Hydrostatic Testing - Nondestructive Testing - Reverse Engineering - Rotating Equipment Analysis - Equipment Failure Analysis

Cliff Knight is President of KnightHawk Engineering and a Professional Engineer with 28 years of experience. Besides his corporate responsibilities as President, Cliff is also Chief Engineer. Cliff specializes in design, failure analysis and troubleshooting in static and rotating equipment. Cliff has 21 years experience in utilizing computer applications, which include Finite Element Method, Numerical Modeling, Heat Transfer, Pipe Stress Analysis, and Computational Fluid Dynamics.

While with KnightHawk, Cliff has developed proprietary tools and methods for performing analysis on pelletizing dies, pressure vessels, heat exchangers, and centrifugal compressors. Cliff holds four patents related to this work. Before coming to KnightHawk, Cliff spent ten years at Dow Chemical, U.S.A., where he achieved the position of Sr. Mechanical Engineering Specialist and Group Leader. Cliff received his BSME degree from Louisiana State University. Cliff is a registered professional engineer in the states of Louisiana, Texas, Florida, Alabama, Maryland, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Indiana, Nebraska, New York and California.

Kevin Sicking is Vice President and Senior Controls Advisor with KnightHawk Engineering. He has over 30 years experience in the design, analysis, and troubleshooting of process controls, instrumentation, and electrical systems. Prior to his current position, Kevin worked for Triconex Systems, Inc. (Formerly TRI-SEN Systems, Inc.) in La Marque, Texas, where he specialized in the control of static and rotating equipment.

Kevin lead the development of numerous custom control systems, designed to solve unique problems in the operation and maintenance of industrial plants throughout the world. He also lead a Field Engineering team in Troubleshooting and Analyzing Control system problems. Prior to Triconex, Kevin worked for Dresser Industries in Houston, where he was a Senior Technical Services Engineer. Kevin was responsible for troubleshooting unique instrumentation and electrical problems as related to exploration, drilling, and production equipment. Kevin has a BSEET degree from the University of Houston.

	Jim Salter is Director of Business Development for KnightHawk Engineering. Jim has represented and sold products and services in the Petrochemical and Refining industries for over 20 years. Prior to joining KnightHawk Engineering Jim worked for Texas Industrial Solutions where he was responsible for sales and marketing activities in the Gulf Coast refining and petrochemical industries.
Prior to Texas Industrial Solutions, Jim worked for Ohmstede United, Inc. and Furmanite America, Inc. for about ten years each, where he was responsible for selling repair services and heat exchangers. Other industries Jim has sold to include, Aero Space, Manufacturing, Production , Water Treatment and Fabrication. Jim Studied Marketing at Kilgore College in Kilgore, Texas.

Bob Norman is an independent consultant with 35 years of experience in the petrochemical industry. Bob consults with KnightHawk Engineering on a part time basis as a corporate advisor and technical consultant. Bob has 27 years of experience in plant operation and management through his employment at Dow Chemical (25 years at Dow) and Westlake Petrochemical. He has 8 years as a technologist in the Engineering Construction Procurement business from Jacobs and Bechtel.

Bob’s career track has led him to become a recognized industry specialist in Ethylene manufacturing technology and management. He has a track record of improving plant operations by modifying equipment, improving operating practices and enhancing staff performance. Due to the many years of operation and troubleshooting experience, Bob is an effective resource in a multidiscipline environment with process, mechanical and control issues. Bob has a Chemical Engineering degree from Texas A&M University and has been a participant in the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (A.I.Ch.E.), the Ethylene Producers Committee (EPC), the Rotating Equipment Subcommittee of the EPC and the Operations Subcommittee of the EPC.

Dr. Hoon Kim is a Materials Consultant for KnightHawk Engineering (KHE), where he consults and assists with our Metallurgical and Materials Services. This includes materials selection, specifications, characterization, utilization, and handling, utilizing metallurgical, chemical, mechanical and non destructive testing. Dr. Kim has 39 years experience in material technology and handling in the petrochemical and power industry. His expertise includes design, failure analysis, and troubleshooting of materials handling equipment by metallurgical testing, investigation and process analysis.

Dr. Kim recently worked for General Electric and GreatPoint Energy where he specialized in coal gasification technology development, encompassing feed stock handling and preparation, catalyst loading, catalyst recovery from the leaching of the gasifier residue and residue handling. Dr. Kim previously worked for KHE, where he consulted and assisted with our Metallurgical and Materials Services as described above. Prior to that Dr. Kim worked for Exxon where he specialized in material handling equipment specification and design for new processes and troubleshooting of existing systems such as conveyor and crushing equipment for Mining, Petrochemical, Process, and Power Industry applications. He also previously worked for Freeport Minerals Company and the University of Utah where he designed crushing and conveyor systems for surface mining operations. Dr. Kim received his US Citizenship in 1985. He received his Ph.D. in Metallurgy in 1974, focusing on Minerals Processing from the University of Utah, his Master of Science in Physical Metallurgy from the University of British Columbia and his Bachelor of Science was in Metallurgical Engineering from Seoul National University.

D. Lee Hill is a Director of Speciality Engineering for KnightHawk Engineering. He has over 22 years experience in design, troubleshooting and failure analysis of static and rotating equipment. Prior to working for KnightHawk, Lee worked for MechAssociates in Victoria, Texas where he specialized in failure analysis, design audits and design modifications using numerical simulation tools such as Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Finite Element Analysis (FEA).

Prior to MechAssociates, he worked for Dresser-Rand Corporation in Olean, New York, Emerson Ventilation Products in Lenexa, Kansas, The Mechanical Engineering Department of Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, Pratt & Whitney Aircraft in West Palm Beach, Florida and Hercules Aerospace, Inc. in McGregor, Texas. Some of Lee’s accomplishments include development of transient CFD technology for turbomachinery problems and noise reduction technology for centrifugal compressors, troubleshooting multi-phase flow problems, acoustic problems, turbine aerodynamic issues, particle erosion and deposition issues with hot gas expanders, combustion chamber issues, structural dynamic issues and thermal stress analysis issues. Lee is widely published on topics such as finite element analysis, bearing design, computational fluid dynamics, component interaction in rotating equipment, noise reduction, and machinery performance improvement. Lee holds 7 patents related to rotating equipment. Lee earned a B.S., M.S. and his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas A&M.

Carroll (Chet) Stroh is a Mechanical Consultant with KnightHawk Engineering. He has over 35 years experience in design, maintenance, troubleshooting and failure analysis of rotating equipment. Chet is a member of the Turbo Advisory Committee for the Turbomachinery Laboratory at Texas A&M University. Prior to working for KnightHawk, Chet worked for Turbo Care in Houston, TX as their Engineering Manager.

While with Turbo Care, Chet performed stress and deformation analysis, developed analysis tools, performed rotordynamic and fluid film bearing simulations using numerical modeling tools and provided engineering design and troubleshooting support. Prior to Turbo Care, Chet worked for E.I. DuPont in Beaumont TX and Wilmington Delaware where he was first a rotating equipment consultant in the plant and then a consultant's consultant at the corporate level. Chet started his career at Westinghouse, where he was a design engineer in the rotors and blades group for large steam turbines.  Chet has authored and coauthored several papers on rotordynamic behavior. He has earned a BA degree in Mathematics from Lebanon Valley College in Annville, PA, a BS and MS degree from the University of Pennsylvania and has
completed three years of work towards a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering.