Discuss About The Catastrophe Management In Engineering Systems.
Risk management is generally considered as external component of any kind of project which is very important for the project. In cases when the risks are not identified along being managed and mitigated accordingly the various type of consequences might arise and this would ultimately lead to the failure of the project. There exists inherent risk in each and every type of project but despite of the existing risks certain steps have been taken for the purpose of mitigating the negative consequences along with ensuring the fact that there exists successful delivery of the projects [1].
The main objective of engineering includes the mitigation or elimination of the risks and if this is done completely then it might lead to various types of problems. The main responsibility of the engineers is also associated with ensuring the fact that their work is completed in accordance to the purpose that has been intended along with being according to the level or performance and also for the purpose of avoiding the failures. If any case of catastrophic failure occurs then it might lead to severe damage to the property along with causing a harm to the environment associated with the loss of life as well. Progression of the engineering takes place through both results of any kind project and the results mainly includes successful project or a failed project. Reviewing of past mistakes can be done by the engineers after facing failures in the past projects which would be initially leading to the preparation of a better plans in order to make sure there does not occur any type of risk in the future [2]. The evolvement of engineering is going on from last few decades associated with various kind of new innovations along with integration of the lessons which has been learnt from the failure which has occurred related to the laws and the standards.
The report has been associated with discussing four case studies along with discussing about the degree of size as well as the level of impact. This past failures are to be analyzed in order to get familiarized with the previous work processes and to make new comparisons by which the engineering process would be evolving and also to allow the establishment of the common modes which are related to failure. The report is also associated with providing a brief discussion about the back ground of each case study that has been selected followed by discussing about the inherent risks [3]. Beside this the report has also been associated with deriving a casual chain for each of the case study along with providing explanations of the sequences of events that are the root cause of this failures. After all this a risk management is to be formulated in order to verify the magnitude of the risk by considering some major components like the rate or injury, death, damages and also the cost.
The Granville rail disaster occurred in the year of 1977 on 18th January.at Granville, South Wales which is a western suburb of Sydney. This happened when one of the crowded commuter train was derailed which was running into the support of the road bridge which ultimately collapsed onto two of the train’s passenger’s carriages. This is considered as one of the worst rail disaster in the Australian history and was also having the greatest loss of life in a confined area where around 84 people died and more than 213 peoples were injured and around 1300 got affected due to this. While approaching towards Granville railway station it left the rails and hit a row of support of the overhead bold Street Bridge which was constructed by using steel and concrete [4]. Ultimately the derailed engine and first two carriages passed the bridge. After this thee first carriage broke from the other carriages and due to this Carriage one was torn open after colliding with the mast beside the track, and this ultimately resulted in killing of eight passengers. The other carriages ultimately resulted in a halt with the second carriage. The third carriages rear half, and the fourth carriage’s forward half came to rest under the weakened bridge, which weighted almost 570 tons
After enquiring it was found that the major reason lying behind the crash was the unsatisfactory conditions of the permanent way and due to poor fastening of the tracks made the track to spread and this ultimately led to the leaving of the front wheel of the locomotive to get off the rails. Another major reason lying behind the failure of this engineering work was because of low maintenance of the 46 Class locomotive which was having a faulty L6wheel which was discovered to be totally unserviceable in the year of 1976 on the month of August [5]. Other major factor included the structure of the bridge which means when the bridge was built, the base of its deck was found to be one meter lower than the road. Besides this concrete was also added on top in order to build the surface up level with the road.
In order to avoid the catastrophic circumstances surrounding the South Fork Dam failure has been listed below:
The collapse of the River Dee Bridge can be considered as one of the biggest example of a failure related to medium and localized engineering. This project was completed in September 1846 and which was designed by Robert Stephenson, this bridge was constructed by making use of the two masonry piers which includes the cast iron girders and reinforced by making use of the wrought iron trusses in order to span the two hundred and fifty feet wide river section. In the year of 1847 on 24th May, the third section of the bridge failed, while a train was crossing the bridge plunging into the river. This accident resulted in five deaths (three passengers, the train guard and the locomotive fireman) along with 9 people being injured [9].
Prior to the failure of the bridge failure, six trains had passed over the bridge on the same day. In this day, Stephenson was also worried about the potential risk that was for due to the fire which was resulted from a sparks and ash from passing trains and this initially ignited the wooden sleepers. He was associated with ordering, that a five-inch layer of ballast was to be placed over the timber sleepers before the passing of the next train over the bridge [10]. The ballast applied an additional 18 tons in an even distribution across the bridge.
When the subsequent investigation was conducted regarding the bridge failure various key contributing factors were identified that were responsible for this disaster which was indeed an engineering failure and was mainly centered on the selection of the poor material. Besides this Stephenson was also accused of negligence, but the final ruling of the jury for the inquest into the disaster ruled that the victims had died accidentally.
Some of the different approaches that could have been taken for the purpose of preventing the failure of the bridge have been listed below:
· The initial designs for the bridge mainly included the usage of five piers in order to provide support to the bridge. This may have been sufficient for the purpose of prevent the bridge from failure through the reduction in the span of each girder.
· The wrought iron was selected instead of cast iron which would have been contributed to a stronger and safer bridge [11].
· Use of the more traditional ‘I’ beam instead of the decorative cavetto moulding would have been associated with reducing the stress concentrations within the girders.
Barriers that should have been in place:
The major lesson to be learnt from this bridge failure was in relation to materials selection to meet the design requirements under a variety of loads. Unfortunately, there were numerous other bridge failures in the years following before it was recommended that all bridges using these construction methods across the UK be replaced. Eventually iron was phased out in place of steel [13].
Define abbreviations and acronyms the first time they are used in the text, even after they have been defined in the abstract. Abbreviations such as IEEE, SI, MKS, CGS, sc, dc, and rms do not have to be defined. Do not use abbreviations in the title or heads unless they are unavoidable.
Inherent Risk Definition: During the expansion of the British rail network in the 19th century, the selection of cast iron enabled faster construction and generally more aesthetically pleasing structures. However, the understanding of the performance of cast iron under tension and bending was not widely understood by the engineer responsible for the construction of the Dee River bridge [14]. As such, the bridge was constructed using large span cast iron girders. It could also be argued that by addressing the perceived risk of fire using ballast was not thoroughly considered from a systems perspective. The weight of the ballast did not appear to be considered in terms of the increased static load that was applied to the bridge.
Risk Assessment: The pre-failure mitigation to address the assessed fire risk for the bridge may have passed the ToR test for the purposes of preventing a fire, albeit when considered in isolation. Where the ToR test fails is through a systems analysis for the application of the fire mitigation strategy and the effects on the bridge itself [15]. The increased static load was a contributing factor to the bridge failure.
In the year of 1860 on the 26th September, a goods train was travelling over a cast iron bridge at Bull Bridge faced an accident. The structure of the bridge suddenly failed which initially resulted in the derailing of most of the train wagons.
At the time of accident the train was pulling around 27 wagons in total along with the engine, tender and brake van. Before the occurrence of the derailment the driver was already aware that due to the heavy load some type of slippage was occurring on the rail when suddenly the driver discovered that the engine’s rear wheels were no longer on the rails [16]. Due to this slippage 11 wagons got detached from the tender, piled in a heap which was around 25 feet high from the bottom of the road.
The guard who was present in the brake van was thrown head first against the front panel, but was injuries were very minor. Along with the Dee bridge failure this incident puts a question mark over the usage of cast iron girders on railway lines [17].
Once the examination was completed by the driver as well as by the fireman of the train it was found that the cast iron girders resent on the bridge has fractured specially the near one of the abutments. When the fractured cast iron girder was examined by the railway inspector Captain Henry Whatley Tyler it was found that the surface was also rusted. Due to the defect present in the web and flanges a big gap was created between the slides which ultimately resulted in this accident [18]. Besides this the girder was completely defective but this defect was not detected by anyone. Tyler also suggested that the small cracks might have been formed due to the cyclic loading of the girders over a long period of time. The failure of the bridge was, as per the Dee bridge failure, associated with poor material selection.
1) A Different approach: The Bull Bridge failure might have been avoided if a stronger material was used which was much more reliable like the wrought iron or the steel.
2) Barriers that should have been in place: By having a proper maintenance plan then the Bull Bridge failure could have been easily avoided. The maintenance plan would be consisting of:
3) Lessons Learnt: The Bull Bridge accident was a huge example of a series which was associated with raising the concerns about same type of bridges all across the British rail network [19]. One of the most significant lessons that was learnt by the industry was that there should be existing a maintenance plan which would be associated with detecting any failure or defect in the bridge structure at a faster rate.
4) Changes or improvements implemented: Gradual replacement of the cast iron under bridges by wrought iron or steel structures.
References:
Chattopadhyay, G., Raman, D. and Alam, M.R.. A Study of Derailment in Australia: Analysing Risk Gaps with Remote Data Monitoring. In Engineering Asset Management 2011(pp. 21-31). Springer, London., 2014.
Taylor, J., Lain, R. and O’Reilly, W. Dentistry and Forensic Odontology in Australia: A Brief Overview. In Forensic and Legal Dentistry(pp. 83-88). Springer, Cham., 2014.
Hong, M., Wang, Q., Su, Z. and Cheng, L., In situ health monitoring for bogie systems of CRH380 train on Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway. Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, 45(2), pp.378-395., 2014.
Collins, F., Dissociation in Australia. In Trauma and Dissociation in a Cross-Cultural Perspective(pp. 77-102). Routledge., 2013..
McNeil, A.J., Frey, R. and Embrechts, P.,. Quantitative risk management: Concepts, techniques and tools. Princeton university press., 2015.
Park, J., Seager, T.P., Rao, P.S.C., Convertino, M. and Linkov, I.,. Integrating risk and resilience approaches to catastrophe management in engineering systems. Risk Analysis, 33(3), pp.356-367., 2013.
Smith, N.A.,. The failure of the Bouzey Dam in 1895. Dams., 2017.
Kaktins, U., Todd, C.D., Wojno, S. and Coleman, N.,. Revisiting the timing and events leading to and causing the Johnstown flood of 1889. Pennsylvania History, 80(3), pp.335-363., 2013.
Altunkaynak, A. and Elmazoghi, H.G.,. Neuro-fuzzy models for prediction of breach formation time of embankment dams. Journal of Intelligent & Fuzzy Systems, 31(3), pp.1929-1940., 2016.
Blöschl, G., Gaál, L., Hall, J., Kiss, A., Komma, J., Nester, T., Parajka, J., Perdigão, R.A., Plavcová, L., Rogger, M. and Salinas, J.L.,. Increasing river floods: fiction or reality?. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water, 2(4), pp.329-344., 2015.
Wharton-Michael, P.,. The Johnstown Flood of 1889: The Johnstown Tribune’s Commonsense Coverage vs. Common-Practice Sensationalism. Journalism History, 38(1), p.23., 2012.
Hakimzadeh, H., Nourani, V. and Amini, A.B.,. Genetic programming simulation of dam breach hydrograph and peak outflow discharge. Journal of Hydrologic Engineering, 19(4), pp.757-768., 2013.
Harris, M.J.,. Failure of dams due to overtopping–A historical prospective(pp. 73-81). CRC Press, Madrid., 2015.
Coleman, N.M., Kaktins, U. and Wojno, S.,. Dam-Breach hydrology of the Johnstown flood of 1889–challenging the findings of the 1891 investigation report. Heliyon, 2(6), p.e00120. 2016.
Stead, D.,. The influence of shales on slope instability. Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, 49(2), pp.635-651., 2016.
Havaej, M., Coggan, J., Stead, D. and Elmo, D.,. A combined remote sensing–numerical modelling approach to the stability analysis of Delabole Slate Quarry, Cornwall, UK. Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, 49(4), pp.1227-1245., 2016
Kossoff, D., Hudson-Edwards, K.A., Howard, A.J. and Knight, D.,. Industrial mining heritage and the legacy of environmental pollution in the Derbyshire Derwent catchment: quantifying contamination at a regional scale and developing integrated strategies for management of the wider historic environment. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 6, pp.190-199., 2016.
Essay Writing Service Features
Our Experience
No matter how complex your assignment is, we can find the right professional for your specific task. Contact Essay is an essay writing company that hires only the smartest minds to help you with your projects. Our expertise allows us to provide students with high-quality academic writing, editing & proofreading services.
Free Features
Free revision policy
$10Free bibliography & reference
$8Free title page
$8Free formatting
$8How Our Essay Writing Service Works
First, you will need to complete an order form. It's not difficult but, in case there is anything you find not to be clear, you may always call us so that we can guide you through it. On the order form, you will need to include some basic information concerning your order: subject, topic, number of pages, etc. We also encourage our clients to upload any relevant information or sources that will help.
Complete the order form
Once we have all the information and instructions that we need, we select the most suitable writer for your assignment. While everything seems to be clear, the writer, who has complete knowledge of the subject, may need clarification from you. It is at that point that you would receive a call or email from us.
Writer’s assignment
As soon as the writer has finished, it will be delivered both to the website and to your email address so that you will not miss it. If your deadline is close at hand, we will place a call to you to make sure that you receive the paper on time.
Completing the order and download