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Vibration, dynamics and noise

formerly BETA Machinery and SVT

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UK Offices

Our UK offices support vibration, dynamics and noise needs in Europe and Africa, with teams in Southampton and Glasgow.

VDN UK offices

Our vibration, dynamics and noise team in the UK comprises 30 engineering staff and supports our large number of customers in the UK, Europe, and the Middle East. The team of experts also helps to bolster Wood’s capabilities in different areas, such as:

  • World-class leadership in subsea vibration including lead researchers on recent Joint Industry Programs involving flow-induced pulsations, vortex-induced vibration, and other vibration issues.
  • Piping vibration involving main and utility piping, flare systems, flashing, turbulence, and multiphase flow and slugging
  • Structural dynamics, blast analysis, damage assessments
  • Fatigue analysis, field troubleshooting, noise and monitoring

For more information on our extensive capability, or to get local support, visit our service overview page or contact our team in the UK

Jonathan Baker

Jonathan Baker, PhD, is a chartered engineer with extensive experience in asset integrity and specialization in vibration and noise, both in the oil and gas and marine industries.
With over 25 years of consultancy experience, he has worked on projects from FEED through detailed design, construction, commissioning, and operations, including on-site troubleshooting. He has also been involved in a number of Joint Industry Projects developing a greater understanding of industry problems and generating industry standard guidelines. Jonathan will lead the business development activities within the team.
 

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Mark Hutchinson

Mark Hutchinson, PhD, is operations manager of Wood's UK vibration team.
Mark has over 30 years of specialized engineering experience in oil and gas and renewable energy. He specializes in structural integrity, FEA, fitness-for-service assessments, advanced materials, fatigue and fracture mechanics and failure analysis. Over the last few years, he has been working on new computational analysis techniques for FFS Level 3 assessments of corroded, eroded and damaged pipelines and risers. He is a fellow of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers and chartered as a mechanical engineer, naval architect, European engineer, and professional manager.

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Rob Swindell

Rob Swindell, MSc, has the role of R&D and technical authority.
Rob is a mechanical engineer with over 30 years of professional consulting experience in the marine and oil and gas industry in both the upstream and downstream sectors. Areas of particular expertise include vibration and fatigue relating to structures, static plant and rotating machinery; this includes topsides, subsea and onshore production systems. Rob has been involved in the provision of specialist plant integrity and engineering consultancy to a number of operators and engineering contractors. This has included advice at the design stage as well as troubleshooting problems on operational plants around the world.

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  • Background

    Experience

    • Xodus Group, Principal Consultant 
    • Petrofac, Business Director / Consulting Group Manager,
    • Bureau Veritas, Consulting Group Manager, Principal Consulting Engineer, Structural Integrity Group
    • Acoustic Technology, Consulting Engineer
    • Lloyd's Register of Shipping, Engineer Surveyor, Technical Investigation Department
    • Institute of Sound & Vibration Research, Southampton University, Research Engineer

    Education

    • PhD, Structural intensity measurements using laser vibrometry, University of Southampton – Institute of Sound & Vibration Research
    • MEng, Engineering Acoustics & Vibration, University of Southampton – Institute of Sound & Vibration Research

    Recent Publications

    • "Operator experience with using EI Piping Vibration Guidelines to prevent AIV fatigue failures", joint paper with BP, Internoise, 2012 
    • "Guidelines for the Avoidance of Vibration Induced Fatigue in Process Pipework" – 2nd edition, Energy Institute 2008, support to principal authors
    • "Singing Riser” Joint Industry Project (including BP, Statoil, ExxonMobil), five client-confidential documents
    • “Reducing the threat of excessive pipework vibration effects on topsides integrity”, IQPC Conference on ‘Design, Construction & Conversion of Floating Production Systems, London, 2006
    • “Transient Vibration Guidelines for Fast Acting Valves Screening Assessment”, co-author, prepared by Acoustic Technology Limited for the Health and Safety Executive, Offshore Technology Report 2002/028
    • “Review of Duplex Pipework failures”, for HSE internal circulation, 1995
    • “Audiometry-the effect of noise on man”, seminar presented at “Noise and Vibration”, Continuing Professional Development Day, Institute of Marine Engineers, 1995
    • "Laser Technology for measuring vibrational power flow in beam-like structures". SIRA Conference, "Stress and Vibration: Recent development in Industrial measurements and analysis", 1989
  • Background

    Experience

    • XODUS Group, Head of Advanced Engineering
    • Fichtner, Head of Wind Energy
    • AECOM, Managing Director, Energy, Europe
    • Ramboll, Country Director for Energy, Director of Advanced Engineering
    • White Young Green, Regional Director 
    • CETEC Analytical Services, Managing Director
    • AMTEC Consultancy, Advanced Engineering (FEA, CFD)

    Education

    • PhD, Analysis of pressurised piping systems subjected to large material deformations
    • MBA, University of Reading
    • BSc (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering, University of Sheffield
    • Chartered in Mechanical Engineering, Naval Architecture, Professional Management and in Europe through the Federation of Professional Engineers
  • Background

    Experience

    • Xodus Group, Global Lead - Vibration Engineering
    • Bureau Veritas, Technical Director, Vibration & Acoustics
    • ATL Consulting, Vibration & Noise Consultancy, Consultant & Director
    • BMT, Research Officer
    • Vosper Thorneycroft, Hydrodynamicist

    Education

    • MSc, Sound & vibration studies, University of Southampton – Institute of Sound & Vibration Research
    • BSc (Hons), Naval Architecture, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne

    Recent Publications

    • "Guidelines for the Avoidance of Vibration Induced Fatigue in Process Pipework" – 2nd edition, Energy Institute, 2008
    • "Managing The Integrity Threat Of Subsea Pipework Fatigue Failure", Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 2010
    • "Internal Flow-Induced Pulsation of Flexible Risers", Offshore Technology Conference, 2007
    • "Quantifying the Vibration Fatigue Performance of Offshore Subsea Systems", Engineering Integrity Society, 2007

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