Synopses & Reviews
The Most Complete and Up-to-Date Resource on Forensic Structural Engineering
Thoroughly revised and featuring contributions from leading experts, this definitive handbook offers comprehensive treatment of forensic structural engineering and expert witness delivery. From exploring the possible origins of errors, through investigating and analyzing failures, to working with the legal profession for assigning responsibilities, Forensic Structural Engineering Handbook, Second Edition covers every important topic in the field.
- The design and construction process
- Design and construction safety codes, standards, and regulations
- Standard of care and duty to perform
- First steps and legal concerns after a failure
- Engineering investigation of failures
- Origins and causes of failures
- Loads and hazards
- Design errors, construction defects, and project miscommunication
- Defects, deterioration, and durability
- Mechanisms and analyses of failures in steel, concrete, masonry, timber, and temporary structures; building envelope; and structural foundations
- Litigation and dispute resolution
- The expert consultant and witness
Synopsis
A thorough, up-to-date resource on structural investigation and expert witness delivery
The investigation of structural and construction failures is a segment of engineering that has come into its own after 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and other high profile disasters in the U.S. and abroad. Fully revised, Forensic Structural Engineering, Second Edition includes information on how engineers become proficient on the subject; procedures, codes and standards; dealing with clients; critical characteristics of structures; common deficiencies and failures, and more.
Written by a leading expert in the field, this handbook contains updated and expanded information on material specific forensics including steel, concrete, masonry, timber, foundations, and the building envelope. Appropriate codes, standards, and regulations as well as customary U.S. and SI units, are included throughout.
Synopsis
The investigation of structural/construction failures is a segment of engineering that has come into its own after 9/11, Hurricane Katrina and other high profile disasters in the U.S. and abroad. In a single source, the handbook offers a complete package on the subject for structural investigation and expert witness delivery.
About the Author
Robert Ratay is an acknowledged expert in forensic structural engineering, and has an active consulting practice in that field. He is also an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University where he has been teaching the graduate course of Forensic Structural Engineering which he created and developed some years ago, and for which the Handbook of Forensic Structural Engineering is the standard textbook. Ratay has lectured at conferences and seminars in the U.S. and abroad and published in U.S. and international journals on forensic structural engineering.
Table of Contents
Contributor List; Preface; Suggestions to the Instructor; Part 1: Design and Construction Practices;
Chapter 1. Design-Construction Process;
Chapter 2. Design Codes and Standards;
Chapter 3. Construction Safety Codes, Standards and Regulations;
Chapter 4. Standard of Care;
Part 2: Engineering Response to Failures;
Chapter 5. The First Steps after a Failure;
Chapter 6. The Engineering Investigation Process;
Part 3: Causes of Failures;
Chapter 7. Loads and Hazards: Their Nature, Magnitude, and Consequences;
Chapter 8. Design Errors, Construction Defects, and Project Miscommunication;
Chapter 9. Defects, Deterioration, and Durability;
Chapter 10. Temporary Structures in Construction;
Part 4: Material-Specific Forensic Analyses;
Chapter 11. Steel Structures;
Chapter 12. Concrete Structures;
Chapter 13. Masonry Structures;
Chapter 14. Timber Structures;
Chapter 15. Building Facades;
Chapter 16. Foundations;
Part 5: Professional Practice and Legal Aspects;
Chapter 17. Legal Concerns after a Failure;
Chapter 18. Litigation and Dispute Resolution;
Chapter 19. The Expert Consultant and Witness;
Index