By Dr. Kyle Koppenhoefer and Dr. Scott Anson
In our last blog, we discussed how engineers skilled in computational modeling can aid forensic engineers in discovering failure points in manufacturing plants or production facilities. We’ve all read the accounts in newspapers and online about manufacturing plants or production facilities that have had incidents or mishaps. It quickly becomes a critical issue when something unexpected happens, causing a system-wide or partial shutdown. Each minute offline means losses throughout the company. Ultimately, those losses can add up to millions of dollars. The company involved needs to determine where the fault lies. Sometimes these incidents result in losses to business affiliates and physical injury to individuals, both of which can result in litigation to recover financial damages.
That is when the forensic and computational modeling engineers take their partnership to another level. Forensic engineers are specially trained to get to the root cause of an issue, using the evidence they find when an incident involves single or multiple engineering-based processes. They lead the team of other experts to recreate exactly what happened leading up to the point of failure. One of those experts is usually a computational modeling engineer.
Computational engineers recreate the systems through computer modeling and then run various scenarios until they hit upon the one that matches the evidence, eyewitness accounts, and raw data. Those scenarios often pinpoint the cause of the failure and, ultimately, where the fault lies.
This fact makes the forensic and computational modeling engineers outstanding expert witnesses in any legal proceedings that may follow a failure and shutdown, especially if there has been loss of life. The forensic engineer was charged with getting to the root cause, and the computational modeling engineer was asked to prove that theory through simulations. Together, they make a steadfast team in the courtroom, using their expertise and unquestionable results to walk a judge and jury through each step they took to reach their conclusion.
Teams that work together well on projects prove formidable in the courtroom. Trust forms, styles mesh, and individuals learn from one another to reach an infallible conclusion. There are often big stakes involved in these failures—millions and millions of dollars in claims, repairs, and lost revenue. Working together, AltaSim Technologies and Anson Engineering get the science right with the latest engineering tools.
Dr. Kyle Koppenhoefer is the President of AltaSim Technologies in Worthington, Ohio.
Dr. Scott Anson, P.E., is both the Principal Engineer of Anson Engineering, LLC, and a tenured professor at LeTourneau University in Longview, Texas.