Personnel

Gwyn Oakley

Gwyn Oakley has been working in the field of controlled explosions for over 20 years. After completing a Masters Degree in Ionospheric Physics at Aberystwyth University in 1986 he moved to an experimental group within the Physics Department and started his learning of the fascinating subjects of explosion phenomena, initially under the guidance of Professor Huw Edwards and then with Dr. Geraint Thomas.

While the projects that Gwyn was involved with was varied it was during this time he became particularly interested in pipeline explosion protection equipment, in particular flame arresters. Thus Gwyn became an expert in the testing of flame arresters with experience in testing to standards BS7211, USCG CFR133 Part154 and EN12874. This experience led to his appointment on the technical committee for the ISO16854. After leaving University employment Gwyn was a consultant before joining Aber Shock and Detonation Research as a founding Director.

Richard Bambrey

Richard Bambrey is an experimentalist, currently specializing in instrumentation and diagnostic techniques; he has over thirty years practical experience in both academic and industrial environments (including private and public sectors). Starting his working life as an analytical chemist he soon converted to physics where he spent a period in the Research and Development of flammable and toxic gas detection systems. When the device was ready to enter production he set up and managed the production facility, including staff training and overseeing all aspects of production engineering as the device passed from R&D to production. Instrumentation has always been one of his specialities and he was programming 'microcomputers' for real-time data acquisition, process and display, for both lab scale and larger test rigs, when such approaches were in their infancy. He has constantly updated his programming skills allowing custom data analysis routines to be developed for use with his current work. He applies this philosophy to hardware as well as software, so that if the appropriate instrumentation is not available he is able to design and deliver a dedicated bespoke solution.

His M.Phil thesis obtained while employed at the University of Wales Aberystwyth is entitled "Studies of Flame Acceleration in Planar Shock Flow with Obstacles" and it was this work which brought him to his most recent area of excellence, high speed schlieren photography. He has produced leading edge images of detonation processes (which occur over time frames of a few microseconds) results that have been published in various international journals. Although his Masters work focussed on laboratory scale events, he has also brought much larger scale projects to fruition. Among these are the explosion safety testing of a full scale replica of industrial process piping and also of a prototype chemical reactor. Richard is a Member of the Institute of Physics and holds Chartered Physicist status.

Dr Geraint Thomas

Dr Geraint Thomas has an outstanding academic record with over 30 years postdoctoral research experience and over one hundred journal publications to his name. His PhD, in diverging gaseous detonations, was obtained from the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth (UWA) under the supervision of Prof. D. H. Edwards Dr Thomas has since worked on numerous detonation-based research projects as both an independent consultant and academic. In 1988 Dr Thomas was appointed as a lecturer in Physics at UWA and replaced Prof. D. H. Edwards as the head of the UWA Shock and Detonation Physics Group. His developing personal interest in industrial explosions led to the establishment of the Centre for Explosion Studies where, together with Gwyn Oakley, he developed a unique medium scale experimental test facility.

As Director he successfully supervised over 55 industrial explosion projects with a combined worth in excess of GBP1.4M. Dr. Thomas retired from university employment in 2004 after which he immediately resumed his private combustion hazard consultancy activity. In 2006 he was appointed honorary visiting Senior Lecturer in the Energy and Resources Research Institute, School of Process, Environmental and Materials Engineering, University of Leeds. Later in 2006 he was, together with former research colleagues from the Centre for Explosion studies, a co-founder of Aber Shock and Detonation Research Limited where he continues to pursue his interests in both fundamental and applied experimental explosion research activities.