Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities

In contrast to machine‐oriented construction practices in developed countries, construction practices in developing countries are labor oriented. However, labor—especially the unskilled—is local and changes from place to place. Furthermore, there has been a steady migration of skilled workers to the Middle East in the last two decades. All these factors led to difficulties in ensuring quality control in construction projects in developing countries. Recently, in a thermal power project construction, assistance in ensuring quality control was provided by a third party, an educational institution. The quality‐control assurance was mainly for materials and construction in concrete and steel for civil works. The general methodologies adopted by different agencies for ensuring quality control, different measures taken for ensuring quality of materials and construction, experiences gained in ensuring quality control through a third party, and measures adopted to create quality awareness to some extent in unskilled, illiterate labor are described in this paper. As observed, third‐party quality assurance improved the quality of the civil works and prevented wastage of construction materials.

The procedures used to identify the causes of deterioration in concrete construction projects in India and the techniques employed are presented. Emphasis is placed on the importance of expert opinion based on first inspection and the need for multidisciplinary investigation to arrive at a thorough understanding of the mechanism responsible for deterioration of the concrete, especially when assessing the likely extent of further deterioration to the construction. Use of various diagnostic tools and laboratory techniques is highlighted with the help of a few case studies related to corrosion of reinforcement, chemical action, fire damage, and alkali‐silica reaction.

Cyclones create unpredictable wind effects due to their whirling action. Industrial structures in process of erection are particularly susceptible to failure during such unpredictable natural events. A case study of such a failure is presented. Measures taken to repair and reuse damaged building elements are also given. Precautionary measures to avoid such failures in the future are discussed.

The design, fabrication, erection, and performance of an iron railroad bridge built in 1863–65 at Ashtabula, Ohio, is examined. The bridge collapsed after 11 years of service, very likely due to fatigue and brittle fracture at a flaw in an iron casting. The bridge was built by a master builder/entrepreneur, using prestressing procedures developed for wooden Howe trusses. At the time, structural analysis was an evolving art, the capacity of slender compressive elements was still an issue, standard design specifications did not exist and fatigue was largely an unknown phenomenon. The failure was investigated extensively by engineers. Most focused exclusively on static strength issues; only one observed the flawed casting. The failure bolstered the call for consulting bridge engineers and standard design specifications. It brought in focus the issue of reliability of iron castings and by 1888 Cooper's specifications explicitly forbade use of cast iron in any part of a bridge structure.

Dust storms on interstate highways contribute to accidents because of two factors: sudden loss of visibility, and loss of traction due to soil particles on the road surface. The five factors that govern the development of dust storms are wind, soil type, vegetation, soil moisture, and soil density. Of the different soil types, silt becomes the primary suspended particles in dust storms because the particles are not too heavy, like gravel, nor too small, like clays, which have cohesion. Laboratory tests indicate that below a moisture content of 10%, the silt becomes easily eroded. In terms of solutions to the loss of traction from soil particles on the road surface, certain pavement types (perhaps grooved) may provide more traction. Construction of barriers, such as elevated curbs, may reduce bed‐load transport of soil particles across the highway surface.

In December 1989, the Committee on Education, Technical Council on Forensic Engineering of ASCE, conducted a questionnaire survey consisting of eight questions to assess the status of and inclusion of failure information in civil engineering programs at schools in the United States. The questionnaire was sent to 175 civil engineering department heads listed in the March 1989 issue of Engineering Education. Eighty‐seven schools (49.7%) responded to the survey, and indicated that 74 schools include examples of failure in their technical courses in civil engineering. Information is provided on specific failure courses and seminars taught and teaching materials considered essential for failure studies courses.

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.