Guidelines for Forensic Investigation of Geotechnical Failures

Abstract

When a failure occurs in a project, the first action is to immediately take necessary measures to ensure the stability of the remaining intact structure and protect the overall safety. The next action is to quickly assess the extent of the failure and undertake measures to reconstruct the failed portion and continue the repairs, etc. Only after these initial actions is the systematic analysis done to find the cause of the failure. Very often this analysis is omitted and lessons are not learned. The proper step would be to apply forensic methods to do the analysis of the failure using scientific and legalistic investigations to detect the causes of the failure which could be attributed to geotechnical origin. Such a critical analysis which should be undertaken simultaneously with the first action would provide answers to “what went wrong, when, where, why, how and by whom.” This procedure gives strong inputs to improve future designs and also to identify the qualifications and expertise required for the staff. As the forensic analysis is basically a back analysis based on actual failure observations, normally adopted standard procedures of testing, analysis, design, and construction are not adequate in the majority of cases. This paper gives an overall view of the procedures to be adopted in forensic analysis.