Forensic Engineering

Module code: CH7213

Materials science is concerned with the behaviour and performance of engineering materials. When materials fail due to fatigue, wear, corrosion or overloading then the results can be catastrophic, and in some cases fatal such as the Silver Bridge disaster of 1967. By recovering and studying the broken components of the bridge it was discovered that fretting wear induced stress corrosion cracking causing the bridge to collapse. In this module we look at how these techniques can be applied to build a description of events leading to fatalities. Examples range from the last Plantagenet (Richard III) to the Hindenburg airship disaster. The module is assessed by two investigative reports.