Dirk Duffner
Duffner Engineering

Duffner Engineering specializes in the practice of failure analysis.  Our  focus is  on determining the root cause of failures in a wide variety of products, including machinery, vehicles, pressure vessels, medical devices, consumer products, building materials, and communications equipment.  We conduct construction defect investigations of plumbing and heating, ventilating, and air conditioning installations.  Specific areas of interest are fatigue, fracture and corrosion of various materials, including metals, plastics, and fiber composites.

 

In our lab and testing facilites, Duffner Engineering conducts failure analysis investigations and accident reconstructions.  We determine product failure modes, whether related to design, manufacturing, or service.  We perform environmental, structural, and/or mechanical tests in conjunction with computer-based analyses, such as finite element modeling, to determine the cause of failure. 

Mr. Duffner has a background in mechanical and materials engineering. Much of Mr. Duffner’s experience is with the design and development of customized experiments involving experimental stress analysis and modal (vibration) analysis. Prior to forming Duffner Engineering, Mr. Duffner was a founder and owner of Principia Engineering Services, Managing Engineer at Exponent, Inc. (formerly Failure Analysis Associates), and a cooperative education student at the Space Systems Division of the Lockheed Missiles and Space Company, now Lockheed Martin Company.

 

M.S., Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, 1998

B.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, 1985

Registered Professional Mechanical Engineer, California #M27229

 

Publications available upon request.