Sarenny Paredes

ESG 201

April 10, 2018

Assignment 5

1. The train incident called The Great Pickle works wreck happened on August 13, 1926 on the Long Island Railroad. The train known was travelled towards Greenport from Jamaica, Queens. The accident happened as the train went around 70 mph and ran over a switch that changed to another lane. When the train went over the switch it caused the train to derail and crash into the pickle farm next to the tracks, hence giving the accident its name.  There were 6 deaths and many more injuries due to the accident. Complexity played a role in the pickle wreck because of a small piece of material that was in fact very important for the train went missing. The pin that half the nut in place was not placed where it should be and added to the great disaster. This is an example of complexity because a material so small should maybe not be given such an important role in the structure. If small piece are being used for structures it increases the complexity of the structure because engineers might not keep track of all parts of the structure because they is too much to look after. This also shows poor maintenance as a human factor because as engineers they should be checking all of the mechanisms of the structures, because if not accidents like this one are the cause. This little pin not being in its right place cause such a large accidents and many lives, because of the irresponsibility of the engineers. A feature that has been added to trains is the “Locomotive speed control unit.” An article states that this feature,” “The equipment on board the locomotive must continually calculate the trains' current speed relative to a speed target some distance away governed by a braking curve. If the train risks not being able to slow to the speed target given the braking curve, the brakes are automatically applied and the train is immediately slowed. The speed targets are updated by information regarding fixed and dynamic speed limits determined by the track profile and signaling system.” This shows how the trains will now automatically stop if they surpass or do not keep a certain speed. This become very beneficial for the safety of the passengers, and it improves the reliability of the train.

2. In most if not all cases, it is very difficult to prepare for natural disasters. Although this is a major setback for the engineers trying to prevent major catastrophe and loss, they still build structures. These structures are built in places where engineers believe they will be the most needed, but they in a lot of cases cannot guarantee that their structures will be reliable to withstand these natural disasters. A very important example of this are the Levees built in New Orleans in order to prevent major flooding. This structure was a big failure that led to a lot of destruction, the failure of the levees led to 80% of New Orleans to be flooded. An article states, “The primary mechanism of failure for levees protecting eastern New Orleans was the existence of sand in 10% of places instead of thick Louisiana clay. The primary mechanism of failure for the levees protecting St. Bernard Parish was overtopping due to negligent maintenance.” This shows that the 50 failure of the levees that were reported was due to the negligence of the engineers who should have been taking care and constantly looking over the structure in order to correct any mistakes. This shows how many people lost their lives and thousands lost their homes due to the irresponsibility of the engineers who had to be overlooking the structure that was supposed to keep New Orleans and all its residents safe from this disaster. Although the structure was built to withstand the hurricane and failed, in reality the storm was way too strong in order for anything to prevent it. The destruction that came with hurricane Katrina was to be expected because of the magnitude of the hurricane. This is called the normalization of deviance, according to an article it is, “The normalization of deviance is defined as: ‘The gradual process through which unacceptable practice or standards become acceptable. As the deviant behavior is repeated without catastrophic results, it becomes the social norm for the organization.’” This shows how the aftermath may have been inevitable to prevent.

3. There are several articles describing how to fix engineered structures in order to have them withstand natural disasters. An article shows the data and the math that would be used in order to prove how the engineered structures will not fail during natural disasters. The article states, “The paper presents an integrated framework which deals with natural hazards (tsunamis), physical vulnerability modelling, risk of failure for industrial structures (metal structures) and structural resilience provided by plastic adaptation.” This shows how the article describes in detail how the structure should be modeled in order to survive a tsunami. The article states, “The tsunamis hydrodynamic effects on the tanks may cause various mechanical failures and damages.” This shows how the engineers now know what the issue and they know what approaches to take in order to better the structure. As a response to the issue that appeared to be occurring with the tanks due to tsunamis the article responds with, “With adequate protections and better anchors resistance against sliding, the investigated tanks can withstand tsunamis of almost 10 m before buckling and 15 m before they are damaged by buoyancy or overturning effects.” This shows the solution that has been found in order to fix the weak tanks and to not have them sliding off during tsunamis. This shows a solution to a failing engineered structure due to a natural disaster. Some engineering structures may not even be all that big but when they are proved in order to withstand some natural hazards they make a big difference. Engineering structures that are ill-equipped to withstand disasters should always be quickly enhanced because when they are they can save lives. According to an article a small structure can be improved but when it is it saves lives. The article states, “Engineering students at the University of Colorado at Boulder designed and created a jacket avalanche airbag that can be rapidly inflated to keep a person closer to the surface of an avalanche, and thus more likely to survive.” This shows how something as small as a jacket can make all the difference when it comes to saving a life and withstanding the disaster.  Larger improved engineering structures that are made to withstand disasters will save many lives, but the point of enhancing these structures is to save as many people. This is why the life jackets for the avalanche are just as important as any large structure.

Reflection

This assignment was a bit challenging to complete due to all of the outside information that I had to find, but in the end it was very interesting. Unfortunately I learned that the levees in New Orleans were an actual structure and had failed to protect the city. When I was old enough to learn about hurricane Katrina, the destruction was so grand I didn’t know there was a structure placed in order to stop the flooding. This assignment builds on previous ones because it shows just how important engineered structures are to the world. This assignment shows that without the proper materials or design for a structure, the consequences are catastrophic.

Resources

http://lmcontheline.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-normalization-of-deviance-if-it-can.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_levee_failures_in_Greater_New_Orleans

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_train_control

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19475705.2016.1181458

https://www.teachengineering.org/lessons/view/cub_natdis_lesson01