A team of graduates and soon-to-graduate students in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the Cullen College of Engineering are being recognized for the work done on their capstone project on rupture disk devices.
Johan John is finishing his final semester and graduates in Fall 2024. His teammates – Rushil Mehta, Chris Bridges and Shan Pappa – graduated in Spring 2024. Together, they created a device to help with safety issues for rupture disk devices, which are used to protect piping and other tubing from overpressure and vacuums. Ashutosh Agrawal, associate professor of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, noted that they created an exceptional project.
“Our project was to create a device to pneumatically test rupture disk devices,” John said. “Rupture disks will burst at a negative pressure differential, where pressure on the downstream is greater than the upstream leading to a dangerous situation that prevents testing for proper upstream installation of these devices. Our device combines a mixture of automated and manual safety features with the ASME pneumatic test process, that is used in industry, to optimize safety for the user.”
John noted that Bridges, a nontraditional student with more than 15 years of industry experience, came up with the idea based on his work experience.
“He pitched a concept to the team of an idea he would want to see utilized in industry, and we combined our different talents and education to produce a functional prototype,” John said.
Bridges is now a maintenance superintendent for OxyVinyls. Mehta has recently passed the FE mechanical exam and is looking for opportunities in the mechanical engineering field. Pappa and John are also exploring their career options.