How to seek out an expert consultant 2

[Lou Scannon]

Hello, Welding, Bonding & Fastener experts...
I'm an automotive engineer needing to hire an expert consultant to help with designing a high performance fuel tank mounting system. The design concept needs to be based on simple plate, sheet & billet steel shapes, that can be formed, fabricated and joined in a low-tech job shop (at low cost), as the production volumes are not amenable to any significant tooling investment or mass production process.
I'm not looking for design assistance here, just some pointers on how to seek out a qualified engineering consultant that I can hire to help with this task. Key areas of expertise needed are:
- welded joint design
- weld process definition and quality control
- weld post processing
- replacing welds with alternative joining techniques
- fatigue analysis
- design for fatigue robustness
Do such consultants exist? What keywords should I use when trying to identify a qualified consultant?
Thanks in advance for your guidance.

 

[metengr]

This is a tall order. You are looking at a research project that no one consultant can handle, this is for a research organization. Try Ohio State university, if you have enough money to fund the above this can be done as a graduate research project.

 

[connectegr]

Highly recommend Lincoln Electric Technical Center. Dr. Duane Miller is the foremost expert in welding. Much of his time is spent resolving conditions like yours.

http://www.FerrellEngineering.com

 

[Lou Scannon]

connectegr, thanks for the tip. I'll look up Dr. Miller right away next week!

 

[rmw]

Google "Design of weldments" and follow the results.

rmw

 

[connectegr]

Hemi
Design of Weldments was written by Omar Blodgett, Dr. Miller's mentor. He still works part time in the Lincoln Tech Center.

http://www.FerrellEngineering.com

 

[Lou Scannon]

connectegr, thanks again! This project is on a really short fuse, so I won't have time to learn how to design the solution myself. The original design, which has developed a fatigue crack in durability testing, is not mine, and is by no means "engineered", but now I'm the one holding the bag to try to come up with something that will pass durability testing; and I only have one shot at it, so I want to bring in the biggest gun possible. Monday and Tuesday were crazy with travel and meetings, but I'll be looking up Dr. Miller tomorrow for sure.

Cheers!

 

[connectegr]

Good luck. Let me know if you have trouble reaching Duane through their website. He is in their Cleveland location.

http://www.FerrellEngineering.com

 

[kingnero]

http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=320487

might be interesting too (?)

 

[Lou Scannon]

I ordered the book just to have as a reference, and I called Lincoln yesterday. They do not offer a design consulting service such as I was looking to engage on contract, but they offered free review & suggestion of best weld practices for the existing design, so I'm taking them up on that.
One of the design directions I'm now exploring on my own is completely eliminating the welds in some of the problem areas, since they aren't strictly necessary; the same design result can be accomplished differently.

kingnero, thanks for the link to the metallurgical consultants thread. I think that specialty is a little too narrow for what I want to accomplish. I already know why the design failed; it wasn't engineered. I want to hire someone that can properly engineer the design. I'll probably end up doing it myself, which is far from ideal, but I'll get'r'done!