{"id":3609,"date":"2015-05-28T16:29:34","date_gmt":"2015-05-28T16:29:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/?p=3609"},"modified":"2015-05-28T16:29:34","modified_gmt":"2015-05-28T16:29:34","slug":"weather-causes-forensic-engineering-problems-and-also-helps-solve-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/2015\/05\/28\/weather-causes-forensic-engineering-problems-and-also-helps-solve-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Weather causes forensic engineering problems – and also helps solve them"},"content":{"rendered":"

Weather is an element<\/strong>, a factor<\/strong>, or a cause<\/strong>\u00a0of some failures or accidents in Eastern Canada.\u00a0 We get a lot of\u00a0weather down here so it’s not surprising.<\/p>\n

It’s almost always one of several elements<\/strong> in\u00a0the problems\u00a0even if it’s quickly dismissed as not relevant.\u00a0 It’s sometimes a factor i<\/strong>n the\u00a0mechanism leading to\u00a0a failure.\u00a0 And it’s occasionally the cause<\/strong> of\u00a0a failure.<\/p>\n

Some examples will raise your awareness<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Wind a factor in bridge failure<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I thought to raise your awareness of this after suggesting that wind was a factor<\/strong> in the failure of a bridge in Edmonton in March.\u00a0 Crane cables repeatedly tugged\u00a0at the top of\u00a0one of the bridge girders to which they were attached.\u00a0 The beam eventually failed by buckling sideways.\u00a0 The cables hung from crane booms exposed to the wind. (Ref. 1)<\/p>\n

Weather\u00a0increases\u00a0house maintenance<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Those of you living in houses that are\u00a0a few\u00a0years old have probably noticed the need to paint the south side of timber clad homes more often and to\u00a0re-point brick clad homes.\u00a0 I know I have to do that with my home.\u00a0 That’s failure – increased maintenance, due to weather.\u00a0 Some of the problem is due to the heat of the sun; some\u00a0is due\u00a0to freeze\/thaw cycles.\u00a0 Weather is the cause.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rain triggers landslide..!!<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I investigated the cause of a landslide that destroyed a home in Redhead on the Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick several years ago.\u00a0 Rain triggered the landslide by increasing the water pressure in the soil that then slid down.\u00a0 The land was\u00a0on the verge of sliding, rain was the trigger.\u00a0 This “trigger mechanism” is well known in civil and geotechnical engineering.\u00a0 Weather was a factor.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Snow causes roof collapse<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I drove past a house this morning with a roof that had collapsed\u00a0under the weight of snow that accumulated this past winter.\u00a0 Weather was the cause.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Weather did not cause bridge collapse<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I investigated the cause of\u00a0a soil-steel bridge failure – a very large culvert, a few years ago. \u00a0People thought initially that torrential rain – four inches in a few hours, caused a flood that washed the bridge out.\u00a0 However, photographs taken of the failure and a\u00a0topographic survey showed that the flood was only half the capacity of the bridge culvert.\u00a0 Weather was\u00a0not the cause, nor a factor, only an element<\/strong>.\u00a0 (Steel corrosion was the cause<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

Dirty weather\u00a0a factor\u00a0in traffic accidents<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Dirty weather is often a factor i<\/strong>n traffic accidents.\u00a0 Sometimes it’s a cause.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Checking rainfall<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I check rainfall as a matter of course when investigating drainage and flooding problems. Sometimes it figures in the problem, sometimes not.<\/p>\n

I like heavy rain – Sorry.\u00a0 It helps solve problems<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I\u00a0like heavy rain when investigating some problems – Sorry. \u00a0For some problems, it quickly and reliably defines runoff patterns much better than expensive, detailed topographic surveys. \u00a0For other problems, it enables me to correlate a rough measure of discharge on a property with reported rainfall in an area. (Ref. 2)<\/p>\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Bridge beams that fail are sometimes like balloons http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/2015\/05\/20\/bridge-beams-that-fail-are-sometimes-like-balloons-filled-with-water-squeeze-them-and-they-pop-out-somewhere-else\/<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. Why forensic engineers like heavy rain http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/2014\/04\/09\/image-credits-and-why-forensic-engineers-like-wet-weather-the-heavier-the-rain-the-better\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Weather is an element, a factor, or a cause\u00a0of some failures or accidents in Eastern Canada.\u00a0 We get a lot of\u00a0weather down here so it’s not surprising. It’s almost always one of several elements in\u00a0the problems\u00a0even if it’s quickly dismissed … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3609"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3609"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3637,"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3609\/revisions\/3637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}