TABLE OF CONTENTS E.T.BROWN
Golder Associates Pty. Ltd., Brisbane, Australia
(thrown@golder.com.au )
In the context of underground construction, forensic engineering is taken to be the application of engineering principles and methodologies to determine the cause of a performance deficiency, often a collapse, in an excavation, and the reporting of the findings, usually in the form of an expert opinion within the legal system. The procedures that may be used in forensic geotechnical investigations and the interface of the engineer with the legal system are discussed. The application of the principles and methodologies outlined are illustrated through a brief account of the investigation of the collapse of a small part of an excavation in the Lane Cove Tunnel Project, Sydney, Australia, on 2 November, 2005.
Keywords: Accident investigation; failure; forensic engineering; mining; risk; tunnelling; underground construction.
In common with other areas of geotechnical engineering practice, underground construction involves a number of uncertainties and risks, many of them associated with the inherent variability and unknown properties of the geological materials involved. These and other factors may lead to deficiencies in excavation performance, to the collapse of an excavation and, on occasion, to the loss of life.
It is inevitable that, when an underground failure or collapse has occurred, either in civil engineering construction or in mining, an investigation will be carried out into the causes of the failure. Depending on the nature and severity of the failure, this investigation will be carried out, at least in...
