Mr. Kupkovits specializes in the fatigue and fracture of metals, with an emphasis on thermomechanical fatigue. His background includes experience in the design and failure analysis of high temperature combustion components for the power generation industry. In addition, his skills include laboratory testing for fatigue, creep, and oxidation characterization, as well as combustion and fluid behavior.
Mr. Kupkovits has also performed failure analysis on variety of equipment, including valves, pumps, and piping. This has included metallurgical studies and evaluations of corrosion damage. Additionally, he investigates materials failures in a variety of electronics, including solder connections, relays, and medical devices.
Prior to joining Exponent, Mr. Kupkovits was a graduate research assistant at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he investigated the thermomechanical fatigue behavior of gas turbine alloys. This work included high temperature testing and the associated fractography and microscopy to characterize active damage mechanisms and the influence of microstructure. Mr. Kupkovits has explored the material response at cooling holes and other geometric stress concentrations through numerical simulations using complex visco-plastic material models. He also has experience in the empirical and physics-based life modeling of components subjected to these conditions.
Mr. Kupkovits also has industry experience in the design and analysis of gas turbine components. His efforts focused on material and wear couple selections for mating interfaces, as well as life-cycle cost reduction and FMEA efforts for various gas path seals. Additionally, he participated in root-cause investigations and customer field inspections in support of new hardware validation.
Kupkovits R, Neu R. Thermomechanical fatigue of a directionally-solidified Ni-base superalloy: Smooth and cylindrically-notched specimens. International Journal of Fatigue 2010; 32(8):1330–1342.
Kupkovits R, Smith D, Neu R. Influence of minimum temperature on the thermomechanical fatigue of a directionally-solidified Ni-base superalloy. Procedia Engineering 2010; 2:687–696.
Kupkovits R, Neu R. Thermomechanical fatigue of a directionally-solidified Ni-base superalloy in the presence of stress concentrations. Proceedings, ASME Turbo Expo 2009, Orlando, FL, June 2009.
Kupkovits R. Thermomechanical fatigue behavior of the directionally-solidified nickel-base superalloy CM247LC. Master’s Thesis, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009.
Moore Z, Kupkovits R, Neu R. Creep-fatigue of a notched directionally-solidified Ni-base superalloy. SEM XI International Congress & Exposition on Experimental and Applied Mechanics, Orlando, FL, June 2008.
Selected Presentations and Published Abstracts
Kupkovits R. Thermomechanical fatigue of a directionally-solidified Ni-base superalloy in the presence of stress concentrations. ASME Turbo Expo 2009, Orlando, FL, June 2009.
Neu, R, Moore, Z, Kupkovits, R. Cyclic deformation and life modeling of a notched directionally-solidified nickel-base superalloy. SES 2008 Technical Meeting, Urbana-Champaign, IL, October 2008.