Page 199 - Forensic Structural Engineering Handbook

CHAPTER 6

THE ENGINEERING

INVESTIGATION PROCESS

Daniel A. Cuoco, P.E., and Gary F. Panariello, Ph.D., P.E.

INTRODUCTION 6.1
What Is Failure 6.1
Why Investigate Failures 6.2
Why Structures Collapse 6.2
Not Collapsed but Failing 6.4
EMERGENCY RESPONSE VERSUS FORENSIC INVESTIGATION 6.4
SCOPE OF INVESTIGATION 6.5
The Importance of Why 6.5
Client Needs 6.5
The Investigating Team 6.6
STEPS IN THE INVESTIGATION 6.7
Field Investigations 6.7
Eyewitness Accounts 6.10
Document Review 6.11
Structural Analysis 6.13
Laboratory Analysis 6.14
CONCLUSIONS OF THE INVESTIGATION 6.16
Identifying Possible Causes of Failure 6.16
Determining What Caused the Failure 6.16
REPORTS 6.17
REFERENCES 6.17

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this chapter is to provide a brief road map for investigations of structural
failures including challenges that often arise and questions that need to be addressed.
Structural failures vary considerably in size and complexity; however, the basic steps are
often the same and can be modulated to the specific conditions at hand.

What Is Failure
Structural failure is typically thought of as the partial or complete collapse of the structure;
but it can also be other performance failures, such as excessive deflections, cracking or delam-
inating of concrete elements, etc. Some of these are precursors to collapse, while others are

6.1