Forensic Structural Engineering - Focus on the United States

Ever more structural failures make the news throughout the world, and their investigation is becoming an active field of professional practice—often referred to as Forensic Structural Engineering. In most countries the engineering and legal professions have established practices, and others are considering or are using technical, business, and legal procedures modelled on United States (U.S.) practices—with both their effectiveness and faults—which employ expert consultants/witnesses in an adversarial environment retained by each party to the investigation of the failure and the litigation of the resulting claim. This paper is an overview of the important, and perhaps unique, aspects of those practices in the United States.