Mechanical Eng

Vice President - Engineering

Mr. Becht is a mechanical and nuclear engineer with expertise in FEA and thermo-hydraulics modeling and analysis. His experience ranges from developing new designs meeting code requirements, failure investigation and repair, and FFS assessments.

In the hydraulic area, his work includes the study of NRC issues related to entrapped gases in liquid lines, for which he developed hydraulics models and analysis

Division Manager - Mechanical Engineering

Nonlinear Stress Analysis, Elevated Temperature Mechanical Material Behavior

Dave has worked in the petrochemical, nuclear and power industries over the last 16 years. Dave’s specialties include finite element analysis (FEA - heat transfer/thermal-stress, creep, fracture and shock and vibration), fatigue, fracture and creep modeling, as well as computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and multiphysics problems. 

Dr. Forbes is recognized in the petroleum & petrochemical industry as an expert in civil onshore and marine terminal structures with more than 40 years in active professional practice and consulting. His professional expertise includes blast resistant design; design criteria for earthquake, wind and other extreme loads; evaluation and upgrading of existing structures; design of machinery support structures and foundations, water cooling towers, concrete chimneys and steel stacks; and structural vibration. He has

Mr. Kurle has over 30 years of experience with mechanical design and analysis of pressure vessels and heat exchangers after a long career with Union Carbide.  Don spent several years with Codeware, Inc. as a technical support engineer and developed and presented training classes in the use of COMPRESS vessel design software. 

Mr. Frikken is an internationally recognized authority in piping systems, valves, and the development of standards and specifications. His work with Becht includes designing new piping systems, analyzing existing piping systems, assisting manufacturers with respect to code compliance issues, and providing instruction on process piping and piping flexibility analysis courses. Don has received a number of awards including the ASME B31 Forever Medal for Excellence in Piping, and the ASME Melvin R. Green

Engineering Manager

Dr. Eileen Chant has 25 years of experience in the areas of engineering project management, modeling and performance evaluation of mechanical and energy systems. She has managed a number of projects developing and applying risk-based inspection methodologies and software tools for use by the process and power industry in developing cost-effective inspection and maintenance programs in accordance with API RP-580 and the ASME Inspection Planning Document, PCC-3. She has also managed projects developing and applying fitness-for-service software tools in accordance with API 579/FFS-1 and new methodologies for collection, management and statistical analysis of NDE data.

Division Manager - High Energy Power Plant Piping Engineering

Frank Fronek has worked in the fossil power industry for 48 years engineering, designing, analyzing and supporting HE Piping systems in new coal, gas, oil, biomass, solar and other type power plants, as well as condition assessment and troubleshooting of operating facilities. In 1983, Frank founded a piping engineering company in NJ and a fabrication shop in Texas to produce a complete line of pipe support components and related structures. These facilities were acquired by The Shaw Group in 1994. After working for The Shaw Group, Frank founded Fronek Power Services (FPS), a piping engineering company, acquired by Becht Engineering in January 2018. Frank will work in...

Dr. Frederick J. Moody, has spent more than four decades designing and analyzing boiling water nuclear reactors, containment, components, and fluid flow systems for the power industry.  He has taught advanced engineering courses for General Electric and at San Jose State University.  Dr. Moody received the George Westinghouse Gold Medal Award in 1980, the ASME Pressure Vessel and Piping Award in 1999.  He was inducted into the Silicon Valley Engineers Hall of Fame in 2000 and the National Academy of Engineering in 2001.

Manager, Power Generation Plant Services

Greg Zoll's role will include leading Becht’s Technical Subject Matter Experts developing power generation and plant solutions for Becht clients.  Greg brings over 30 years of experience in power generation including cogeneration and simple cycle plant technical assessments, development of power generation feasibility studies, assistance and coordination of plant permitting and response to power plant environmental issues. 

Senior Engineering Fellow and ASME Past President

Mr. Sims is a recognized authority in risk-based technologies for optimizing inspection and maintenance decisions; design and analysis of high pressure equipment, including high pressure, high temperature (HPHT) equipment for oil and gas exploration and production and he has extensive experience in mechanical integrity evaluations of existing equipment and Fitness-For-Service analyses. Mr. Sims has served as President of the ASME and member of the 

Mr. Cole has 37 years of experience in design, analysis, construction and testing of nuclear power plant equipment, piping, vessels, and structures. Mr. Cole’s experience includes twenty seven years of operating nuclear power plant experience and twenty seven years as an ASME Codes and Standards committee volunteer. Prior to retiring from Energy Northwest, Mr. Cole served as the Design Authority for Columbia Generating Station Civil/Structural discipline. He was responsible for approval of plant design changes, assuring

Dr. John S. Wang is a technical specialist in the areas of noise control, engineering acoustics and flares.  During his 30-years with ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company he had resolved numerous plant noise and flare problems for ExxonMobil worldwide refining, chemical, and production facilities.After retiring from ExxonMobil, he has been retained as a consultant...

Mr. Gustafsson has over 10 years experience in the design and analysis of mechanical components and systems in the Petrochemical and Railway industries. Prior to joining the Becht team he worked as Mechanical Engineer with ExxonMobil for 8 years. His experience includes Fitness-for-service assessments and design support of pressurized equipment including elastic-plastic Finite Element Analysis, transient heat transfer analysis, creep, high-and low cycle fatigue, fracture mechanics, fluid surge and piping flexibility analysis.

Mr. Stonehouse has over fifteen years of experience working in mechanical engineering design and analysis for the petroleum industry, primarily with pressure vessels and pressure vessel internals. His experience and expertise includes linear and non-linear stress analysis using the finite element method for design and fitness for service and includes a wide variety of FEA work performed involving plasticity, buckling, static, and thermal-transient analyses.

Mechanical, Structural, Pressure Vessel & Pipe Stress

Nathan Wilcoxson has worked in the petrochemical and refining industry for the past 8 years with Flint Hill Resources (FHR) and John Zink (JZ). At FHR Nathan was responsible for pressure vessel and piping reliability as well as Fitness-For-Service. At JZ Nathan was a structural design engineer for flare stacks, thermal oxidizers and derrick structures. He has experience in ASME VIII, ASME B31.3, API 579, AISC, ASCE 7 and other various codes and standards. Nathan is working out of the Liberty Corner, NJ office on pressure vessels, piping and fitness for service work.

Nadarajah ("Ranjan") Chithranjan's career has spanned over 18 years of worldwide involvement in petrochemical industries for ExxonMobil Research and Engineering. Prior to joining Becht Engineering, he worked as a fixed equipment specialist at ExxonMobil Research and Engineering and he has worked in more than a dozen countries worldwide to solve complex mechanical plant problems as well as mechanical support for large scale projects. He has extensive knowledge in pressure vessels, piping, and

Richard Basile has over 38 years domestic and international experience in the mechanical design, analysis, troubleshooting and technology development of process equipment in the petroleum refining industry, based on his long-term career with ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company.

Fitness for Service Specialist, Fatigue and Fracture Mechanics, Nonlinear Stress Analysis

Bob Brown has thirty years of mechanical engineering experience as both a consultant and an owner-user, providing engineering support to petrochemical, process and power plants worldwide.  He is an industry expert in the development and practical use of advanced finite element analysis techniques to evaluate mechanical integrity and to optimize the life cycle of in-service pressure containing equipment.

Mr. Shah recently retired from ExxonMobil as a Distinguished Engineering Associate with over 37 years of experience and has joined Becht Engineering to take a leadership role in the mechanical engineering (fixed equipment) consulting area. He has extensive experience in fixed equipment such as pressure vessels and tankage. His activities have included the following:

Ted Princiotto has 40 years experience in the petroleum refining business, 30 years with ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company and 12 years with Becht Engineering where he is Vice President of Engineering. While with ExxonMobil, he held various technical, supervisory, staff and management positions. He supervised the mechanical engineering, applied mechanics and rotating equipment sections, participated in six refinery startups worldwide including the demonstration unit and first commercial application of ExxonMobil’s FLEXICOKING process. He held positions in the Corporation’s Corporate Planning Energy Outlook Division, ran the Vice President of Engineering’s Staff responsible for budgets and workload/workforce planning.

For many years, Ted was a Vice President of Becht.

Division Manager, Becht Engineering Canada, Ltd.

Mr. Seipp has over 15 years of experience in design and analysis of process and power equipment, vessels, piping, and structures. He has extensive analytical experience including linear and non-linear finite element analysis using ANSYS and ABAQUS, buckling analyses, steady-state and transient heat transfer and thermal stress analysis of pressure vessels

Mr. Chen has over 30 years of experience in mechanical engineering design and analysis. In the structural area, Yaofeng's work ranges from the application of finite element mechanical and thermal stress analyses, and a wide variety of design and problem solving in the areas of pressure vessels and related mechanical equipment, to the analysis and design of steel and reinforced concrete structures. In his work, Yaofeng utilizes the latest computer software in 2D and 3D model based design such as AutoCAD and SolidWorks.  Yaofeng's significant areas of expertise

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

Zumao Chen has worked in the power industry for more than 11 years with Babcock & Wilcox and 4 years with Reaction Engineering International. He has over 15 years of experience in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling of utility and industrial boilers, burners, over-fire air (OFA) ports and other boiler components. He also has more than 6 years of experience in model development for fluid dynamics, convective and radiative heat transfer, combustion, and computer programming to simulate two-phase flow systems.