Failure Investigation Process
The purpose of this paper is to consider the present failure investigation process, in order to assess whether failures are being properly investigated, and also whether sufficient information...
Alternative Procedures for Investigating Failures
Failures of engineered structures continue to occur. This is despite rapid advances in engineering theory, new, more sophisticated methods of analysis, and streamlined techniques for preparing...
Information Availability
There seems to be a great deal of concern about lack of availability of information concerning the results of failure investigations. In most court cases there is virtually no technical...
Failure Information Needs in Civil Engineering
If we are to learn from failures of engineered facilities, failure information must be in a useful form, and it must reach those who can effect improved practice. This paper discusses,...
Learning from Failures
Modern technology and innovation have created a gap between what the design drawings predict with respect to safety and serviceability of a structure and the real safety and serviceability...
Learning from Failures: Procedural Changes in the Design and Construction Process to Reduce Failures
This paper first defines failures and their number and scope in the design and construction fields. It then presents the writer's opinion as to the cause of the failures and...
Failure Investigations in Undergraduate Education
Author stresses the need for failure investigations in undergraduate education especially in Civil Engineering. The civil engineer often creates only one major project of a kind, and is...
Small Water Users�Planning Crisis
Planning to rehabilitate small water systems�both irrigation and municipal water supply�often is ignored. In contrast, planning for new construction and for operations/maintenance work...
Investigation of Catastrophic Failure of a Premium-Alloy Railroad Rail
In November 1983 an Amtrak train derailed at a speed of 72 mph (115 kph) at Woodlawn, Texas (in the vicinity of Marshall, Texas), resulting in four fatalities and twenty-four serious injuries....
Time-Dependent Damage and Creep of Brittle Rock
In this paper, some results of a combined analytical-experimental study of the relationship between subcritical microcrack growth due to stress corrosion and the time-dependent deformation...
Liquefaction Flow Failure of Silty Sand by Torsional Cyclic Tests
The use of undrained strain-controlled cyclic torsional loading of anisotropically consolidated triaxial specimens (CyT-CAU tests), is proposed for evaluating liquefaction flow failure...
Structural Vibrations Associated with Large Incubation Tanks
It is the purpose of this paper to describe the format of an investigation wherein the train of evidence led from an assumption of a strictly mechanical cause to an actual cause that was...
Advances in High Strength Concrete,
The technology for producing field placeable concrete with a 28 day compressive strength of 10,000 psi has been available for many years. With the recent use of microsilica as an additive...
Aseismic Capability Prediction from Failure Data
Forensic engineering evaluations of failures have produced a wealth of technical data. In this paper, evaluation of representative failure data from one practitioner provided relevant...
New Analysis Techniques for Structural Masonry
These seven papers on analysis of structural masonry that constitute this Proceedings were presented at a technical session at the ASCE Structural Engineering Congress held at Hyatt Regency...
Reducing Failures of Engineered Facilities
One of the most serious problems of modern professional practice is the collapse or malfunction of an engineered facility. The tragic consequences of this problem are all too familiar...
Fracture Problems in the Transportation Industry
Six cases of damage tolerance assessment are presented, involving structures or vehicles in the U.S. transportation industry. Damage tolerance means arranging design, maintenance, and...
Seismic Experience Data?Nuclear and Other Plants
The Seismic Qualification Utilities Group (SQUG) was formed to explore the use of earthquake experience data of equipment performance to resolve Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) initiated...
Predicting Sinkhole Collapse
Sinkholes erupt when a cavern or opening in the limestone rock below opens up to the surface. Florida's sinkholes have received most U.S. attention recently, but sinkhole geology is found...
Establishing Patterns of Building Failures
Establishing statistical patterns of building failures can help engineers and architects prevent similar failures in the future and also reduce litigation. The Architecture and Engineering...
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