Joe Whitehead_Web

Joe Whitehead

Consultant (Las Cruces, NM)

Joe worked as a full-time combustion and failure analysis engineer from 2016 through 2022. He continues to share his expertise on a consulting basis through WHA.

While on staff, Joe specialized in fuel-oxidizer combustion technologies including industrial fire/explosion accident investigations and reactive fuel-gas testing. He developed the WHA reactive gases ignition test system and conducted testing to evaluate the stability of reactive gases including their minimum ignition energies. He also managed the WHA mechanical impact test systems to determine the reactivity of materials in high-pressure gaseous and liquid oxygen.

Joe came to WHA from the NASA White Sands Test Facility (NASA WSTF) where he served as a project leader in the Oxygen Systems group of WSTF’s Testing and Analysis Laboratory Department. His primary role at WSTF applied engineering analysis of three primary WSTF laboratory specialties (oxygen systems, hydrogen systems, and COPVs) to a unique prototype program that was a joint effort between NASA and DoD. Prior to NASA, Joe worked as a structural engineer for The Boeing Companies Space and Defense Division in St. Louis, Missouri. While at Boeing, he worked many projects involving the F-15 Strike Eagle fighter including extended design on the conformal weapons bay fuel section, retrofit activities on the F-15S conformal Fuel Tank, and several special projects for Boeing’s Phantom Works.

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