Page 17 - Forensic Structural Engineering Handbook

xvi SUGGESTION TO THE INSTRUCTOR

review of significant failures, civil/structural engineering design and construction prac-
tices, ethical standards and the legal positions as necessary background to forensic engi-
neering; discussion of the designer’s standard-of-care and the contractor’s duty-to-per-
form; study of the process of engineering evaluation of structural defects and failure in
service and during construction; examination of the roles, activities, conduct, and ethics of
the forensic consultant and expert witness.
“Homework” does not come from the book but students are assigned projects of actual
cases of nonperformance or failure (all cases from my own practice) of steel, concrete,
masonry, geotechnical, and temporary structures in order to perform, discuss, and report
their own investigations under my guidance.
This is not a “what happened” or “lessons learned” or “collection of failures” book—
for those topics I refer the students to other references I select from the published litera-
ture, and to examples I present in my lectures. This is a “what I need to know,” “what I
need to do,” and “how I need to do it” book.
Upon completing the course with the use of this book, the students claim to have a
broader view of the structural engineering profession; better understanding of the behavior,
misbehavior, and vulnerability of structures; more appreciation of the consequences of
design errors and construction defects; at least some awareness of the legal arena entered
after a failure; and a fuller realization of their own personal responsibilities. In my view,
they turn out to be better informed, more reliable, and more successful structural engineers.
Robert T. Ratay, Ph.D., P.E.
Consulting Engineer, Manhasset, New York
Adjunct Professor, Columbia University, New York