Legal

Challenges
Services
Clients
Case Studies

When engaging a refractory expert witness for a legal case, law firms face challenges finding the right expert that confidently determines the root cause of a refractory failure be it workmanship, design, material quality or process operation.

Too often when failures occur, the reason can be incorrectly attributed to refractory materials because of their complexity and the lack of understanding of the expert.

Our Services

Expert Reports

We understand the scientific relationship between process environments, refractory materials and installation quality and how they combine to cause refractory failure. This allows us to confidently determine the root cause. We have completed investigations of failed refractory including: burner failures, kiln bricking failure, boiler failures (CFB and shell & tube), pressure vessel failures (gasifiers, FCCU and transfer lines), failures of masonry brick and ceramic tile lamination and dome failures.

Our Clients

Qualifications

Greg Palmer

CEO

BE (Chem), PhD (Civil)
RPEQ, CPEn

Education
  • University of Queensland, Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical)
  • University of Queensland, Doctor of Philosophy (Civil Engineering)
  • Research thesis - Failure mechanics of refractory concrete
Seminar Presentations
  • CSIRO/UNITED NATIONS Conference, Economic Growth with Cleaner Production, Recycling in the Cement and Concrete Industry
  • The University of Queensland, The Fracture of Brittle Materials
  • NASA Lewis Research Centre, USA, The Fracture of Brittle Materials
  • Cement Industry Federation National Conference, Heat Transfer in Rotary Kilns
Selecting Steel Anchors for Monolithic Refractory Linings, by G Palmer and M. Smillie, Refractory Application and News, V 12, No 5, September /October 2007
The Behaviour of Monolithic Refractory and its Importance for the Design of Refractory Structures, by G Palmer and R Ellis, Refractory Application and News, V 12, No 6, November /December 2007
Selecting Steel Anchors for Monolithic Refractory Linings – Part 1 Basics, by G Palmer and M. Smillie, ZKG International No1, V62, 2009
Selecting Steel Anchors for Monolithic Refractory Linings – Part 2 Major failure mechanisms, by G Palmer and M. Smillie, ZKG International No3, V62, 2009
Designing and Failure of Monolithic Refractory Structures – Part 1, by G Palmer and KC Tan, Refractory Application and News, V 14, No 3, May /June 2009
Heat Transfer Design Considerations for Refractory Linings with Steel Anchors Parts 1 & 2, by G Palmer and T Howes, Refractory Application Transactions, “accepted for publication – Refractory Worldforum”
Petrographic Examination of Refractory Damage to a Burner Pipe, World Cement Vol 20 (8) 1989
Analysis of Thermally Induced Fracture of Low Cement Refractory Rings, American Ceramic Bulletin, Vol 69 (6) 1990
Ring Formations in Cement Kilns, World Cement Vol 21 (12) 1990
Size Effect on Fracture Toughness and Firing Temperature for Low Cement Refractory, AustCeram 92, Proceedings of the International Ceramics Conference Australia, August 1992
Strength Loss in Low Cement Refractory Structures, World Cement Vol 25 (6) 1994
Recycling in the Cement and Concrete Industry, Process and Control Engineering, June 1994
Specimen Size Effect on Fracture Toughness for a Low Cement Refractory, Journal of Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics Vol 22 p51-61 1995
Thermo-Mechanical Stress Analysis of Low Cement Refractory Castable on Cement Kiln Burner Pipes, Zement-Kalk Gips (ZKG), January 1996
Heat Transfer in Rotary Kilns, Cement Industry Federation Technical Conference, September 1998
Effect of Lifter Design on Drying Performance in Rotary Dryers Driver, J., Hardin, M.T., Howes, T. and Palmer, G., Drying. Tech. V21, pp369-381, 2003
Failure of Pool Copings, Tile Today, December 2002
Testing the integrity of Refractory Lined Vessels using the NDT Technique P-Response, by G Palmer, ZKG International, V 58, No9, 2005
Refractory Concrete Reinforced with Stainless Steel Fibre, G Palmer, Refractory Application and News, V 10, No 2, March/April 2005
The Calculation of Transient and Steady State Heat Transfer in Refractory Linings under various Conditions, by G Palmer and T Howes, Refractory Application and News, V 12, No 1, January /February 2007
Selecting Steel Anchors for Monolithic Refractory Linings, by G Palmer and M. Smillie, Refractory Application and News, V 12, No 5, September /October 2007

We service industry giants across the globe

The key benefits of our designs and management are the delivery of very reliable linings which that saves our clients time and maintenance costs.Understanding refractory behaviour is critical for the design and fabrication of refractory lining/structures.

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