Stuctural failures 2

[rittz]

I wonder any of you know of a book which reviews the causes of a variety of structural failures that happened in the past. I just would like to read about such occurrences for interest …. Not necessarily to reduce the possibility of making any errors or omissions, etc. in my practice. I’m basically retired now). I did see such a book but cannot remember the title. Accounts in the mass media do not do it for me. The story's are inevitably fraught with unqualified opinions, speculations, exaggerations etc. Thanks for your help.

 

[hokie66]

Levy and Salvadori's "Why Buildings Fall Down" is a good read, and has many of the best known and spectacular failures included.

 

[SlideRuleEra]

Another is "Construction Disasters", by Steven S. Ross, published by McGraw-Hill in 1984. Here is a quote from the preface:
"In this book, more than two dozen of the worst disasters of the past half century are reported in detail using words (and often pictures) that originally appeared in the pages of Engineering News Record."
The half century that is referred to is from the Long Beach Earthquake, 1933 to Hyatt Walkway Collapse, 1981.

http://www.SlideRuleEra.net

http://www.VacuumTubeEra.net

 

[gobsmacked]

Understanding Systems Failure (Open University set book) [Paperback]
Victor Bignell (Editor), Joyce Fortune (Editor)
has a very good account of the West Gate Bridge collapse over the river Yarrah, Australia, among other failures.

 

[JStephen]

Go to youtube, look for "Engineering Disasters".

 

[amecENG]

There have been a few good technical papers written on the Christ Church Earthquake that are pretty interesting. Google:
1. CTV building collapse
2. Report of the Structural Performance of the Hotel Grand Chancellor
3. Steel Building Damage from the Christchurch Earthquake

 

[Hokie93]

You might also be interested in "Design Paradigms: Case Histories of Error and Judgment in Engineering" by Henry Petroski. It is a good read.

 

[MJB315]

One of the best structural engineering books (let alone engineering failure books) that I have ever read.

Design and Construction Failures: Lessons from Forensic Investigations by Dov Kaminetsky.

[link Link to Amazon]

http://www.amazon.com/Design-Constr...TF8&qid=1372197995&sr=1-1&keywords=0070335656

[/url]

"We shape our buildings, thereafter they shape us." -WSC

 

[focuseng]

in addition to Levy and Salvadori's "Why Buildings Fall Down" make sure to get the companion "Why Buildings Stand Up". Maybe its not as fun...
They are both well written and approachable by non-engineers in a narrative sort of way yet very complete and technical.

______________
MAP

 

[kieran1]

I'd recommend you search for articles by my old professor Alan Jennings.Learning from Disasters

Kieran

 

[darthsoilsguy2]

i studied under Henry Petroski. i can't read his bathroom books. i saw too many good professors denied tenure because they didn't produce enough profitable research.... or as in his case bestsellers. i suppose objectively they are good reads, but just brings sour grapes for me.

 

[rittz]

Thanks a bunch to Hokie93 for suggesting the book: “Design Paradigms: Case Histories of Error and Judgment in Engineering" by Henry Petroski.
I have read some of it already. It is a great read, and very enlightening. It sure got my attention.
Every structural engineer from the beginner to the guys nearing retirement (like me LOL) should read it. You could be surprised by the revelation on how innocently you could make a serious mistake.
I got the book from the public library.....JWR.