Failure

[pucho812]

“Failure is central to engineering. Every single calculation that an engineer makes is a failure calculation. Successful engineering is all about understanding how things break or fail.”

― Henry Petroski

Best quote I read all week.

 

[user 37518]

“Failure is central to engineering. Every single calculation that an engineer makes is a failure calculation. Successful engineering is all about understanding how things break or fail.”

― Henry Petroski

Best quote I read all week.

Great quote!

 

[PRR]

If it can't fail, you put too much steel or concrete in it.

Why should the engineer let the concrete company get the big bucks? It means less work and less money for the engineer.

 

[JohnRoberts]

“Failure is central to engineering. Every single calculation that an engineer makes is a failure calculation. Successful engineering is all about understanding how things break or fail.”

― Henry Petroski

Best quote I read all week.

I read a good book decades ago that was all about failure analysis... many classic examples (including Titanic). Early metallurgy was not as mature as now.

JR

 

[benb]

JR, do you remember the title? I've had a fascination, perhaps an unhealthy interest, in failure, dating back maybe to the Apollo 13 days (the mission, not the movie) and certainly to the Challenger explosion.  The Internet let me discover things such as the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and first Arriane 5 launch, complete with Youtube videos and analysis pages.

In the 90s I read about the Therac-25 in Embedded Systems Programming magazine, and regularly read comp.risks until I connected reading it with the nightmares I was having.  The Risks Digest is still going, and now there's this light-hearted (?) Twitter feed named @FailsWork.  I've got books on failures such as "Major Malfunction" on the Challenger. One of the conclusions is that there's not just one thing that goes wrong in a big failure, it's a systemic thing of many small failures that may not hurt by themselves,but they all incidentally come together and cascade into one big oops. I've got things on general product design, like Petroski's books (though I've never read his, I think I tried a few pages and maybe the writing didn't flow for me) and this one:
https://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Revised-Expanded/dp/0465050654

 

[JohnRoberts]

JR, do you remember the title? I've had a fascination, perhaps an unhealthy interest, in failure, dating back maybe to the Apollo 13 days (the mission, not the movie) and certainly to the Challenger explosion.  The Internet let me discover things such as the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and first Arriane 5 launch, complete with Youtube videos and analysis pages.

In the 90s I read about the Therac-25 in Embedded Systems Programming magazine, and regularly read comp.risks until I connected reading it with the nightmares I was having.  The Risks Digest is still going, and now there's this light-hearted (?) Twitter feed named @FailsWork.  I've got books on failures such as "Major Malfunction" on the Challenger. One of the conclusions is that there's not just one thing that goes wrong in a big failure, it's a systemic thing of many small failures that may not hurt by themselves,but they all incidentally come together and cascade into one big oops. I've got things on general product design, like Petroski's books (though I've never read his, I think I tried a few pages and maybe the writing didn't flow for me) and this one:
https://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Revised-Expanded/dp/0465050654

Sorry my copy (and specific memory about the title) is long since gone, as with most of my better books. It was a paperback and I bought/read it back last centiry.

From a quick search on google there are a number of books promising analysis of engineering failure, many including more modern failures. Post analysis of failures are likely to be more accurate than analysis of why things work, so probably several good choices.  ;D

"Breakdown: Deadly Technological Disasters",
by Neil Schlager, Visible Ink Press, Detroit, 1995

"Set Phasers on Stun",
by Steven Casey, Aegean Publishing Co., Santa Barbara, 1993

"To Engineer is Human",
by Henry Petroski, Vintage Books, New York, 1992

"Design Paradigms : Case Histories of Error and Judgment in Engineering",
by Henry Petroski, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1994

"Civil Engineering Practice: Engineering Success by Analysis of Failure",
by David D.A. Piesold, McGraw-Hill Professional, New York, 1991

"When Technology Fails: Significant Technological Disasters, Accidents, and Failures of the Twentieth Century",
by Neil Schlager (Editor), Nell Y. Schlager (Editor), Gale Group, New York, 1994

"Inviting Disaster: Lessons From the Edge of Technology",
by James R. Chiles, Harper Business, New York, 2002

Good Luck.

JR

PS To engineer is human, rings a bell loudly... that was probably it...I even recognize the cover. I suspect we could learn from several of those titles.

 

[scott2000]

I never like when I get caught up in some company's failure process because it makes my own process difficult to learn from without including that variable.



Fascinating to think about...... I guess it's all part of life.......

 

[JohnRoberts]

I never like when I get caught up in some company's failure process because it makes my own process difficult to learn from without including that variable.



Fascinating to think about...... I guess it's all part of life.......

Failure is nature's negative feedback loop...

JR

 

[pucho812]

I never like when I get caught up in some company's failure process because it makes my own process difficult to learn from without including that variable.



Fascinating to think about...... I guess it's all part of life.......

brilliant.  With some companies all it takes is one person to cause such failures.

 

[rackmonkey]

From a quick search on google there are a number of books promising analysis of engineering failure, many including more modern failures. Post analysis of failures are likely to be more accurate than analysis... 

A good one I read just out of curiosity at the recommendation of an architect friend:

Why Buildings Fall Down: How Structures Fail

Paperback – February 17, 2002
by Matthys Levy  (Author),‎ Mario Salvadori  (Author),‎ Kevin Woest  (Illustrator)

 

[PRR]

> Why Buildings Fall Down: How Structures Fail
> Matthys Levy  (Author),‎ Mario Salvadori  (Author),‎ Kevin Woest  (Illustrator)

A good basic book (story-telling, not heavy analysis) and FWIW there is an older copy floating as PDF:
https://civiltechnocrats.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/82003327-why-buildings-fall-down-how-structures-fail.pdf

 

[JohnRoberts]

I already posted my reading list, but allow another observation. I have seem many high profile studies about business success but few about routine business failures.  Large public company failures get more coverage because so many people (stockholders) are involved, but the many routine small business bars and restaurant failures expire relatively uninspected.

IMO business people may not fully understand why they are successful, but most business failures know exactly why they went out of business.  Of course not exactly a feel good subject, but bridges falling down and unsinkable boats sinking deserves inspection.

JR

 

[benb]

The only book on that list I have is "To Engineer Is Human" (!). I must force myself to read it.

Another book I've mostly read through (I recall it has boring parts and "exciting" parts that make it worth plowing through the boring parts) is "Human Error" by James Reason. Looking online, here's a short article on failure based on his work:
https://whatsthepont.com/2015/08/03/the-james-reason-swiss-cheese-failure-model-in-300-seconds/