Failure analysis paper in civil engineering

Failure Paper #1

FA Types and Methods in your Field of

Engineering

What is failure?

Nature does not respond to what the designer intends.

Nature responds to what exists. If there is a way for

leakage to occur, it will occur. If there is a way for rubbing

or erosion to occur, it will occur. If there is a way for a

corrosion cell to form, it will form. Failure Modes and Mechanisms

Engineers and other scientists loathe failure. But all designs fail at some point in time and under certain conditions. The distinction between a successful and unsuccessful design is a function of time. If what is designed performs as intended during its acceptable life span, it is a success. If not, it is a failure. A disastrous design is one that not only does not perform as intended, but also causes substantial harm when it fails. Engineering Risks and Failures: Lessons Learned from Environmental Disasters

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3 Critical Concepts in FA Failure mode – • manner in which failure happened

• “What happened?”

• Physical: corrosion, cracking

• Software: BSOD, non-functioning link

Failure mechanism – • cause of the failure mode

• “Why did this happen?”

• Physical: incorrect sealant

• Software: misspellings

Root Cause – • The origin of the failure mechanism

• Human error – end-user or designer

• Random, extraordinary event

• Natural lifespan of product/process 3

Part 1:What are “types” of failure

in your field of engineering?

• Modes / Mechanisms

– Manner of failure

– Causes of failure

• Search:

– “your field” + failure

modes

– “your field” + failure

mechanisms 4

Narrow options to write the paper.

• Failures that are:

– Common, Expensive, Preventable, etc.

– Specific parts, e.g. engine, blade, router, trusses,

circuit board, etc.

– Specific materials, e.g., concrete, iron, silicon, etc.

– Specific sites, e.g. solder joints, coastal pilings,

etc.

– Specific processes, e.g., assembly, input-output,

• Choose 3-5 types of failure

– Explain mode and mechanism of each 5

Part 2: What are the failure

methods in your field?

• How does your field prevent failure?

– Overall question: will product/process accomplish

what it was designed for?

– Non-destructive (predictive, known properties of

materials, standards/codes very important, big part

of design process)

• Procedures: FMEA

• Simulations

• Testing

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Can you break it?

• Destructive (most often from the USE point of

view)

– How much does it take to break it? (important for

warranties, guarantees, etc)

– Expensive, not always done -- cannot build the

bridge, then break it! Must test components, follow

specs/standards

– In software design, this is a significant step,

especially with the end-user in mind 7

To be successful, a number of types of

software testing must be done. More

importantly, they must be

integrated into every stage of the

software development process. Too

many software development

teams have waited until the week

before product release to do significant

testing, just to find that the

software had fundamental flaws that

would delay that product release by

months.

Software Testing Overview (PDF Download Available). Available

from:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273319104_Software_Testin

g_Overview [accessed May 15 2018].

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How does your field

diagnose/investigate a failure event?

• After failure or during use (maintenance)

– Non-Destructive -- ways of measuring failure that

don’t cause further damage

• Visual + sonic with materials

• question/answer or screensharing in software

– Destructive -- ways of measuring failure that cause

further damage

• Chemical analyses of materials

• Analog in software?

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How to write the paper

• Introduction –

– Definition of field of

engineering

• X is a type of Y that Z

– Ex: “Linguistics is a branch

of the social sciences that

studies what language is and

what language does.”

– Purpose of FA in field

– Roadmap

– NOTE: you may use what

you wrote in the professional

bio memo, but do not use 1st

person prose.

• Body of paper

– 1. Types of Failure

• 1.1 Type 1

• 1. 2 Type 2, etc

– 2. Methods of Failure

Analysis

• 2.1 Preventative

– 2.1.1 NDT

– 2.1.1 DT

• 2.2 Forensic

– 2.2.1 NDT

– 2.2.2 DT

• You do not need a

conclusion! 10