PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Lessons Learned from Failure T his issue of the magazine is focused on lessons learned. There are many examples of lessons learned — you can certainly gain them from successfully completed projects, but perhaps the lessons learned from failure are more meaningful, memorable, useful and long lasting. You always tend to remember the stories that scare the hell out of you more than the ones that merely make you feel good. This may have to do with a natural tendency to fear failure above all else. It may also be a genetic trait we picked up from our ancestors that survival depends on learning from the mistakes of others rather having to experience the potentially tragic outcomes ourselves. As engineers, perhaps the most captivating and fascinating lessons learned are the catastrophic failures associated with the design and construction of man-made structures. A great many of these failures are geotechnical related and focus on dams in particular. The ones that immediately come to mind are the St. Francis Dam in southern California and the Teton Dam in Utah. Both occurred in the first half of the 20th century and resulted in a high number of deaths. But being a construction engineer with a tendency to push the envelope with innovative construction techniques, for me Save the Date one of the most fascinating fail- ures was the catastrophic collapse of the Quebec Bridge across the St. Lawrence River during con- struction in the early 20th cen- tury. This record-breaking steel truss bridge with a total span of 1,800 ft (548.6 m) failed during erection of the 675 ft (205.7 m) long main suspended span while it was being connected to the two 562.5 ft (171.4 m) long cantilevers. This erection effort failed not only once but twice (1907 and 1916) and resulted in a total death of 86 workers. One of America’s fore- Robert B. Bittner, P.E. President [email protected] The full details of the collapse most structural engineers at the time, Theodore Cooper, was the lead consulting engineer for the contractor. When he was selected, he was 60 years old and con- sidered the foremost auth- ority on bridge design and construction in the United States. While hoping that this record-breaking structure would be the crowning achievement of his illustrious career it in fact had just the opposite effect. August 7-8, 2014 Marine Foundations Seminar – Design and Construction of the New Tappan Zee Bridge and The Ben C. Gerwick Award for Innovation in the Design and Construction of Marine Foundations Location: Westchester Marriott, Tarrytown, NY The seminar will focus on planning, environmental issues, contract delivery, design phase testing, procurement process, and design and construction for the new Tappan Zee Bridge. The second day features a boat tour of the new Tappan Zee Bridge construction project. Save the Date As engineers, perhaps the most captivating and fascinating lessons learned are the catastrophic failures associated with the design and construction of man-made structures. are far too extensive to cover here, but if this very limited description has sparked your hunger for the full details of this tragic story, I strongly recommend reading: The Bridge at Quebec by William D. Middleton. I loaned a copy of the book to Ben Gerwick about 8 years ago, a couple years before he died. When I went to retrieve the book from my library, I found a note from Ben stuck in the first page. It said: “Our work on cofferdams for contractors is especially dangerous, no matter who designs it. We must have ITRs.” Ben was a great advocate of lessons learned and the use of independent technical reviews. August 12-13, 2014 Deep Foundations for Slope Stabilization and Excavation Support Seminar Location: Wyndham Grand Hotel, Pittsburgh, PA The Deep Foundations for Lanslides/Slope Stabilization and Tiebacks and Soil Nailing Committees are organizing a two-day event. The seminar will present recent and future projects that include challenging slope and landslide repairs as well as excavation support with deep foundation methods. The two sponsoring committees will also hold meetings the night before the seminar begins. DEEP FOUNDATIONS • MAY/JUN 2014 • 17
