Monroe Professional Engineers Society A Chapter of the New York State Society of Professional Engineers 657 East Avenue, Rochestter, New York 14607 Dedicated to Professionalism in Engineering in the Interest of Public Safety and Welfare 2017-18 Officers: President David Roberts, PE, President-elect Chris Kambar, PE, Vice-President Arthur Reardon, PE, Secretary Martin Gordon, PE, Treasurer Michael Ritchie, PE, Membership Chair Arthur Reardon, PE Past Presidents: Chris Devries, P.E., Joseph Dombrowski, P.E. Directors: Barry Dumbauld, PE, Robert Winans, PE, Ann Ziki, PE, Jim Drago, PE, Neal Illenberg, PE
MPES Secretary, Martin E. Gordon, PE, DFE, Authors Article on Miami Bridge Collapse Despite our best efforts as engineers, design failures occur. In a best-case scenario, design flaws are caught and corrected during the design process. If not caught during design, testing and laboratory analysis may bring design issues to light. More costly are flaws that become apparent during the building or manufacturing process. Worse yet are failures that occur when the product or structure is in use by the consumer or general public. However, when designs undergo sudden, catastrophic failure, with injury or even loss of life, these are termed Engineering Disasters. Determining exactly ‘what went wrong’ in these situations often falls under the category of forensic engineering. According to one source, forensic engineering “is the investigation of materials, products, structures or components that fail or do not operate or function as intended, causing personal injury or damage to property.” MPES Secretary, Martin E. Gordon, PE, DFE, is certified as a forensic engineer by NAFE: the National Academy of Forensic Engineers (a chartered affinity group of NSPE). Gordon recently authored an article titled: How do forensic engineers investigate bridge collapses, like the one in Miami? on the news website The Conversation (see full article at https://theconversation.com/how-do-forensic-engineersinvestigate-bridge-collapses-like-the-one-in-miami-93692). The article was recently picked up by Scientific American. Mr. Gordon notes that forensic engineers are currently trying to determine why this bridge collapsed and how to prevent similar tragedies in the future. While not actively involved in the investigation, he notes that some basic common steps will be taken by the forensic engineering team. First, survivors must be rescued and victims must be recovered. Gordon notes that during this phase materials can be moved and evidence damaged, so the forensic engineers need to study the emergency response to the disaster in addition to the disaster itself. Forensic engineers will need to collect samples of the bridge materials in order to test the physical properties. They will also need to study drawings, plans, and calculations in order to compare this data against what was actually built. Additionally, they will need to study photographs and video of the collapse and piece together the “sequence of events and locations of key problems.” Gordon further notes that “putting that puzzle together is a key part of the forensic engineer’s role.” Gordon’s article provides a link to dashcam footage of the bridge collapse. He notes that the footage “seems to indicate that the initial failure was very close to the north end of the structure” and that a crack had been discovered near this end of the bridge a few days prior to the collapse. Gordon also notes that not all the questions considered will be directly engineeringrelated. Some may be logistical, such as why the road was reopened to traffic while the bridge was still under construction. If you are interested in learning more about Forensic Engineering, consider attending the NAFE summer meeting at the Hyatt Regency in Buffalo, NY to be held on July 27-29. Registration is open to all regardless of membership status and first time attendees get 50% off on registration. For additional information or to sign up please visit www.NAFE.org. As always, we encourage active membership in the Monroe Professional Engineers Society. We are constantly striving to improve your membership but we always need more help. If you are interested in becoming an active member or have any questions, please email me at dcrobertspe@gmail.com or contact MPES through our website at www.monroepes.org/contactus/.
David C. Roberts, P.E., President, MPES 28 | The ROCHESTER ENGINEER MAY 2018
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