Forensic Engineering

Sustech Engineering Pty Ltd is one of Western Australia’s notable engineering consultancies in the industry for “forensic engineering.” We have been at the forefront of investigation of unplanned shutdown and other failures in industrial plants that could stem from failures in processes, materials, mechanical, equipment, components, piping, instruments, controls and structures. Sustech takes pride in its expertise in retracing processes, practice & policies. At Sustech we specialise in health & safety and other regulatory compliance that are applicable to industry standards.

Forensic Engineering

What does forensic engineering mean to us?

It means in-depth problem solving, looking beyond the symptoms and investigating underlying causes. We apply this technique for minor to major engineering failures to find solutions that create strong foundations for future development of the plant.

How do we add value to our clients? We dissect each engineering challenge and dive deep to establish the root cause of the problem. We apply forensic engineering to effectively create sustainable solutions that result in long term cost efficiencies for each project we take on. We ensure that our innovative results are fit for purpose, meeting clients’ needs.

Through this method of forensic engineering, and with continual development of our skills and knowledge, we are now one of WA’s leading problem solvers with expertise in mechanical, piping, pipelines, FRP-piping, structural, process engineering & project management. This has resulted in us winning and completing several projects with companies like Yara Fertilisers, DBNGP, BHP.

Our ethos continues to be the key to our success.

We Put Our Clients First.

Turbine Exhaust Solutions

In our troubleshooting capabilities, this is a Client Success Story where Sustech’s unique solutions provisions helped our client continue their plant operations, without their bottom line being affected by direct production loss as well as controlling the bleeding of their maintenance budget.

We provided an in-service solution to the issues being a shaft misalignment in their steam turbine, which was implemented whilst the plant was in operation. Our expertise in providing creative alternative solutions which allow our clients to continue production and operations has been instrumental in our success and client’s peace of mind.

For more details on how Sustech can help you achieve your bottom-line results without any losses in production capability, do contact us.

Primary Reformer Solutions

In our troubleshooting capabilities, this is another Client Success Story that achieved tens of millions of dollars in significant cost savings, providing life extension solutions to our client’s reformer steam coil, hot process air coil and piping.

This is another case where the conventional problem-solving solution of shutting down a plant would not have worked for our client. Thus, it involved creative alternative solutions to resolve the issue and ultimately ensure the continuity of the plant.

Leaking Heat Exchanger Solution

What keeps us awake at night so that you can sleep soundly?

Amongst the numerous exciting forensic engineering offerings, Sustech Engineering also brings to the table our troubleshooting capability, which over the years, has helped many of our clients achieve cost savings in running their plants and production facilities.

We have helped: – Solve engineering and technical problems in running plants – Reduce repeated failures unplanned shutdown and production stoppages – Bring plants back to production in minimal downtime – Analyse safety and fitness for purpose of operating plants – De-bottleneck and increase the efficiency of production of plants – Establish and monitor asset and structural integrity programmes – Bring out the maximum value from existing assets

This is one of our success stories, where Sustech helped our client achieve a projected savings of $20 million over the plants life by cutting production loss and regular maintenance to grow their bottom line.

Broken Cooling Tower Solution

While on a routine daily operation, the cooling tower of a process plant had an accident. A section of the sea water FRP header for the cooling tower broke and came down, damaging the louvres and supporting structures of the cooling tower.

We were approached by the client to support with RCA and act as the owner’s engineer for the technical assessment of the damage and a fit for purpose remedial design. The cooling tower was a critical equipment without any redundancy. Sustech worked in close proximity with client’s operations, maintenance, project, and reliability team to work out an acceptable solution to minimise the idle period of the plant. Engineering was done to avoid this issue from repeating in the future. An innovative solution was engineered with optimised cooling tower performance at a record turnaround time of 4 months. This saved tens of millions of dollars for the client.

Sustech utilised its process and capabilities of forensic engineering analysis to provide the solution to bring back the cooling tower to operation. Some of the original timber tower has since then been replaced by FRP structure. A temporary structure for supporting the entire FRP sea cooling water header was analysed in ANSYS and installed. The FRP pipe header and its complex system of supporting was stress analysed in CAESAR II and FEA analysed in ANSYS, another core area of Sustech’s expertise.