scholarly journals Forensic Engineering Analysis of Residential Underdrain Design Methodologies, Performance, and Failures

2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Nelson ◽  
Edward Fronapfel
Keyword(s):  
Common Interest ◽  
Insurance Company ◽  
Single Family ◽  
Minimum Standards ◽  
Flow Capacity ◽  
Field Investigations ◽  
Homeowners Association ◽  
Forensic Engineering ◽  
Clear Information ◽  
Design Construction

In 2014, the basement of a single-family home in a residential subdivision flooded. The homeowner’s insurance company engaged an engineer to conduct forensic investigations, which ultimately determined that the resultant flooding was caused by blockage of an underdrain system to which the home was connected. This system included a main line in the street and a lateral that connected the underdrain to the home’s foundation drain. Subsequent to this event, other homes in the subdivision reported flooding in the basements and crawlspaces. The author was engaged by the subdivision homeowners association (Common Interest Ownership Community or CIOC). The CIOC’s declarations and recorded documents contained no information regarding the existence of the underdrain system. In addition, there was no clear information about the ownership or maintenance responsibility. The author’s field investigations determined the underdrain was not constructed to the applicable minimum standards, and the developer did not provide adequate flow capacity for the number of homes served by the underdrain. The CIOC entered into litigation against the developer, and the author evaluated issues associated with the design, construction, transition, and maintenance of the underdrain system.

scholarly journals Forensic Engineering Data Collection For Stairway Incidents

2007 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilbur T. Yaxley ◽  
Armstrong Jeffrey D.
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Building Codes ◽  
Building Code ◽  
Engineering Data ◽  
Forensic Engineering ◽  
Riser Height ◽  
Design Construction

Forensic Engineers Are Often Called Upon To Investigate Injury Events On Stairs. A Significant Number Of Injuries And Deaths Occur On Stairways. With A Background In Design, Construction, And Building Codes, Forensic Engineers Can Identify The Appropriate Codes With Which The Stairs Might Be Required To Comply, Can Determine Whether Deficiencies Exist And To What Extent, And Whether Deficiencies Are Related To The Design Or The Construction Of The Facility. Data Collection On Stairways Can Be Difficult And Tedious. Measurements Of Tread Depths And Riser Heights Must Be Measured With Precision To Compare With Allowable Tolerances. This Paper Presents Various Means Of Collecting Data Related To Stairways, Including Documentation Of Tread Depth, Riser Height, Tread Slope, Nosing, Handrails, And Headroom Clearances. The Paper Will Also Introduce A Device That Was Developed And Validated By The Authors For Measuring Treads And Risers. This Paper Focuses Only On Data Collection Methodologies, And Does Not Present Analyses Or Render Opinions With Regard To Building Code Requirements. The Building Code Requirements That Are Presented Herein Are Only For The Purpose Of Illustrating Typical Code Requirements, To Illustrate Why Various Data Must Be Collected, And To Review Proper Methods Of Data Collection.

NORTHEAST MILKING EQUIPMENT STANDARDS1

1968 ◽  
Vol 31 (7) ◽  
pp. 211-214
Author(s):  
Sidney E. Barnard
Keyword(s):  
General Rule ◽  
Dairy Farmer ◽  
Minimum Standards ◽  
Market Requirements ◽  
Areas Of Concern ◽  
Milking Machine ◽  
Vacuum Systems ◽  
Conventional Systems ◽  
Near Future ◽  
Design Construction

Minimum standards for milking equipment have been prepared for the northeastern United States. The purpose of these standards is to act as guidelines for the manufacturer, installer, dairy farmer and industry and regulatory sanitarian. The objectives are to eliminate duplication of farm inspections as a result of common market requirements and to have good quality and flavor by having well designed equipment, properly installed, properly operated and cleaned after each use. A committee of 50 persons representing industry, regulatory and university interests developed “Minimum Standards for the Design, Construction and Installation of Milking and Milk Handling Equipment.” Major areas of concern were the design and construction of equipment which was cleanable in the hands of the average dairy farmer and did not contribute to flavor or quality problems. Specific recommendations concern the installation of vacuum systems and pipeline milkers. A table of minimum vacuum pump capacities for conventional systems and a general rule of a 50% reserve for pipeline milker vacuum systems are included. Tips for installation include support, slope and diameter of vacuum lines and sanitary milk lines. Recommendations also concern filtration, cleaning and operation with the manufacturer being responsible for written as well as on the farm instruction for the dairy farmer. Service checks by an authorized milking machine dealer are suggested annually on conventional systems and semi-annually on pipeline systems. These standards should help to assure good flavor and quality in milk as well as establish common requirements for various milk markets. Hopefully, quality standards covering flavor, bacteriological quality, sediment and leucocyte levels may be agreed upon in the near future.

scholarly journals International Real Estate Review

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Jay Weiser ◽  
◽  
Ronald Neath ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Common Interest ◽  
Single Family ◽  
Dominant Form ◽  
Residential Community ◽  
Homeowners Associations ◽  
Community Associations ◽  
Unit Value ◽  
Residential Units ◽  
Architectural Review ◽  
Deed Restrictions

Residential community associations (common interest communities such as condominiums, cooperatives and planned unit developments, as well as properties subject to homeowners associations and architectural review boards) have become the dominant form of ownership for new United States single-family residential units. Community associations typically use covenants, conditions and restrictions (also known as CCRs, C&Rs, deed restrictions or covenants) to impose extensive private-ordered controls over unit owners. This empirical study uses regression analysis of a Web-based community association enforcement practices survey, concluding that more intense private-ordered enforcement is associated with increased unit value and decreased covenant violation levels. It also finds that judicial deference to private-ordered community association enforcement decisions is associated with higher value, and that some measures of social cohesion are associated with decreased covenant violation levels.

scholarly journals Forensic Engineering Analysis of Slips and Falls

1987 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
James D. Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Technical Analysis ◽  
Insurance Company ◽  
Engineering Analysis ◽  
Forensic Engineering ◽  
Fall Accidents

Litigation of slip and fall accidents is a risk if it goes to a jury. That is what the author often says to clients. When we started in forensic engineering we never intended to work in this field, but it is an area that involves our background in design, safety, and mechanical engineering. The problem for us as forensic engineers is to accurately explain the evidence, our technical analysis and our opinion relative to the accident-first to the client attorney or insurance company, and then to a jury. This paper primarily addresses the forensic engineers approach to the analysis of the evidence obtained in slip and fall accidents. The first step, which seems to be the most difficult, is obtaining adequate and proper evidence.

On the Progress of Profit in a Life Assurance Fund

1893 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 493-536
Author(s):  
Thomas J. Searle
Keyword(s):  
Insurance Company ◽  
Life Assurance ◽  
Principal Difference ◽  
Clear Information

The principal difference between the accounts of an insurance ecompany and those of an ordinary trader lies in the fact that the trader buys before he sells, while the insurance company sells before it buys, that is to say, the insurance company first receives the money on any transaction, and afterwards pays out. From this it arises that the trader keeps account of his liabilities by book-keeping and ascertains his assets by taking stock, while the insurance company keeps account of its assets by book-keeping and ascertains its liabilities by taking stock. There are certain classes of trade, chiefly brokerage, where there is either no stock, or a stock not needing stock-taking, in which the trader can keep account both of his liabilities and of his assets by book-keeping, and has thus a far better knowledge than he otherwise would of the sources and the progress of his profits. The purpose of this paper is to suggest that an insurance company, including even a life office, may keep accounts of both assets and liabilities by book-keeping methods, and may thus have clear information as to the sources and progress of its profits.

scholarly journals Forensic Engineering Design Construction And Use Of Economical Human Surrogates

2001 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Smith Reed
Keyword(s):  
Human Body ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Joint Movement ◽  
Lumped Mass ◽  
Dynamic Events ◽  
Economical Design ◽  
Accident And Emergency ◽  
Inertial Response ◽  
Forensic Engineering ◽  
Design Construction

Anthropometric Dummies Have Been Used In Accident And Emergency Response Research For Over Five Decades. Such Mechanical Surrogates Have Been Valuable Tools To Help Scientists, Engineers And Others Understand Spatial Relationships And Dynamic Events Involving The Human Body In Situations Where It Is Too Dangerous Or Too Costly To Use Actual Human Subjects. Mechanical Human Surrogates Can Also Be Valuable Tools For The Forensic Engineer In Certain Situations, Whether The Task At Hand Is To Understand The Space Occupied By, The Inertial Response Of, The Deformation Compliance Of Or The Forces Or Positions Experienced By The Human Body During Dynamic Events. Rarely, However, Can The Forensic Engineers Assignment Financially Justify The Purchase Or Use Of Commercially Available Biofidelic Manikins, Assuming Such Manikins Of The Size And Weight Needed Even Exist In The First Place. The Purpose Of This Paper Is To Offer An Economical Design And Method Of Construction Using Common And Readily Available Materials For Mechanical Lumped-Mass Human Surrogates (Dummies) That Will Provide Space, Mass And Joint Movement That Approximately Represent That Of The Human Body.

scholarly journals Forensic Engineering Analyses of a Home Fire

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Vasu Vasudevan ◽  
Jeremy Britton
Keyword(s):  
Activation Barrier ◽  
Fire Department ◽  
Smoke Detector ◽  
Single Family ◽  
Fire Dynamics ◽  
Thermally Induced ◽  
Electrical Failure ◽  
Forensic Engineering ◽  
Probable Origin ◽  
Activation Times

A fire had occurred in a single-family home where a family of four was living. The family was asleep whenthe daughter woke up, saw smoke in her bedroom, and screamed. The daughter and father exited by breaking through a bedroom window, but the other two family members were overcome by the fire before exiting (and were later found deceased by the fire department). None of the witnesses heard a smoke detector (activation), and brief searches by investigators did not find any evidence of either the detector bracket or other remains. Forensic engineering analyses of the preserved evidence were performed, and Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) software was used to analyze multiple fire origins, predicted smoke-detector activation, and egress times. Fire growth, thermally induced electrical failure (THIEF), glass breakage, smoke-detector activation, barrier failure, and tenability (CO, temperature and visibility) were calculated. The FDS analyses were performed using a combination of factual information, timelines, fuels derived from the Fire Burning Item Database (FireBID), analyses of photographs, and witness depositions, and were verified and validated. The analyses/methodologies were explained to the trier of the facts (jury), and the results were presented; namely, the most probable origin and cause (ignition) of the fire, smoke-detector-activation times, and egress times for the residents.

scholarly journals Education in the Field of Forensic Engineering

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kousay Al-Sanjery ◽  
◽  
Kong Fah Tee ◽  
Horng Hean Tee ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Professional Practice ◽  
Process Design ◽  
Standard Of Care ◽  
The United States ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Engineering Discipline ◽  
Standards And Regulations ◽  
Judicial Proceedings ◽  
Forensic Engineering ◽  
Design Construction

The profession of forensic engineering has been used in investigations for causes of failure in various engineering cases and used when engineers require to give testimony in judicial proceedings. Forensic engineering has become a field of professional practice of its own; criteria and procedural methods have been proposed in the United States, UK and Europe. Many professionals and engineering institutions have venture in this field and set basic principles to establish a platform for going forward. This paper will cover the topics in design-construction process, design codes and standards, construction safety codes, standards and regulations, the first steps after failure, legal concerns after a failure, standard of care and case studies. It is hoped that the paper will enlighten the scope and details of the forensic engineering discipline which can be used as a tool for a failure knowledge base for engineering education and learning outcomes.

scholarly journals Intervención en la Fuente de la Serreta. Rugat, Valencia, España. *** Intervention on the Serreta Fountain. Rugat, Valencia, Spain.

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Luis Alapont Ramón ◽  
Antonio Peña Cerdán
Keyword(s):  
Urban Environment ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Masonry Wall ◽  
Steep Slope ◽  
Common Interest ◽  
Existing Buildings ◽  
Local Council ◽  
Minimum Standards ◽  
Single Piece

Se presenta una de las dos actuaciones realizadas en Rugat, una pequeña población de la Vall d’Albaida (Valencia), de bajísimo presupuesto, obtenido de fondos FEDER, cuyo objetivo fue regenerar el entorno urbano, mediante la intervención en el escaso y degradado espacio público disponible. Ambos casos emplearon hormigón visto como material esencial, adaptando sus posibilidaddes formales, color y textura, a las posibilidades de cada emplazamiento. Además de mejorar accesos y conexión a edificios y calles existentes, el ayuntamiento deseaba obtener pequeños lugares de estancia y reunión para los vecinos, que otorgasen un mínimo de calidad y dignidad a estos espacios, cuyo único interés compartido era la presencia de sendas pequeñas fuentes públicas, entonces en desuso, que fueron incorporadas a la renovación urbana. La Fuente de la Serreta, ocupa un rincón entre dos calles curvas en acusado desnivel. La apuesta fue conciliar la verticalidad del terreno con la horizontalidad del programa, organizado en dos niveles, conectando ambas calles, con la fuente abajo y una plataforma superior, a la vez balcón y protección. Todo se resolvió con una única pieza de hormigón, a la vez cimiento, escalera, banco, muro, losa y pavimento, con un muro de mampostería y un fantástico árbol como fondo.***This paper describes two low-budget interventions carried out in Rugat, a small village in the Albaida Valley in Valencia, financed by FEDER funds. The aim was to regenerate the urban environment of the small and somewhat deteriorated available public space. In both cases concrete was used as the essential material, adapting its formal possibilities, color and texture to the conditions of each site. Besides improving access and the connections with existing buildings and streets, the local council wished to recover small leisure spaces and meeting places with the minimum standards of quality and dignity. The spaces’ only common interest was the presence of small public fountains, previously out of service, which were included in the renovation. The Serreta Fountain was on a corner between two curving streets on a steep slope. The challenge here was to merge the vertical aspect of the terrain with the horizontal design of the program, organized into two levels, connecting both streets with the fountain below  and a platform above that acted as both balcony and protection. The entire project was achieved with a single piece of concrete that acted as foundation, steps, bench, wall, slab and pavement, with a masonry wall and spectacular tree in the background. 

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