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A Bibliography of Selected Resources
The following is a collection of selected resources about major types of
failures and incidents. It is intended to be a startingpoint for your research,
not an exhaustive list. For further research, please try the UBC
catalogue for books, subject-specific databases for journal articles
(Compendex, Web of Science, GeoRef, and Academic Search
Complete), come to one of our workshops or talk to an engineering
librarian.




Failure
categories:
General
Resources
Guide to the sources:
Most items are available in the UBC Library - follow the links
to find out where to get the books. If UBC has access to the
full-text of a journal article online, it is linked to from this

Aircraft /
Spacecraft /
Marine
Bridges
Buildings
Dams
Earthquakes
bibliography; if not, there's a link to the journal information in
the catalogue, so you can get the print version of the article. If
you want to access full-text articles online from off-campus,
remember to set up a VPN connection.
The icons below let you know what type of resource it is:
Book or report
Journal article
Video
Website



General Resources
Introductory (Basic) Case Studies of Engineering Failures
Failed Technology: True Stories of Technological Disasters (Freiman F
and Schlager N)
Case Studies of Engineering Failures
Design Paradigms: Case Histories of Error and Judgement in
Engineering (Petroski H)
Engineering Catastrophes: Causes and Effects of Major
Accidents (Lancaster J) [table of contents online]
Failures in Civil Engineering: Structural, Foundation,
and Geoenvironmental Case Studies (Shepherd R and Frost JD)
Man-made Catastrophes (Davis L)
Minding the Machines: Preventing Technological Disasters (Evan W
and Manion M)
Pushing the Limits (Petroski H)
When Technology Fails: Significant Technological Disasters, Accidents,
and Failures of the Twentieth Century (Schlager N)
Failure Analysis
Failure Analysis of Industrial Composite Materials (Gdoutos EE)
How Did That Happen?: Engineering Safety and Reliability (Wong W)
Inviting Disaster: Lessons from the Edge of Technology: An Inside Look

at Catastrophes and Why They Happen (Chiles J)
To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in
Successful Design (Petroski H)
Internet Resources
Engineering Failure Watch from iCivilEngineer - The Internet for Civil Engineers
Engineering Disasters and Learning from Failure from the Department of
Materials Science and Engineering at the State University of New York (Stony Brook)
Disasters & Failures from Engineering Research Guide of the University Library at
California State University (Long Beach)
Engineering Disasters: Selected Websites from Queen's University Engineering
and Science Library
Videos
Engineering Disasters, More Engineering Disasters, and Engineering
Disasters 3 (Modern Marvels series)
Failure Analysis in Materials Research (Louthan MR and the Materials Research
Society)

Aircraft/Spacecraft/Marine
Columbia Space
Shuttle
(2003)
NASA - Space Shuttle Columbia and Her
Crew (NASA)
Comm Check: The Final Flight of Shuttle
Columbia (Cabbage M) [table of contents online]
"Materials Analysis: A Key to Unlocking the
Mystery of the Columbia Tragedy," JOM, vol. 56, no. 2,
2004 (Mayeaux BM et al)
"Space Shuttle Columbia Post-Accident Analysis
and Investigation," Strain, vol. 42, no. 3, 2006 (McDanels SJ)



Air FranceConcorde
crash
(2000)
Final Report (British European Airways)


Piper Alpha marine
disaster
(1988)
The Public Inquiry into the Piper Alpha
Disaster (Cullen WD)
"Learning from the Piper Alpha Accident: A

Postmortem Analysis of Technical and Organizational
Factors,"Risk Analysis, vol. 13, no. 2, 1993 (Pat-Cornell ME)


Challenger Space
Shuttle
(1986)
Challenger: The Final Voyage (Lewis RS)
The Challenger Launch Decision: Risky Technology,
Culture, and Deviance at NASA (Vaughan D)
Prescription for Disaster (Trento J)
Challenger: A Major Malfunction (McConnell M)
Report to the President (Presidential Commission on the
Space Shuttle Challenger Accident)
Report to the President (Presidential Commission on the
Space Shuttle Challenger Accident)
Implementation of the Recommendations of the
Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle
Challenger Accident (NASA)
"Launching the Space Shuttle Challenger:
Disciplinary Deficiencies in the Analysis of Engineering
Data," IEEE Transactions on Manufacturing Technology, vol. 38,
no. 1, 1991 (Lighthall FF)
Engineering Disasters (Actuality Productions)
"A Major Malfunction...": the Story Behind the
Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster (Maier M)


Ocean Ranger
marine disaster
(1982)
Report / Royal Commission on the Ocean Ranger
Marine Disaster (Canada - Royal Commission)
"The Ocean Ranger Oil Rig Disaster: A Risk
Analysis," Risk Analysis, vol. 9, no. 1, 1989 (Heising CD and
Grenzebach WS)




Bridges
Interstate 35W
Bridge,
Minneapolis, MN
(2007)
Interstate 35W Bridge: In Depth
Documentation, Minnesota Department of Transportation Reports
and Studies.


Schoharie Creek
Bridge, NY
Why Buildings Fall Down: How Structures Fail,

(1987) Chapter 9 (Levy M and Salvadori M)
"Scourge of Scour," Civil Engineering, vol. 57, no. 7,
1987 (Murillo JA)
"Analytical Studies of the Schoharie Bridge
Failure," Hydraulic Engineering Proceedings, 1988 (Lagasse PF
et al)
"The Collapse of the Schoharie Bridge: A Case Study
in Concrete Fracture Mechanics," International Journal of
Fracture, vol. 51, no. 1, 1991 (Swenson D and Ingraffea A)
"Lessons from Schoharie Creek," Civil Engineering, vol.
58, no. 5, 1988 (Thornton CH et al)

De La Concorde
Overpass
Laval, PQ
(2006)
There are not yet many articles in the engineering
literature found on this topic, but we will update this
page as the information gets published. The report
from the public inquiry into the overpass failure,
headed by Pierre Marc Johnson, is due to be released
October 15th, 2007.
"Clues Sought in Bridge Collapse," Engineering News-
Record, vol. 257, no. 15, 2006


Mianus
RiverBridge, CT
(1983)
"Highway Accident Report: Collapse of a Suspended
Span of Route 95 Highway Bridge over the Mianus River,
Greenwich, Connecticut, June 28, 1983" (National
Transportation Safety Board) [document #HAR-84/03]
"Disaster of the I-95 Mianus River Bridge: Where
Could Lateral Vibration Come From?" Journal of Applied
Mechanics, vol. 51, no. 3, 1984 (Gorlov AM)
"New Mianus Bridge Report Disputes Earlier
Study," Civil Engineering, vol. 55, no. 4, 1985
"Anatomy of Fracture: Mianus River
Bridge," Engineering News Record, vol. 218, no. 8, 1987
(Failla KS)


East Chicago
Highway Ramp, IL
(1982)
"Report Eyes Ramp Failure," Engineering News Record,
vol. 209, no. 9, 1982
"Ramp Failure Cause Detailed," Engineering News
Record, vol. 209, no. 18, 1982
"Investigation of East Chicago Ramp
Collapse," Journal of Construction Engineering and Management,

vol. 110, no. 1, 1984 (Carino NJ)

Silver Bridge, WV
(1967)
"Causes of Silver Bridge Collapse Studied," Civil
Engineering, vol. 38, no. 12, 1968
"Vibration Studies Relating to the Failure of the Point
Pleasant Bridge," Public Roads, vol. 36, no. 8, 1971 (Varney RF)
"Point Pleasant Bridge Collapse Mechanism
Analyzed," Civil Engineering, vol. 41, no. 7, 1971 (Dicker D)
"Pt. Pleasant Bridge Collapse: Conclusions of the
Federal Study," Civil Engineering, vol. 41, no. 7, 1971
(Scheffey CF)
"Ohio River Bridge Disaster," Engineering, vol. 211,
October 1971 (Langley M)
"When Cracks Become Breakthroughs," Technology
Review, vol. 85, Aug./Sept. 1982 (Petroski H)
"Implications of Recent Structural Failures on
Education and Research," Civil Engineering for Practicing and
Design Engineers, vol. 3, no. 9, 1984 (Hanson JM) <available
through CISTI>
"Silver Bridge Collapse Recounted," Journal of
Performance of Constructed Facilities, vol. 7, no. 4, 1993
(Lichtenstein AB)


Second Narrows
Bridge, BC
(1958)
"Findings on Second Narrows Bridge Collapse
at Vancouver," Civil Engineering, vol. 29, no. 2, 1959 (Master FM
and Giese JR)


Tacoma Narrows
Bridge, WA
(1940)
In the Wake of Tacoma: Suspension Bridges and the
Quest for Aerodynamic Stability (Scott R)
"Collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge," Scientific
Monthly, vol. 51, December 1940 (Farquharson FB)
"Legacy of Galloping Gertie 25 Years After," Civil
Engineering, vol. 35, no. 10, 1965 (Goller RR)
Tacoma Narrows Bridge Disaster (Doole S
and Champneys A)
Why Buildings Fall Down: How Structures Fail,
Chapter 7 (Levy M and Slavadori M)
Design Paradigms: Case Histories of Error
and Judgement in Engineering, Chapter 9 (Petroski H)


Quebec Bridge,PQ
(1907 & 1916)
[1907] Bridge at Quebec (Middleton WD)
[1907] "Quebec Bridge Disaster," Scientific American,
vol. 97, no. 10, 1907
[1907] "Collapse of the Quebec Bridge," Engineering,
vol. 84, no. 22, 1907 (Skinner FW)
[1907] "The Compression Members of the Quebec
Bridge," Engineering News, vol. 58, no. 14, 1907
[1907] "Report on the Quebec Bridge
Disaster," Scientific American, vol. 98, no. 17, 1908
[1916] "Further Light on the Quebec Bridge
Disaster," Scientific American, vol. 115, no. 14, 1916
[1907] "Structural Failures and Engineering
Ethics," Journal of Structural Engineering, vol. 119, no. 5, 1993
(RoddisWK)
[1907] The First Quebec Bridge Disaster - A Case
Study (Tarkov J and Holtz N)




Buildings
World Trade
Center, New
York(2001)
The World Trade Center: A Bibliography (UBC
Library)
NIST and the World Trade Center (National Institute of
Standards and Technology)
"Dissecting the Collapses," Civil Engineering, vol. 72, no.
5, 2002
"Why did the World Trade Center Collapse? Science,
Engineering, and Speculation," JOM, vol. 53, no. 12, 2001
(Eagar TW and Musso C)
"Could the World Trade Center Have Been Modified
to Prevent its Collapse?" Journal of Engineering Mechanics, vol.
128, no. 7, 2002 (Newland DE and Cebon D)
"Structural Responses of World Trade Center under
Aircraft Attacks," Journal of Structural Engineering, vol. 131, no.
1, 2005 (Omika Y et al)
"How Did the WTC Towers Collapse: A New
Theory," Fire Safety Journal, vol. 38, no. 6, 2003 (Usmani AS et al)


Oklahoma
City,OK
(1995)
Lessons From the Oklahoma City Bombing:
Defensive Design Techniques (Hinman ED and Hammond DJ)
Learning From Construction Failures: Applied
Forensic Engineering (Campbell P)
"Oklahoma City Aftermath," Civil Engineering, vol. 65,
no. 10, 1995 (Prendergast J)
"Lessons Learned on Improving Resistance of
Buildings to Terrorist Attacks," Journal of Performance of
Constructed Facilities, vol. 18, no. 2, 2004 (Corley WG)
"The Oklahoma City Bombing: Summary and
Recommendations for Multihazard Mitigation," Journal of
Performance of Constructed Facilities, vol. 12, no. 3, 1998 (Corley
WG et al)
"The Oklahoma City Bombing: Structure and
Mechanisms of the Murrah Building," Journal of Performance
of Constructed Facilities, vol. 12, no. 3, 1998 (Sozen MA et al)


Save-on-Foods
parking deck
collapse,Richmond,
B.C.
(1988)
Report of the Commissioner Inquiry Station Square
Development (Closkey D)
Construction Failure, Chapter 6.2.2.a (Feld K and Carper K)
"Station Square Revisited: Distortional Buckling
Collapse," Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering, vol. 21, no. 3,
1994 (Essa H and Kennedy DJ)
"Supermarket Roof Collapse in Burnaby, B.C.,
Canada," Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities, vol. 4,
no. 3, 1990 (Jones CP and Nathan ND)
"Discussion: Supermarket Roof Collapse in Burnaby,
B.C., Canada," Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities,
vol. 6, no. 1, 1992 (Baer BR)
"Closure to Discussions: Supermarket Roof Collapse
in Burnaby, B.C., Canada," Journal of Performance of
Constructed Facilities, vol. 6, no. 1, 1992 (Jones CP and Nathan ND)


Harbour Cay
Condos, FL
(1981)
Investigation of Construction Failure of Harbour Cay
Condominium in Cocoa Beach, Florida (Lew HS)


Kansas City Hyatt
Regency Walkway
The Hyatt Skywalk Disaster and Other Lessons in the

Collapse, MO
(1981)
Regulation of Building (Waugh WL and Hy RJ)
Why Buildings Fall Down: How Structures Fail,
Chapter 15 (Levy M and Salvadori M)
"When Cracks Become Breakthroughs," Technology
Review, vol. 85, no. 6, 1982 (Petroski H)
"Implications of Recent Structural Failures on
Education and Research," Civil Engineering for Practicing and
Design Engineers, vol. 3, no. 9, 1984 (Hanson JM) <available
through CISTI>
"Communications Failure in Hyatt Regency
Disaster," Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering, vol. 115,
no. 3, 1989 (Banset EA and Parsons GM)
"Structural Failures and Engineering Ethics," Journal of
Structural Engineering, vol. 119, no. 5, 1993 (Roddis WK)
"Chronology and Context of the Hyatt Regency
Collapse," Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities, vol.
14, no. 2, 2000 (Luth GP)
Engineering Disasters (Actuality Productions)

Tower of Pisa
Learning From Construction Failures: Applied
Forensic Engineering (Campbell P ed.)
Why Buildings Fall Down: How Structures Fail,
Chapter 10 (Levy M and Salvadori M)
"'Acts of God': the Symbolic and Technical
Significance of Foundation Failures," Journal of Performance
of Constructed Facilities, vol. 10, no. 1, 1996 (Morley J)
Fall of the Leaning Tower: History of
Interventions (NOVA)
"Preserving Pisa's Treasure," Civil Engineering, vol. 72,
no. 3, 2002 (Burland J et al)




Dams
Levee
Failures
New
Orleans, LA
(2005)
"Protecting New Orleans," Scientific American, vol. 294, no. 2,
2006 (Fischetti M)
"Into the Breach," Scientific American, vol. 294, no. 2, 2006
(Fischetti M)

"The Big Uneasy," Civil Engineering, vol. 76, no. 10, 2006
(Reid RL)
Preliminary Report on the Performance of the new Orleans
Levee Systems in Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005 (Seed R,
et. al.)
Performance Evaluation of the New Orleans and Southeast
Louisiana Hurricane Protection System (US Army Corps of Engineers,
Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force)


Teton Dam
(1976)
Report to U.S. Department of the Interior and State of Idaho
on Failure of Teton Dam (Independent panel to review cause of Teton
Dam failure)
Engineering Disasters (Nash BM)
"Teton Dam," Lessons From Dam Incidents: USA-II. (International
Commission on Large Dams - Subcommittee of Dam Incidents and
Accidents)
The Failure of Teton Dam (Pacific Northwest Region, U.S. Bureau
of Reclamation)




Earthquakes
Kobe, Japan
(1995)
Hyogoken-Nanbu (Kobe) Earthquake of January 17,
1995: Lifeline Performance (Schiff AJ)
The January 17, 1995 Hyogo-ken-Nanbu (Kobe)
Earthquake: Performance of Structures, Lifelines, and Fire
Protection Systems (Chung R)
Report on the Disaster Caused by the
1995 Hyogoken Nanbu Earthquake (Ministry of Construction,
Japan)
"Damage to Concrete Structures Due to the January 17,
1995, Hyogo-ken Nanbu (Kobe) Earthquake,"Canadian Journal
of Civil Engineering, vol. 23, no. 3, 1996 (Mitchell D et al)
"Lessons from Kobe," Civil Engineering, vol. 65, no. 4, 1995
(Matso K)
"Kobe Earthquake Bodes Ill for Others," ENR (Engineering
News-Record), vol. 234, no. 21, 1995
"Engineering Brains Challenged in Wake of Kobe's
Seismic Brawn," ENR (Engineering News-Record), vol. 234, no. 4,

1995 (Normile D)

Northridge, CA
(1994)
Northridge Earthquake: Lifeline Performance and Post-
Earthquake Response (Schiff A)
Northridge Earthquake, January 17, 1994: Preliminary
Reconnaissance Report (Hall JF)
Preliminary Report on the Northridge, California,
Earthquake of January 17, 1994 (Canadian Association for
Earthquake Engineering)
"Performance Assessment for a Reinforced Concrete
Frame Building," Earthquake Spectra, vol. 16, no. 3, 2000 (Browning
J et al)
"Analysis of Mid-Rise Steel Frame Damaged in
Northridge Earthquake," Journal of Performance of Constructed
Facilities, vol. 12, no. 4, 1998 (Hajjar, JF)
"Northridge Fractures: Are We Learning the Right
Lessons?" Civil Engineering, vol. 65, no. 3, 1995 (Campbell HH)
"Analysis of the Failure of Interstate 10 Freeway Ramp
During the Northridge Earthquake of 17 January
1994,"Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics, vol. 24, no. 2,
1995 (Broderick BM and Elnashai AS)




For further research, try searching these article
databases: Compendex, Web of Science, GeoRef, and Academic
Search Complete with your keywords.
To access these resources off campus, please set up remote access on
your computer.

Please contact an engineering librarian if you require any assistance with
your research and citations.
Originally designed by Shad Turner
Maintained by Aleteia Greenwood and Eugene Barsky
Science & Engineering, UBC Library



Last modified: 23-Dec-2008
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