FORENSIC ENGINEERING

What is Forensic engineering?

To answer the question let’s take the meaning of the words separately; ”forensic”- is related to science connected with legal investigations, and we all know the meaning of “Engineering”, Thus forensic engineering means investigation of an engineering failure to find out the cause, the way it happened and the lessons to learn. The Forensic engineer may need to prove his conclusions in court to find out who is exactly guilty for the failure. How is this related to Civil engineering? Most forensic engineering investigations in civil engineering field are based on structural failures. Let’s take an example of a failure of a bridge, which would cause the loss of many lives and damage to the properties. It is the responsibility of the forensic engineer to find out why it did fail, where it failed, the reasons for the failure as well as the responsible party. The Structural failures occur due to

weaknesses in:

· Design

· Material

· Construction

· Inspection & maintenance

· Warning system

But how could these weaknesses happen? - Generally due to:

· Technical matters

· Ignorance

· Lack of Communication

· Other reasons (Political, Financial, etc.)

·

In the process of analysis, the usual steps followed by a forensic engineer are:

· State the problem –

Try to understand the original structure, design concepts, etc.

· Perform numerous observations-

Taking photographs in several angles, identifying the main fracture surfaces or points, take down the sketches, paying heed to eye witnesses

· Formulate hypotheses as to the cause of breakdown

· Analyze the results-

Using 3D animation of the structure, developed models, laboratory results, etc.

· Make the final conclusions

Let’s consider a small example in forensic engineering investigations. Suppose that a concrete slab of a two storey building collapsed and you are asked to investigate it.

After following the above mentioned steps, you may check (with tests) whether your assumed hypotheses are correct. Think that your hypotheses for the cause of failure are:

· Excessive loading

· Weak steel reinforcement

· Insufficient thickness of the slab

You can make a little table like one below.

Test or observations	Quality of steel	reinforce ment	Total loading
Lab test	PASS	-	FAIL
Load estimation	-	PASS	FAIL
Cracking pattern	PASS	-	FAIL

You may understand that the problem was with the thickness of the concrete and finally you will have to provide a summary report in which you may show the cause and support details for your conclusions, responsible parties, etc. To be an outstanding forensic engineer, one must have the following characteristics.

· Gather as much as possible information or observation

· Simply stay curious, be open and keep testing your current results

· Should come to conclusion only based on scientific theory

· Should not be biased

· Being clear and truthful

How to become a forensic engineer?

There is variety of Forensic engineering MSc Programs offered by various universities; to get qualified you should have a Bachelor’s degree in engineering in any field. It would be more interesting if you are a creative, inquisitive, analytical and detail-oriented engineer.

References

1) “Forensic engineering”, second edition by Kenneth L. Carper

2) Presentation on “Forensic Engineering: Detective engineering by Dr David W. Flower, The university of Texas at Austin.

3) www.openlearn.open.ac.uk (Introduction to forensic engineering)

4) www.wikipedia.org

5) “Forensic Engineering” an article by Jim Drebelbis.

- N. G. P. B. Neluwala