STEAM TURBINE COMPONENTS, ROTORS AND CASINGS

Dr. Maxine Watson

Director,  MorrisWatson

Maxine Watson

 

SPECIALISED PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE

 

Maxine has a first class BSc (Hons) in Metallurgy and Microstructural Engineering for which she was awarded the Institute of Metallurgists Royal Charter Prize for outstanding achievement, and a PhD in Engineering undertaken for the UK Atomic Energy Authority. She has over 33 years’ experience in metallurgy and materials engineering, specialising in the life assessment and prevention of failures in rotating machinery. Maxine has leads root cause failure analysis investigations and provides independent advice and expert witness reports for legal (criminal and civil) and insurance cases and for other investigatory bodies e.g. government safety and defence agencies and in power generation, industrial plant and equipment, aero and rail accident investigations.

 

PROFFESSIONAL BACKGROUND

 

Before moving to New Zealand she held several senior positions in the UK including Head of Power and Utilities, for ESR Technology, Head of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering with the Engineering, Safety and Risk Division and the Rail Division (ex British Rail Research) of AEA Technology in the UK. The ESR division incorporated three UK National Centres of Excellence – The National Centre of Tribology, The National Non-Destructive Testing Centre and the Pump Centre (UK centre of excellence in pumps and pumping system technology) and one European Centre of Excellence, the European Space Tribology laboratory. She began her career in the Nuclear Industry with the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), Harwell Research Laboratories where she worked on Advanced Cooled Gas Reactor and Fast Reactor power programmes. She worked on design, build, commissioning and de-commissioning issues for UK nuclear power stations and conventional power plant and performed many failure investigations and life assessment programmes including gas and steam turbines, valves, bearings, gearboxes, pumps and conveyer plant.

 

Maxine is the Chair of the Australia and New Zealand Gas Turbine Users Forum and also regularly Chairs industry events such as Asia Powertech, Singapore Gas Turbines and the Australia Gas Turbines Conference. Maxine also devises and presents training courses for GTUF, IIR Australia and ibc Asia in root cause failure analysis, metallurgy for engineers, gas and steam turbine failure investigation, surface engineering and gas turbine life assessment and for the American Society for Mechanical Engineers (ASME) in gas and steam turbine failure investigation and in gas turbine rotor life management