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CE Club December 2016 Update

Forensic Engineering with Wiss, Janey, Elstner Associates

Doug Smith of Wiss, Janey, Elstner Associates spoke to the CE Club about his career in forensic engineering, and how he first became interested in engineering as a high school student that accelled at math and science. He briefly explained the history of WJE as a company, which got off to a big start when the interstate highway system kicked off in the 1950s. Doug then got into defining what exactly a forensic engineer does. Students learned that forensic engineers have to deal with not only things that collapse or break, but also structures and facilities that have serviceability issues stemming from excess deflections, unsettling vibrations, and various other problems.

Doug pointed out to the students that the failures could be due to a variety of things including: design flaws by the engineer of record, materials issues from the manufacturer or supplier, construction short comings on the part of the contractor, and maintenance oversight by the owner. Many of these things can be avoided or minimized with the proper failure avoidance philosphy and due diligence before, during, and after the design process. Students were also shown case studies and pictures from various structural failures during construction and on completed structures.