Failure of Engineered Facilities: Academia esponds to the Challenge

Abstract

In response to requests, ASCE is taking a leadership role in the prevention of failures of engineered facilities. The Technical Council on Forensic Engineering Education Committee recently completed a survey of Civil Engineering programs in the United States that identified courses specifically dealing with failure of engineered facilities. This technical note briefly summarizes 12 of the courses. It also recommends that students be continually reminded of the lessons learned from failures, through introductory courses, incorporating failure case studies into undergraduate design and analysis courses, graduate courses dealing with failure case studies, short courses and seminars, and increased availability of case study information, utilizing resources such as the Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities.