to the Engineering Practice Act. Mr. Pennington is also engaged in the research and development of policy advisories for the Board.

Prior to his three-year career with the State of Texas, Mr. Pennington was a mechanical engineer with Applied Materials for ten years. Mr. Pennington has 25 years of mechanical engineering experience in the semi-conductor, robotic and construction industries.


Congratulations to NWHSS Member Dr. Joe Fowler, President, Stress Engineering Services, for being honored with the Geoca Mechanical Engineering Award at the 4th Annual American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ International Petroleum Technology Institute Best Mechanical Engineering Awards Reception during OTC on May 5, 2008.

Several Members of NWHSS received prestigious awards at the South Texas Section ASME Honors & Awards Banquet in April for their outstanding service to oue ASME community. We know you will want to congratulate these folks on their award and their recognition.

  • Ryan Schmidt received the Past Chairman’s award
  • Chris Alexander received the Meritorious Service Award for his work in leading the Pressure Vessel seminar.
  • Terry Lechinger received the Alan J. Chapman Award. Dr Chapman was a distinguished heat transfer professor at Rice, and was Rice’s NCAA representative for many years.
  • Clint Britt received the W.R. Woolrich Engineer of the Year Award. Dean Woolrich was he Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Texas in the 1930’s and 40’s.

Outstanding Service may never be more appropriately defined than by the dedicated leadership and long time service to ASME of Clint Britt. As organizer of the annual Trade Show put on by the Plant Engineering and Maintenance Technical Chapter, our Educational Fund for College Scholarships has not only thrived and been distributed each year, the fund has nearly tripled from what Clint helped create over 20 years ago. Our goal for this scholarship program benefitting our local ME college students is to be self sustaining. We will be there soon, and we can always remember the extra efforts by so many to get there!




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Congratulations to NWHSS Member Dr. Joe Fowler, President, Stress Engineering Services, for being honored with the Geoca Mechanical Engineering Award at the 4th Annual American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ International Petroleum Technology Institute Best Mechanical Engineering Awards Reception during OTC on May 5, 2008.

Several Members of NWHSS received prestigious awards at the South Texas Section ASME Honors & Awards Banquet in April for their outstanding service to oue ASME community. We know you will want to congratulate these folks on their award and their recognition.

  • Ryan Schmidt received the Past Chairman’s award
  • Chris Alexander received the Meritorious Service Award for his work in leading the Pressure Vessel seminar.
  • Terry Lechinger received the Alan J. Chapman Award. Dr Chapman was a distinguished heat transfer professor at Rice, and was Rice’s NCAA representative for many years.
  • Clint Britt received the W.R. Woolrich Engineer of the Year Award. Dean Woolrich was he Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Texas in the 1930’s and 40’s.

Outstanding Service may never be more appropriately defined than by the dedicated leadership and long time service to ASME of Clint Britt. As organizer of the annual Trade Show put on by the Plant Engineering and Maintenance Technical Chapter, our Educational Fund for College Scholarships has not only thrived and been distributed each year, the fund has nearly tripled from what Clint helped create over 20 years ago. Our goal for this scholarship program benefitting our local ME college students is to be self sustaining. We will be there soon, and we can always remember the extra efforts by so many to get there!



Thursday
April 24, 2008 Luncheon

Gaskets and Gasket Selection

with

Stephen Bond, Ph.D.
Vice President of Technology
Flexitallic



Gaskets are often one of the last items in a design to be considered. In the grand scheme of things, gaskets are a relatively low cost item; however the consequence of using a gasket incorrectly (or even the wrong gasket) can be very expensive.

We will review the function of a gasket in a joint, along with the main types of gaskets available today. The pros and cons of certain designs will be discussed, along with typical applications and application criteria for each gasket type. We will concentrate somewhat on newer gasket materials and designs.





When & Where :

Stress Engineering Services Conference Center
13800 Westfair East Drive, Houston

Cost: Free Admission, and Brown Bag lunch is $12 with reservation. Membership Not Required. Bring a Guest!

Reservations Requested. Please contact Wendy Davis at 281-890-8441.

Click here for directions.
.

If you would like to be placed on an e-mail update list, just send Wendy Davis a note and you will get timely reminders each month of the upcoming meeting with details of the topic and speaker.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

  • 11:30 am     Lunch served
  • 11:45 am     Announcements
  • 12 noon     Presentation begins
  • 1:00 pm     Official Meeting Closes



A few notes about our Distinguished Speaker :

Stephen Bond is a relative newcomer to Flexitallic and to Texas, joining Flex and moving to Texas in October 2006 after 11 years in the automotive sealing field, all for the same company, but comprising four roles in three locations, on two continents (5 years in the UK and 6 years in the mid west of the USA). Before joining the automotive industry, the speaker worked for 4 years in industrial coatings in northern England.

Educated at Aston University, Birmingham (England, not Alabama), he graduated with a BS in Applied Chemistry and then a Ph.D. in Chemistry, specializing in mineral chemistry. The speaker has published around a dozen papers in peer reviewed journals and is the holder of six patents to date.

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Thursday
March 20, 2008 Luncheon

Don Bray
Evaluation Of Load Damage In Steel Using The LCR Ultrasonic Technique

with

Don E. Bray, Ph.D., P. E.
President and Chief Engineer
Don E. Bray, Inc.



Piping and pressure vessels are on occasion subjected to overload that may affect their ability to perform the role for which they were designed. A combination of velocity change and frequency analysis for near surface longitudinal (LCR) waves is used to evaluate load damage past the yield point in 4140 steel.

Prior work has shown that loading past the yield point affects the velocity in the bar. Further, frequency analysis has been shown to predict the fracture toughness in AISI 4137 steel used in offshore drilling. The present project joins these two approaches and uses velocity measurement and frequency analysis at different locations in the steel bar. Some locations were subjected to post-yield loading and others were not. Discussion on applying the technique to detecting hydrogen attack is included.

Addtional information is avaialble at the speaker's website.


Click thumbnail to enlarge photo.....



When & Where :

Stress Engineering Services Conference Center
13800 Westfair East Drive, Houston

Cost: Free Admission, and Brown Bag lunch is $12 with reservation. Membership Not Required. Bring a Guest!

Reservations Requested. Please contact Wendy Davis at 281-890-8441.

Click here for directions.
.

If you would like to be placed on an e-mail update list, just send Wendy Davis a note and you will get timely reminders each month of the upcoming meeting with details of the topic and speaker.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

  • 11:30 am     Lunch served
  • 11:45 am     Announcements
  • 12 noon     Presentation begins
  • 1:00 pm     Official Meeting Closes



A few notes about our Distinguished Speaker :

Don E. Bray is President and Chief Engineer of Don E. Bray, Inc., a private research an engineering firm serving various industrial clients. The firm has conducted research in ultrasonic flaw and material characterization for major US companies.

He served as the Vice President of Pressure Technology Group in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and has served as Chairman of the NDE Engineering Division of ASME. He has been engaged in NDE application and research for over forty years and has held engineering positions with the Southern Pacific Railway Company in Houston, Texas, USA and the U. S. Department of Transportation, Federal Railroad Administration, Washington, D. C., USA, and more recently was Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, USA. His academic degrees include a Ph.D. in Mech. Engr. from The University of Oklahoma (1977), M.S. in Mech. Engr. from The University of Houston (1969) and a B.S. in Mech. Engr. from Southern Methodist University (1961). He holds Fellow Membership Rank in the American Society for Nondestructive Testing (ASNT), and The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

In 1999, he delivered the Mehl Honor Lecture to the Fall Conference of the American Society for Nondestructive Testing in Phoenix in 1999 and the Keynote address for the June 2007 ICPIIT Conference in Houston.. In 2007 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the SPIE. He is a Registered Professional Engineer in Texas and Oklahoma, and is the author of three textbooks, three encyclopedia chapters, a computer-based tutorial on ultrasonics, and numerous technical publications in the field of nondestructive evaluation. His principal research is in ultrasonic inspection, specifically in using critically refracted longitudinal (LCR) or surface skimming waves in ultrasonic inspection.

Additionally, he has served as a consultant to the Papua New Guinea University of Technology in Lae, Papua New Guinea and the University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil




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Joint Meeting with
Petroleum Technical Chapter

Thursday
February 28, 2008 Luncheon

Wes Wells
The Alcoa 50,000 TON Forge Press
and some comments on Aluminum Drill Strings


with

Mr. Wes Wells
Technical Manager, Oil & Gas
Alcoa



The Alcoa 50,000 TON Closed Die Forge Press in Cleveland, Ohio was recognized as an ASME Historic Landmark in 1981. Our speaker was once actively involved in managing the operations of this very large forge press. He is now the Technical Manager of the Aloca drill string developments.

He will describe the forge history, ownership, size, weight capabilities, and how parts progress going from drawing to forgings. This will feature industrial programs that the 50k ton press has supported.

Please visit these web sites for more information on this topic, and for current events during National Engineers Week....




When & Where :

Stress Engineering Services Conference Center
13800 Westfair East Drive, Houston

Cost: Free Admission, and Brown Bag lunch is $12 with reservation. Membership Not Required. Bring a Guest!

Reservations Requested. Please contact Jack Smith PE at 281-955-2900

Click here for directions.
.

If you would like to be placed on an e-mail update list, just send Wendy Davis a note and you will get timely reminders each month of the upcoming meeting with details of the topic and speaker.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

  • 11:30 am     Lunch served
  • 11:45 am     Announcements
  • 12 noon     Presentation begins
  • 1:00 pm     Official Meeting Closes



A few notes about our Distinguished Speaker :

Wes Wells has 21 years experience with Alcoa at 3 different plant locations. From 2004-2007 was the operating manager of their A Plant- home of the 50K press. He is currently supporting Alcoa's growth initiative in Oil and Gas, and is a voting member on ISO 15546 - Aluminum drill pipe committee. Wes is a 1987 graduate in Metallurgical Engineering from Ohio State University. He likes old cars.


Upcoming Programs

We meet on fourth Thursday of the month for lunch unless noted.
2008 Meetings





Your suggestions and assistance are welcome. Contact Rafik Boubenider


Executive Committee for Northwest Houston Sub Section

The officers for the 2007 operating year for the Northwest Houston Sub Section of ASME are:

Chair: Dr. Rafik Boubenider

Vice-Chair: Jackie Smith, P.E.

Secretary: Ramon San Pedro, P.E.

Treasurer and Webmaster: Richard Boswell, P.E.

Arrangements: Wendy Davis

Programs : Julian Bedoya

Unless noted, all may be reached at 281-955-2900.
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Notes about this Website

This website is Under Development and will continue to evolve for North West Houston Members. This is posted on ASME servers.

Please send all feedback/correction/omission/suggestions to NWHSS webmaster Richard Boswell.

Our goal is to make this NWHSS site reasonably useful and active asap. Thank you for your help.

All Officers and Members are requested to submit content.

Please send NWHSS webmaster email with attached files in Word or text to include on this site.

Enjoy!


www.asme.org/nwhss/nwhss.html
Last updates were on March 13, 2008
Please email comments to nwhss webmaster

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