Timothy Myers

Dr. Timothy Myers is a Senior Managing Engineer in Exponent’s Thermal Sciences practice. He applies chemical engineering principles to analyze industrial processes and to investigate and prevent incidents involving chemical releases, fires, and explosions. His investigations have included incidents occurring in a variety of chemical and industrial facilities, the warehousing and transport of hazardous chemicals, and commercial and residential structures.

He has conducted engineering analysis and experimental testing involving chemical reactions, heat and mass transfer, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, fires, and dust and gas explosions. Dr. Myers is a member of the ASTM committee responsible for the development of standards to determine the thermal stability of liquid and solids and the ignition and flammability properties of gases, vapors, and dusts clouds.

Dr. Myers has a particular interest in the stability of chemicals and chemical mixtures and their fire and explosion hazards. He has investigated incidents involving self-heating or thermal runaway of chemicals and unintentional reactions of incompatible chemicals. His interest includes developing methodologies to identify and mitigate reactive chemical hazards in chemical processes. He has also analyzed the effects of specific chemicals on the integrity of process equipment.

Dr. Myers has participated in the investigation of several catastrophic dust explosions that have occurred throughout North America. His work in these investigations has included determining the origin and cause of the explosions, experimentally measuring the dust explosion properties of materials, modeling explosion dynamics, and determining compliance of the facility with current and historical regulations, codes, and guidelines for the prevention of dust explosions. Dr. Myers also audits existing and new facilities for dust explosion hazards and assists clients in developing approaches to mitigate dust explosion hazards.

Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Myers was a Graduate Student Researcher at the University of California, Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.