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Prof. Stephen M. Richardson

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Contact Details

Professor  Stephen  Richardson

Deputy Rector

Tel: +44 (0)20 7594 5039

s.m.richardson@imperial.ac.uk

 

Biography

Date
Role
2009-
Deputy Rector, Imperial College London
2008-
Principal of Faculty of Engineering
2001-2008
Head of Department, Chemical Engineering
1995-1999
Director of UG Studies and Deputy Head of Department, Chemical Engineering Department, Imperial College London.
1994-
Professor of Chemical Engineering, Chemical Engineering Department, Imperial College London.
1992-1994
Reader in Chemical Engineering, Chemical Engineering Department, Imperial College London.
1987-1992
Senior Lecturer, Chemical Engineering Department, Imperial College London.
1984-1985
Nuffield Foundation Science Research Fellow.
1978-1987
Lecturer, Chemical Engineering Department, Imperial College London.
1976-1977
Research Fellow, Chemical Engineering Department, Cambridge University, UK, Field: “Injection Moulding of Thermoplastics and Rubbers”
1975-1976
Rolls Royce Research Assistant, Chemical Engineering Department, Cambridge University, UK, Field: “Trans-sonic Flow”
1972-1975
PhD in Chemical Engineering, Chemical Engineering Department, Imperial College London, Thesis Title: “Numerical Solution of the 3D Navier-Stokes Equations”

 

Research interests

The rapid depressurisation or blowdown of a vessel or pipeline is a standard way of reducing the risk posed by a process emergency. The blowdown itself is, however, also a hazardous operation, the hazard arising from the low temperatures generated in the fluid in the vessel or line. These low temperatures can lead to a drop in the temperature of the walls below the ductile-brittle transition temperature of the steel from which the vessel or line is made. With my colleague, Dr Graham Saville, I have developed a computer program called Blowdown which is the only properly validated program which can simulate and predict what happens during blowdown. It has been extensively used offshore (over 120 oil and gas platforms) and onshore (over 20 gas terminals and many other petrochemicalplants). It has also been used to provide evidence in major accident investigations such as those following the tragedies on Piper Alpha and at Longford.

 


Links

MFS Multiphase Fluid Systems programme

 

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