Discipline Order for Rural Bridge Collapse Immediately After Opening 2

[jmec87]

Follow-up to thread815-444241

The engineer has been disciplined by the professional association because he "did not practise in a careful and diligent manner" for this bridge that collapsed and 5 other bridges (that did not collapse but had significant deficiencies).

The discipline order includes an 18 month suspension, requirements for mentoring and supervision for at least 3 years, a ban on designing bridges for at least 5 years, additional practice restrictions for at least 3 years, requirements for at least 5 hours of ethics training each year for 3 years, $15 000 in fines, and $32 000 in costs.

A news article and the discipline decision (in two parts, plus the main discipline page) are linked below.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/engineer-18-month-suspension-bridge-collapsed-1.6936657

https://www.apegs.ca/assets/scott-gullacher-decisioninterimorder-web.pdf

https://www.apegs.ca/assets/gullacher-final-order-july-12-2023-web.pdf

https://www.apegs.ca/complaints-enforcement/discipline-hearings-notices

 

[waross]

They could have gotten a $1,000,000+ bridge subsidized by the Provincial Government, but would have had to pay $325,000.
Instead they opted to build a cheaper bridge for $325,000.
Why the difference in cost?
Standards of construction.
If they had built the $1.000,000+ bridge the construction standards would have required piles, driven to hard bottom.
The driven piles would not have failed.
They went with the cheaper screw piles.
Cost to the RM of a bridge built to Government standards; $750,000 grant plus $325,000 Paid by the RM.
Cost to the RM of a cheap bridge that failed; $325,000 Paid by the RM.
If you think that the river is shallow, wait until you see the gene pool.

--------------------
Ohm's law
Not just a good idea;
It's the LAW!

 

[JedClampett]

Ouch! That's a tough project to put on your resume.

 

[Overvoltage]

Probably additional strings that came with that more expensive bridge (check for habitat of the endangered white moose, a study of nesting habitats of the green turd beetle, etc.) But yes when you look at it from a logical perspective it really makes no sense not to let the Province pay the difference for a much better product. But it is fashionable in some political circles to not be spending money from "the liberals/conservatives" in xxx when it's a local project...

 

[Brad805]

The driven piles would not have failed.
They went with the cheaper screw piles.

The problem was they did not look at the pile logs to see they were not embedded into something suitable. We investigated a bin collapse where they had put the bin on the screw piles near a row of similar bins that had performed fine for endless load cycles. In this case the suitable material was following the slope of the hill and was far deeper. The bin settled 42" into the ground when the hopper bottom started to provide support. Had anyone simply looked at the log they would know. Nothing wrong with screw piles except for clueless people.

I would not be shocked if there were other problems with the bridge, but the pile failure could have been avoided by simply looking at a log and asking a few questions.

 

[jmec87]

I am would not be shocked if there were other problems with the bridge

The discipline investigation seemed to focus only on the piles and lack of geotech for the bridge that collapsed. For 5 other bridges designed by this engineer around the same time that the hearing panel investigated, the report includes the following:

There were several examples of non-conformity with the CHBDC. Areas of concern included the
following:
• No design life was stated in the plans.
• Design details required by the code were missing from the plans.
• Quality control, inspection and testing requirements were not included in any of the
documentation.
• Concrete deck panels did not meet the code.
• Structural steel did not meet the code.
• No specifications for bolts were indicated in the plans.
• The code requires fracture critical members to be connected by continuous welds. On four
of the five bridges stitch welds were used.
• Shear studs were not adequate to meet the assumption of composite action.
• The code requires that connections contain at least two bolts. All bracing connections were
made with a single bolt.
• The plans did not indicate the requirement for pre-tensioning or torquing of bolts.
• The materials used for plates and tension members did not meet the code requirements.
• The code requires erection diagrams, shop details, welding procedures, erection procedure
drawings and calculations to be submitted to the owner. The plans did not satisfy these
requirements of the code.
• The traffic barriers (railings) did not meet the code.

Specific to the designs, there were issues with assumptions made regarding lateral load distribution,
and distribution of load across bands under resistance. This resulted in five superstructure designs
which were inadequate to carry the minimum loads required by the CHBDC.
...
The Hearing Panel therefore concludes as follows:
• There was inaccurate representation of bridge designs in documents submitted.
• Numerous code deficiencies were identified in the plans and designs.
• Critical detail was missing on plans for welding details.
• The composite action between the deck and the steel girders was insufficient due to an
inadequate number of shear studs.
• The designs lacked continuity of load across multiple spans.
• The bridge rails did not meet the requirement for a TL-2 rating.
• Gravel wearing surface on concrete decks will result in damage to the bridge deck and
abutment once material is removed from the deck.

 

[waross]

The problem was they did not look at the pile logs

I have to wonder if pile logs were available.

--------------------
Ohm's law
Not just a good idea;
It's the LAW!

 

[MortenA]

But they wanted a dirt cheap bridge....

--- Best regards, Morten Andersen

 

[Sym P. le]

He said the issue was with five underwater pilings and "the whole five of them just went straight down. Boom. Four feet."

CBC Link

I would have to suggest that four feet of settlement is more than a whoopsy?!

"It seems like something under the riverbed let go and a row of pilings sunk," Hicks said. "I don't know who to blame but I figure God built most of this for us."

Fatalism provides for any outcome.

 

[waross]

I've seen dumber.
A small town on a reef about 1000 feet offshore from an island.
Fresh water was brought to the settlement by boat from springs on the island.
There was a project to install a water line from a spring on the island to the reef to supply fresh water.
The controversy raged for several months until the project was finally completed and the water was flowing.
A large contingent was against the project as a waste of money and a completely unworkable scheme.
Why?
The theory was that the water would just run down to the bottom of the bay and then just stay there and so the whole thing would be a waste of money.
Fortunately they were wrong, but remember, half the population is below average intelligence.

--------------------
Ohm's law
Not just a good idea;
It's the LAW!

 

[3DDave]

"half the population is below average intelligence." is funny, but untrue. For example the majority of the population has more than the average number of eyes. The least gifted do tend to make an above average amount of ignorant arguments.

 

[IRstuff]

A 95 IQ doesn't make you stupid; and that's assuming an IQ test even tests intelligence. For certain, an IQ test doesn't even really test for common sense

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg

faq731-376 forum1529 Entire Forum list

http://www.eng-tips.com/forumlist.cfm

 

[dik]

The old expression is that it tells you the tank size... it doesn't tell you if it is full or empty.

-----*****-----
So strange to see the singularity approaching while the entire planet is rapidly turning into a hellscape. -John Coates

-Dik

 

[MortenA]

@3DDave, if you believe that intelligence can be measured and represented by a single number then for the most common IQ definition it has to be true since QI of 100 is the median of the population.

--- Best regards, Morten Andersen

 

[Phil1934]

original reports say the piles were near n underwater cliff so the corner broke off.

 

[Brad805]

There may or may not have been logs from the screw pile truck. You can find all sorts of suppliers in the rural areas. Some have very good logging systems, some have simple gauges that read oil pressure, and others have nothing. I expect screw piles are used extensively in the region to support hopper bottom farm bins. Farmers tend not to care much about anything other than cost until one fails. I have been involved in a lot of screw pile projects. I do not have a problem with the basic concept, but have grown very tired of many of the suppliers. In our area I only work with two suppliers, which are far more costly, but they have engineers on staff that special in screw pile design.

I am a bit amazed it lasted thru construction until it failed.