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We help owners, manufacturers, integrators, EPCs, developers and AHJs mitigate fire, explosion and toxicity hazards. We have helped safely deploy more than 60 GWh of battery energy storage on more than 140 projects ranging from robots to the largest energy storage systems in the world.

ESS Safety Consulting
  • HMA- Hazard Mitigation Analysis
  • NFPA 855 / International Fire Code Compliance
  • Explosion Mitigation
    • NFPA 69
    • NFPA 68
    • Explosion consequence analysis
  • Plume Studies
  • Fire Risk Assessment
  • Heat Flux Analysis – Fire CFD Modeling
  • Thermal Runaway propagation modeling and mitigation
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Charging Battery graphic by Uswa KDT at the Noun ProjectBattery Safety Consulting
  • Data Center Power Battery Systems
  • Explosion Control / Deflagration Studies
  • Fire Hazard Assessment / Fire Protection Analysis
  • Lithium-ion battery hazards training
  • Consumer electronics
  • Battery Manufacturing
  • Warehouse / Battery Storage
  • Electric vehicles
  • Robotics Safety Assessment
  • Experiments
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Fire graphic by Yandi on the Noun ProjectFire and Explosion Consulting
  • Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling of fire hazards
  • Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling of deflagration hazards
  • Finite element analysis (FEA), structural analysis for explosion / blast hazards
  • Experiments
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Structural Analysis for Extreme Events
  • Finite element analysis (FEA), structural analysis for blast / impact hazards
  • Structural design for blast
  • Protective design for blast, impact hazards
  • Finite element analysis for high-speed, dynamic, non-linear events
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Search glass by Pixio Design at the Noun ProjectInvestigations / Forensics & Expert Witness
  • Fires involving lithium-ion batteries
  • Residential, commercial fires
  • Industrial and oil field fires and explosions
  • Explosions
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CORE CAPABILITIES

Lithium-Ion Thermal Runaway Hazards

When lithium-ion cells fail in thermal runaway they produce fire, explosion and toxicity hazards. We are experts in understanding and characterizing hazards from lithium-ion thermal runaway. Our experience comes from laboratory experiments, modeling hazards, research, firefighting and investigating thermal runaway incidents. We help our customers understand thermal runaway hazards and design solutions to mitigate them.

Explosion Modeling

Hazard Dynamics develops computational fluid dynamics models to design explosion control systems and evaluate the performance of systems during an explosion by modeling the distribution of flammable gasses. Our analysis can be used to support deflagration prevention according to NFPA 69, deflagration venting according to NFPA 68 and to understand potential explosion consequences.

Fire Modeling

We perform computational fluid dynamics fire modeling to understand and mitigate fire hazards from energy storage systems, lithium-ion batteries, electric vehicles and other fires. These models can be used to inform system design, site design, mitigation systems or fire risk assessments.

Plume Modeling

We conduct computational fluid dynamics modeling to simulate toxic plumes from lithium-ion battery systems and other fires. We can model concentrations of carbon monoxide, hydrogen fluoride, particulates and other irritants. These models can be used to inform safe siting, respond to community concerns and plan emergency response.

MEET OUR TEAM OF EXPERTS

Partner / Principal Engineer

Erik Archibald, Ph.D., P.E.

Dr. Archibald leads the battery safety consulting group at Hazard Dynamics where he has led work on fire, explosion and toxicity modeling and analysis for more than hundred projects. He holds a PhD from the University of Texas where his dissertation work focused on lithium-ion battery fire and explosion hazards. Erik has served as a volunteer firefighter in Pennsylvania and Mississippi and currently serves as a structural specialist on the FEMA-sponsored Texas Task Force 1 Urban Search & Rescue team.

Partner / Senior Principal Engineer

Ofodike Ezekoye, Ph.D., P.E.

Dr. Ezekoye is an expert in heat transfer, combustion, fire dynamics and thermal hazards of lithium-ion batteries. He has 30 years of experience as a professor at the University of Texas at Austin. He has served as principal investigator for projects sponsored by NSF, NIST, FEMA, the Air Force and others. He has published more than 200 scientific articles on combustion, fire dynamics, heat transfer and lithium-ion battery failures.

Partner / Principal Engineer

Kevin Marr, Ph.D., P.E.

Dr. Marr is an expert on fire and thermal safety of batteries and fire forensic methods. Dr. Marr has expertise in a wide range of experimental and analytical techniques. He has analyzed and assessed fire and explosion hazards encountered in various industries. Dr. Marr has authored several publications in peer-reviewed journals and is a co-author of a book chapter on vapor cloud explosions.

Staff Engineer

Sam Matthews

Sam has extensive experience performing fire and explosion experiments using lithium-ion batteries both at Hazard Dynamics and the University of Texas. He has been a key player in experiments involving lithium-ion single cells, arrays, energy storage systems, and electric vehicles. He is an expert at failing lithium-ion batteries as well as instrumentation, data collection, and data analysis.

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