Donnavan (Don) Halimunanda, P.E.

Background

Mr. Don Halimunanda holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering and is a registered Professional Engineer in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.  He has over 20 years of experience in forensic engineering, general failure analysis, testing, and design improvements. Mr. Halimunanda has inspected and diagnosed the root causes of a wide range of issues, including material failures in mechanical design, equipment malfunctions due to defects, improper installations, misuse, and poor maintenance. Additionally, he has been involved in accident reconstruction and is a licensed and trained data collection technician.

Mr. Halimunanda has conducted various accident analyses related to component failures in vehicles and industrial and process equipment. In addition, he has investigated premature component failures during accidents that resulted in injuries and fatalities. Beyond accident investigations, he has also evaluated poor equipment performance that led to material production losses.

His 18 years of experience in the field of metallurgy have equipped him with the knowledge to determine whether components failed due to mechanical or environmental factors such as force overload, fatigue, low fracture toughness, corrosion, stress corrosion cracking, corrosion fatigue, hydrogen embrittlement, or hydrogen-induced cracking.

Beyond analyses requiring research and calculations, Mr. Halimunanda enhances project depth by conducting various custom mechanical tests to simulate accident conditions for claim verification or product performance improvement. These tests include both destructive and non-destructive methods. He has also performed a range of metallurgical analyses, such as fracture surface examinations using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and microstructural analysis using an optical microscope. He is highly knowledgeable in metallurgical sample preparation techniques, including etching.

Mr. Halimunanda is a hands-on professional when conducting accident site inspections and collecting data. He has utilized a variety of inspection tools to gather detailed information. In addition to being highly trained in the use of the FARO 3D scanner, he is also a licensed drone operator.