Forensics Engineering
The construction and maintenance of facilities represents an enormous investment to its owners and operators. Typically, the performance of most facilities will not be `perfect,` but will be within the tolerances designed by the project design team. However, some facilities will develop problems during or after construction, or sometime during their design life. These problems often represent a significant threat to the serviceability of the facility and the investment that it represents. As a result, the retention of an engineering firm with forensics engineering experience is a must in order to determine the cause of the problems and to develop cost effective solutions for repair or remediation.
Forensics engineering can broadly be thought of as the application of scientific and engineering principles to determine why a particular system has failed or is not performing as expected. Accordingly, the forensics engineer must be knowledgeable in a wide range of disciplines such as civil, structural, geotechnical, materials and other engineering disciplines to understand the complex interactions of the various elements of a facility. Frost GeoSciences provides the wide range of knowledge and experience necessary to determine and solve these types of problems.
Our engineers extensive experience in the investigation of problems with facilities ranging from residential to commercial structures, pavements, soil retention systems, subsurface water problems and construction materials problems. Using a combination of technical review of facility documentation, interviews, field investigation, laboratory testing and engineering analysis, Frost GeoSciences can economically diagnose facility problems and formulate repairs or remediation plans that are practical and effective. Our findings and recommendations are then presented in written reports to our clients.
- Frost GeoSciences’ forensics engineering services include the following:
- Investigations of building and foundation distress
- Investigations of building and foundation distress
- Evaluation of pavement distress and failures
- Evaluation of retaining wall distress and failures
- Evaluation of embankment failures
- Evaluation of construction materials
- Evaluation of erosion problems
- Investigation of subsurface water problems