ForensicEngineering

By: Timothy Baxter

Definition

• Forensic Engineering is “the application of the art and science of engineering in matters which are in, or may possibly relate to, the jurisprudence system, inclusive of alternative dispute resolution.“*

• *NAFE.com

Things to Look For

• Forensic Engineers deal with appliances, machines, and buildings that fail, resulting in the injury or death of a person.

• Fractography (the study of a fractured surface) is one of the main things that brings Forensic Engineers to a conclusion.*

• Wikipedia*

Before

• Companies (especially car companies) hire Forensic Engineers before their product is put into society.

• They monitor early failures to help improve the quality and safety of their product.

• For example, when car crash testing happens most of the time there is a Forensic Engineer on cite.

Medical Problems

• Not only do Forensic Engineers work with physical damage done by appliances or buildings, etc., but they also work with Medical defects caused by transplants.*

• Examples: Brest implants, heart transplants, heart valves, and catheters.

• Wikipedia*

Marvin Specter (Head of NAFE)

• “To effectively become a Forensic Engineer, one must first become an Engineer.”

• Forensic Engineers are just Engineers that are asked to help in the court of law.

• In some cases people are specialist in Forensic Engineering, such as Marvin Specter.

Becoming an Engineer

• One must complete a formal education to obtain an accredited engineering degree, then completing the required examinations, which in the USA is for the Professional Engineering license, and is usually attainable after 4-5 years of engineering practice following the Bachelors level engineering degree.*

• Marvin Specter (NAFE)*

Becoming a Well Known Engineer

• It is necessary to have further experience in actual engineering practice and possibly advanced education (Masters or Doctoral level degrees).*

• This establishes credibility as an expert in some specialized field of engineering*

• This is also needed to gain respect of prospective clients and those who will judge such in the legal system.*

• Marvin Specter (NAFE)*

Hurricane Katrina

• After the Hurricane in 2005 people began to get blamed for what had happened and investigations were begun.*

• http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/forensic/review3.php*

Scientific Investigation (Katrina)

• The Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force (IPET) examined geotechnical data.*

• Geotechnical Engineering is a branch of civil engineering that deals with the behavior of the Earth.^

• Mathematical Models and computer simulations were created in order.

• http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/forensic/review3.php*• Wikipedia^

Comparing Data (Katrina)

• When forensic engineers are investigating a scene they usually compare their findings to that of a similar investigation.*

• The damage from Hurricane Katrina was similar to India when it was hit by a tsunami in December 2004. This makes it obvious that the Levees had failed. Now the question is Why?*

• http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/forensic/review3.php*

Why?

• After investigations were complete, engineers blamed “weak links” for the failure of the flood walls and levees.

• These weak links were at the junction where levees and walls joined together.

Additional Research (Katrina)

• By looking through old records, it was discovered that some structures' building codes, if there were any at all, for Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi were not updated appropriately.*

• http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/forensic/review3.php*

More Major Studies

• September 11, 2001 was a major date of devastation for the United States. Forensic Engineers spent months trying to answering the question: “Had there been no structural damage [i.e., that due to aircraft impact] would the structure have survived fires of a similar magnitude?”*

• http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/forensic/review3.php*