The National Academies Press

Currently Skimming:

Pages 897-960

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.

From page 897... ... Reference Guide on Engineering C H A N N I N G R . Read the entire page →
From page 898... ... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence 7. Failure to conform to standards and validate a design: Automotive lift, 924 8. Read the entire page →
From page 899... ... Reference Guide on Engineering "Scientists investigate that which already is; Engineers create that which has never been." Albert Einstein I What Is Engineering? Read the entire page →
From page 900... ... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence B Engineering Disciplines and Fields of Practice One can think of engineering in terms of its various disciplines as they relate to the academic enterprise and the names of departments or degrees with which they are associated, for instance electrical engineering or chemical engineering. Read the entire page →
From page 901... ... Reference Guide on Engineering To provide a tangible example, consider cases involving personal injury in which central questions often revolve around the specifics of how a particular trauma occurred. In situations where proximate cause is an issue, the trier of fact can benefit from a thorough understanding of the mechanics that created an injury. Read the entire page →
From page 902... ... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence rience spans the interface between mechanics (i.e., engineering) and biology (i.e., science) Read the entire page →
From page 903... ... Reference Guide on Engineering So, in short, engineers create, design, and construct because interesting and challenging problems arise in the course of human events and emergent societal needs. Whether a science base exists or only partially exists is just one of a myriad of constraints that shapes the process. Read the entire page →
From page 904... ... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence the explosion, and do this on a timescale that was effective without harming an occupant more-so than the impending collision. It is unavoidable that as we learn from new discoveries about the natural world and accumulate more experience with our designed systems, products, and infrastructure, engineers will be in an increasingly better place to move forward with improved and new designs. Read the entire page →
From page 905... ... Reference Guide on Engineering Figure 1. Schematic of the engineering design process. Read the entire page →
From page 906... ... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence cycle is often accelerated. For example, if it is known that a pressure vessel will see 50,000 cycles over a 10-year lifetime, those cycles can be performed in several months and the resultant effects on vessel performance established. Read the entire page →
From page 907... ... Reference Guide on Engineering problems in products returned from the field, and adjust product parameters appropriately.8 The process of continual product improvement, illustrated by an arrow from the "Go" stage to the "Design/Formulate" and "Test/Validate" stages in Figure 1, is taught to engineers as a method to effectively optimize designs. Such refinements of product design are often the topic of inquiry in depositions of engineers and others involved in product design, and frequently misunderstood as an indication that the initial design was defective.9 The engineering design process anticipates review and ongoing refinement of product design as a means of developing better and safer products. Read the entire page →
From page 908... ... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence B he Design Process -- How Engineers Think About Safety T and Risk in Design Almost everything that an engineer designs involves some aspect of safety, and the elegance and efficiency of designs are often forced to balance safety with competing parameters such as cost and physical constraints. Read the entire page →
From page 909... ... Reference Guide on Engineering rigorous definition presents much of the complexity of other deceptively simple but widely used four letter words, for example, "good." Fortunately, there is a whole field of scholarship, science, and technology related to the study of "safety." The field was spawned during the industrial revolution, when it came to be recognized that preventable industrial accidents were simply economically, if not morally, unacceptable.10 For the remainder of this discussion, we examine the concept of safety as it relates to the possibility of physical harm to persons. Safety is technically defined, and empirically measured, by the concept of "risk." And often a speaker who declares a product or environment "safe" does indeed mean to say that the product or environment is risk-free. Read the entire page →
From page 910... ... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence with the task of defining "risk" or "acceptable risk." This then is the definition of safe; something is "safe" when it presents "acceptable risk"13 (the reader is again reminded that we are discussing an engineering, not legal, construct) Read the entire page →
From page 911... ... Reference Guide on Engineering These two different risk metrics, one for injuries and one for fatalities, naturally invite the question of a single metric that characterizes the risk, and therefore safety, of highway travel in the United States. Sadly, the answer is that the single metric does not exist. Read the entire page →
From page 912... ... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence in the risk literature. Rather than being combined into a single metric, these risks are expressed as independent risk frequencies or probabilities. Read the entire page →
From page 913... ... Reference Guide on Engineering or motorcycle risk or vehicle passenger risk. Thus, fatally injured pedestrians (4654) Read the entire page →
From page 914... ... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence regard for yellow lights, aggressiveness, medication, vision correction, etc., may contribute in some way to the likelihood that we will be fatally injured driving the next mile, but are beyond the scope of this brief discussion. Read the entire page →
From page 915... ... Reference Guide on Engineering does not look too bad. Similarly, if our risk number were presented in the context of the fatal highway risk of other industrialized nations, it would compare very favorably as well. Read the entire page →
From page 916... ... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence Returning to our fatality risk for a nonmotorcycle vehicle driver of 0.718 deaths per 108 VMT, this translates into a fatal risk of 0.718 × 10−8 for each mile. That 10−8 term makes this number quite small, and the fatal risk per mile low. Read the entire page →
From page 917... ... Reference Guide on Engineering mon risks, such as vehicular travel, but typically overestimate risks, such as airplane crashes, that have significant publicity associated with them.36 We all know there is a small, but highly controllable, risk of drowning when we go swimming. Yet most of the U.S. Read the entire page →
From page 918... ... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) Read the entire page →
From page 919... ... Reference Guide on Engineering to the 1.36 × 10−8 per mile traveled for the overall risk to society of motorized vehicular travel, not just the driver risk, to compute the risk level that society de facto accepts for the benefits of motorized vehicular transport. Then the risk per hour becomes 30 × 1.36 × 10−8 = 0.408 × 10−6 or a little less than half a fatality per million hours of exposure. Read the entire page →
From page 920... ... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence Table 2. elative Cost of Selected Regulations as a Function of Lives R Saved Cost per Life Saved (Millions of Regulation Year Agency Dollars in 1990) Read the entire page →
From page 921... ... Reference Guide on Engineering around the world. Many of them were associated with adverse health consequences, in particular, pelvic inflammatory disease, which led to long-term disabilities and even death in substantial numbers of women. Read the entire page →
From page 922... ... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence In this instance, the design process was flawed from the very beginning (i.e., the incomplete and incorrect geological analysis) and led to an "engineered" site for the containment of toxic wastes, which had no chance of performing properly. Read the entire page →
From page 923... ... Reference Guide on Engineering installation and susceptibility to corrosion led to the development of plastic tubes. One manufacturer recognized that rubber hose would be even easier to install than the somewhat rigid plastic conduits, and engaged a major rubber company to design a hose for the radiant heating market. Read the entire page →
From page 924... ... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence have severe consequences. Further details of this event can be found in the second edition of this manual.45 6. Read the entire page →
From page 925... ... Reference Guide on Engineering when a Jeep Wrangler fell from the lift and injured the owner of a service station, verification of conformity to the standards was assessed by the plaintiff. Testing by the plaintiff 's expert revealed that the swing-arm lift restraints resisted only 30% of the criteria specified in the standard, and that simple reconfiguration of the restraint components could create a conforming lift. Read the entire page →
From page 926... ... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence Indeed, we now know that the design of this structure failed to meet accepted design principles already in place in the 1920s. The dam height was increased by 10 feet at the start of construction, and another 10 feet midway through construction, bringing the final capacity to 38,000 acre feet. Read the entire page →
From page 927... ... Reference Guide on Engineering aft dome of the liquid hydrogen tank. The massively uneven thrust created by the escaping hydrogen gas altered the trajectory of the shuttle and aerodynamic forces destroyed it. Read the entire page →
From page 928... ... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence this aberrant behavior of the original seal system actually was acceptable never was done other than to monitor shuttle launches and hope for the best. Second, the O-rings were known to have insufficient resiliency at temperatures substantially higher than those encountered on the day of the Challenger launch; therefore, launching at such a low ambient temperature equated to misuse of the system. Read the entire page →
From page 929... ... Reference Guide on Engineering of experience illustrated by the "Performance" arrow from the "Go" stage to the "Design/Formulate" and "Test/Validate" stages in Figure 1) Read the entire page →
From page 930... ... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence One example that scientists and engineers can be one and the same is epitomized by Renaissance humanism during a period almost five centuries past. There, Leonardo da Vinci, with a minimalist toolkit by today's standards, lived a life equally as an engineer and a scientist, and indeed an artist. Read the entire page →
From page 931... ... Reference Guide on Engineering C icensing, Registration, Certification, and Accreditation L Licenses are required for engineering professionals in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, if their services are offered directly to the public and they would affect public health and safety. Read the entire page →
From page 932... ... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence PE licensure is quite different from board certification for a physician or bar certification for a lawyer. Physicians and lawyers may not practice their professions without having such board certification. Read the entire page →
From page 933... ... Reference Guide on Engineering protectable property compares to other designs or intellectual property that are claimed to relate to the subject of the dispute. As discussed above, engineers can also be expert witnesses. Read the entire page →
From page 934... ... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence offer guidance on inspections and related issues.58 Although it is not required that engineers adopt and follow these standards, if the court has questions as to whether the techniques or procedures used by an engineer are reasonable, reference to the standards can certainly be helpful. As a first step in the inspection process, engineers will typically document evidence or the accident scene using photography and videography. Read the entire page →
From page 935... ... Reference Guide on Engineering client-attorneys who would rather not perform any test for which the outcome is uncertain. Engineers can design tests to study kinematics (motions) Read the entire page →
From page 936... ... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence Of course not all situations require novel techniques to be developed, and in those instances an abundance of standards for testing materials and products exist. Typically promulgated by organizations such as ASTM, ANSI, CEN, and others, these standards envelop everything from sample preparation, to sampling procedures, to test equipment operation and calibration, to analysis of data acquired during testing. Read the entire page →
From page 937... ... Reference Guide on Engineering systems, processes, or phenomena. Quite distinct from the simple programs mentioned above used to solve an equation or two, these computer models employ enormous bodies of code that can solve thousands of equations. Read the entire page →
From page 938... ... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence or input conditions, and making certain the results are representative of the known output within the validated range. Regardless of the qualifications of the engineer, if any mathematical model has not been validated within the boundaries at issue, its use in the courtroom should be carefully considered. Read the entire page →
From page 939... ... Reference Guide on Engineering documents, and understanding constraints can be critical in terms of effective critical review, engineers called as experts may need to review deposition testimony relating to the design to supplement what they learn from the documents themselves. Read the entire page →
From page 940... ... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence achieved. To gain that understanding, testimony from the product designer as well as testimony by engineers with experience in design may be helpful.61 The adequacy of testing done on a product is closely related to the issue of design defect. Read the entire page →
From page 941... ... Reference Guide on Engineering 2. Manufacturing The manufacture of a product and the quality process through which uniformity of ingredients, processes, and the final product are ensured may properly be the subject of product safety litigation. Read the entire page →
From page 942... ... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence nonetheless may not be allowed to testify based on the substantive law applicable to such products.66 For example, industrial engineers, or engineers educated in human factors, may have training that allows them not only to testify when warnings are necessary from an engineering perspective (recall the discussion above about the design process) , but also about the efficacy of warnings, and development of risk communications including text, pictures, auditory, or visual signals. Read the entire page →
From page 943... ... Reference Guide on Engineering been "caused" by it.68 But issues regarding the standard to apply for the sufficiency of causal proof may be both scientific and legal issues. Thus, the adequacy or admissibility of an engineer's opinion on causation will be evaluated in light of the law, as well as the adequacy of the science that forms the basis for the opinion.69 Situations where property damages are asserted may pose special problems on which engineering testimony may be appropriate. Read the entire page →
From page 944... ... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence relate to that definition. These issues may be the subjects of the testimony of an engineer. Read the entire page →
From page 945... ... Reference Guide on Engineering C Intellectual Property and Trade Secrets Engineering testimony may be helpful in disputes regarding patents and other forms of intellectual property. Read the entire page →
From page 946... ... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence ultimately a question of law for the court to decide. However, the underlying factual determinations, including the secondary factors involved in determining patent validity, remain jury questions concerning which expert engineering testimony may be admitted.77 Questions regarding the scope and teachings of prior art also may invite engineering testimony and interpretation.78 A similar analysis applies to trade secret matters. Read the entire page →
From page 947... ... Reference Guide on Engineering • Claims of personal injury or property damage resulting from the spread of a toxic substance may involve a number of issues where engineering testimony may be both reliable and relevant.82 • Environmental disputes regarding the necessity for and nature of an envi ronmental problem and the responsibility for and cost of its cleanup involve numerous issues concerning which properly qualified engineers may provide reliable and relevant evidence.83 • The testimony of an engineer can be helpful in determining causation in both product liability cases and nonproducts liability cases as well. Recent cases in the electrical engineering area demonstrate the range of possible situations where such issues may arise and engineering testimony may be admitted.84 For example, an electrical engineer was allowed to testify about lightning in Walker v. Read the entire page →
From page 948... ... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence Public Resources Code which defined "electric transmission line" as "any electric power line carrying electric power from a thermal power plant located within the state to a point of junction with any interconnected transmission system."87 The engineer, employed by Pacific Gas & Electric, testified at the hearing before the CERCD about the use of certain terms in the industry related to that definition and about electricity transmis sion principles. The court subsequently relied on that testimony in part in determining that "electric transmission line" had a plain meaning, and that the plain meaning cut off the CERCDC's jurisdiction at the first point at which a power line emanating from a thermal power plant joined to the interconnected transmission grid. Read the entire page →
From page 949... ... Reference Guide on Engineering 1. Qualifications In an earlier section of this guide (Section III.C.2) Read the entire page →
From page 950... ... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence The phrase "standard of care" has various meanings and connotations to engineers that are somewhat discipline specific. Standard of care in the medical sciences may be different than standard of care in some other context. Read the entire page →
From page 951... ... Reference Guide on Engineering with ambiguity. In the end, the more important issue is whether there was adherence to the design process. Read the entire page →
From page 952... ... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence the other hand, failure to use a code, or comparison of code values to actual values does not guarantee that a disaster will occur. Common sense is often the best judge in these situations -- if a code value is exceeded, yet no damage is observed, it is likely that the conservative nature of the code met its objectives and protected its subject. Read the entire page →
From page 953... ... Reference Guide on Engineering found. The repositories of documents and reports that may be alleged to be OSIs to an issue at bar can have many original purposes, and a collection of such documents may serve multiple purposes for the owner institution. Read the entire page →
From page 954... ... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence to apply objective measures to questions of substantial similarity and thus quantify the level of similarity between an event proffered as an OSI and the instant case. The reverse is also true. Read the entire page →
From page 955... ... Reference Guide on Engineering air or water exposure, reactions to corrosive elements, reactions to acid or base contaminants, and in potential interactions with surrounding materials and components that can be of differing electrochemical potential. Engineers with the appropriate technical background can evaluate operating conditional applications and determine if the conditions that obtain for a proffered OSI are similar to those that had obtained in an instant case, thereby assisting the determination of substantial similarity. Read the entire page →
From page 956... ... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence make the observations and assertions included in such reports, and may or may not have any specialized training necessary to evaluate proper system function or state of repair. The persons who report events collected and offered as OSIs may not be fully informed of the set of circumstantial conditions that are necessary and sufficient to determine causation of the reported event. Read the entire page →
From page 957... ... Reference Guide on Engineering expert's opinions and qualifications.104 To assist the court in this difficult task, we present some guidance regarding the types of technology presently in use and the strengths and weaknesses of each. A primary basis for misunderstanding and uncertainty is the difference between a computer animation and a computer simulation. Read the entire page →
From page 958... ... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence the most correct answer. For example, a computer model depicting the motions of a vehicle prior to and after an impact with a pole may be correct if it matches the known physical evidence (e.g., tire marks and vehicle damage) Read the entire page →
From page 959... ... Reference Guide on Engineering from those to which they are accustomed. The conversations are somewhat alien. Read the entire page →

From page 897...

... Reference Guide on Engineering C H A N N I N G R .

Read the entire page →

From page 898...

... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence 7. Failure to conform to standards and validate a design: Automotive lift, 924 8.

Read the entire page →

From page 899...

... Reference Guide on Engineering "Scientists investigate that which already is; Engineers create that which has never been." Albert Einstein I What Is Engineering?

Read the entire page →

From page 900...

... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence B Engineering Disciplines and Fields of Practice One can think of engineering in terms of its various disciplines as they relate to the academic enterprise and the names of departments or degrees with which they are associated, for instance electrical engineering or chemical engineering.

Read the entire page →

From page 901...

... Reference Guide on Engineering To provide a tangible example, consider cases involving personal injury in which central questions often revolve around the specifics of how a particular trauma occurred. In situations where proximate cause is an issue, the trier of fact can benefit from a thorough understanding of the mechanics that created an injury.

Read the entire page →

From page 902...

... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence rience spans the interface between mechanics (i.e., engineering) and biology (i.e., science)

Read the entire page →

From page 903...

... Reference Guide on Engineering So, in short, engineers create, design, and construct because interesting and challenging problems arise in the course of human events and emergent societal needs. Whether a science base exists or only partially exists is just one of a myriad of constraints that shapes the process.

Read the entire page →

From page 904...

... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence the explosion, and do this on a timescale that was effective without harming an occupant more-so than the impending collision. It is unavoidable that as we learn from new discoveries about the natural world and accumulate more experience with our designed systems, products, and infrastructure, engineers will be in an increasingly better place to move forward with improved and new designs.

Read the entire page →

From page 905...

... Reference Guide on Engineering Figure 1. Schematic of the engineering design process.

Read the entire page →

From page 906...

... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence cycle is often accelerated. For example, if it is known that a pressure vessel will see 50,000 cycles over a 10-year lifetime, those cycles can be performed in several months and the resultant effects on vessel performance established.

Read the entire page →

From page 907...

... Reference Guide on Engineering problems in products returned from the field, and adjust product parameters appropriately.8 The process of continual product improvement, illustrated by an arrow from the "Go" stage to the "Design/Formulate" and "Test/Validate" stages in Figure 1, is taught to engineers as a method to effectively optimize designs. Such refinements of product design are often the topic of inquiry in depositions of engineers and others involved in product design, and frequently misunderstood as an indication that the initial design was defective.9 The engineering design process anticipates review and ongoing refinement of product design as a means of developing better and safer products.

Read the entire page →

From page 908...

... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence B he Design Process -- How Engineers Think About Safety T and Risk in Design Almost everything that an engineer designs involves some aspect of safety, and the elegance and efficiency of designs are often forced to balance safety with competing parameters such as cost and physical constraints.

Read the entire page →

From page 909...

... Reference Guide on Engineering rigorous definition presents much of the complexity of other deceptively simple but widely used four letter words, for example, "good." Fortunately, there is a whole field of scholarship, science, and technology related to the study of "safety." The field was spawned during the industrial revolution, when it came to be recognized that preventable industrial accidents were simply economically, if not morally, unacceptable.10 For the remainder of this discussion, we examine the concept of safety as it relates to the possibility of physical harm to persons. Safety is technically defined, and empirically measured, by the concept of "risk." And often a speaker who declares a product or environment "safe" does indeed mean to say that the product or environment is risk-free.

Read the entire page →

From page 910...

... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence with the task of defining "risk" or "acceptable risk." This then is the definition of safe; something is "safe" when it presents "acceptable risk"13 (the reader is again reminded that we are discussing an engineering, not legal, construct)

Read the entire page →

From page 911...

... Reference Guide on Engineering These two different risk metrics, one for injuries and one for fatalities, naturally invite the question of a single metric that characterizes the risk, and therefore safety, of highway travel in the United States. Sadly, the answer is that the single metric does not exist.

Read the entire page →

From page 912...

... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence in the risk literature. Rather than being combined into a single metric, these risks are expressed as independent risk frequencies or probabilities.

Read the entire page →

From page 913...

... Reference Guide on Engineering or motorcycle risk or vehicle passenger risk. Thus, fatally injured pedestrians (4654)

Read the entire page →

From page 914...

... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence regard for yellow lights, aggressiveness, medication, vision correction, etc., may contribute in some way to the likelihood that we will be fatally injured driving the next mile, but are beyond the scope of this brief discussion.

Read the entire page →

From page 915...

... Reference Guide on Engineering does not look too bad. Similarly, if our risk number were presented in the context of the fatal highway risk of other industrialized nations, it would compare very favorably as well.

Read the entire page →

From page 916...

... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence Returning to our fatality risk for a nonmotorcycle vehicle driver of 0.718 deaths per 108 VMT, this translates into a fatal risk of 0.718 × 10−8 for each mile. That 10−8 term makes this number quite small, and the fatal risk per mile low.

Read the entire page →

From page 917...

... Reference Guide on Engineering mon risks, such as vehicular travel, but typically overestimate risks, such as airplane crashes, that have significant publicity associated with them.36 We all know there is a small, but highly controllable, risk of drowning when we go swimming. Yet most of the U.S.

Read the entire page →

From page 918...

... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS)

Read the entire page →

From page 919...

... Reference Guide on Engineering to the 1.36 × 10−8 per mile traveled for the overall risk to society of motorized vehicular travel, not just the driver risk, to compute the risk level that society de facto accepts for the benefits of motorized vehicular transport. Then the risk per hour becomes 30 × 1.36 × 10−8 = 0.408 × 10−6 or a little less than half a fatality per million hours of exposure.

Read the entire page →

From page 920...

... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence Table 2. elative Cost of Selected Regulations as a Function of Lives R Saved Cost per Life Saved (Millions of Regulation Year Agency Dollars in 1990)

Read the entire page →

From page 921...

... Reference Guide on Engineering around the world. Many of them were associated with adverse health consequences, in particular, pelvic inflammatory disease, which led to long-term disabilities and even death in substantial numbers of women.

Read the entire page →

From page 922...

... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence In this instance, the design process was flawed from the very beginning (i.e., the incomplete and incorrect geological analysis) and led to an "engineered" site for the containment of toxic wastes, which had no chance of performing properly.

Read the entire page →

From page 923...

... Reference Guide on Engineering installation and susceptibility to corrosion led to the development of plastic tubes. One manufacturer recognized that rubber hose would be even easier to install than the somewhat rigid plastic conduits, and engaged a major rubber company to design a hose for the radiant heating market.

Read the entire page →

From page 924...

... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence have severe consequences. Further details of this event can be found in the second edition of this manual.45 6.

Read the entire page →

From page 925...

... Reference Guide on Engineering when a Jeep Wrangler fell from the lift and injured the owner of a service station, verification of conformity to the standards was assessed by the plaintiff. Testing by the plaintiff 's expert revealed that the swing-arm lift restraints resisted only 30% of the criteria specified in the standard, and that simple reconfiguration of the restraint components could create a conforming lift.

Read the entire page →

From page 926...

... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence Indeed, we now know that the design of this structure failed to meet accepted design principles already in place in the 1920s. The dam height was increased by 10 feet at the start of construction, and another 10 feet midway through construction, bringing the final capacity to 38,000 acre feet.

Read the entire page →

From page 927...

... Reference Guide on Engineering aft dome of the liquid hydrogen tank. The massively uneven thrust created by the escaping hydrogen gas altered the trajectory of the shuttle and aerodynamic forces destroyed it.

Read the entire page →

From page 928...

... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence this aberrant behavior of the original seal system actually was acceptable never was done other than to monitor shuttle launches and hope for the best. Second, the O-rings were known to have insufficient resiliency at temperatures substantially higher than those encountered on the day of the Challenger launch; therefore, launching at such a low ambient temperature equated to misuse of the system.

Read the entire page →

From page 929...

... Reference Guide on Engineering of experience illustrated by the "Performance" arrow from the "Go" stage to the "Design/Formulate" and "Test/Validate" stages in Figure 1)

Read the entire page →

From page 930...

... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence One example that scientists and engineers can be one and the same is epitomized by Renaissance humanism during a period almost five centuries past. There, Leonardo da Vinci, with a minimalist toolkit by today's standards, lived a life equally as an engineer and a scientist, and indeed an artist.

Read the entire page →

From page 931...

... Reference Guide on Engineering C icensing, Registration, Certification, and Accreditation L Licenses are required for engineering professionals in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, if their services are offered directly to the public and they would affect public health and safety.

Read the entire page →

From page 932...

... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence PE licensure is quite different from board certification for a physician or bar certification for a lawyer. Physicians and lawyers may not practice their professions without having such board certification.

Read the entire page →

From page 933...

... Reference Guide on Engineering protectable property compares to other designs or intellectual property that are claimed to relate to the subject of the dispute. As discussed above, engineers can also be expert witnesses.

Read the entire page →

From page 934...

... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence offer guidance on inspections and related issues.58 Although it is not required that engineers adopt and follow these standards, if the court has questions as to whether the techniques or procedures used by an engineer are reasonable, reference to the standards can certainly be helpful. As a first step in the inspection process, engineers will typically document evidence or the accident scene using photography and videography.

Read the entire page →

From page 935...

... Reference Guide on Engineering client-attorneys who would rather not perform any test for which the outcome is uncertain. Engineers can design tests to study kinematics (motions)

Read the entire page →

From page 936...

... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence Of course not all situations require novel techniques to be developed, and in those instances an abundance of standards for testing materials and products exist. Typically promulgated by organizations such as ASTM, ANSI, CEN, and others, these standards envelop everything from sample preparation, to sampling procedures, to test equipment operation and calibration, to analysis of data acquired during testing.

Read the entire page →

From page 937...

... Reference Guide on Engineering systems, processes, or phenomena. Quite distinct from the simple programs mentioned above used to solve an equation or two, these computer models employ enormous bodies of code that can solve thousands of equations.

Read the entire page →

From page 938...

... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence or input conditions, and making certain the results are representative of the known output within the validated range. Regardless of the qualifications of the engineer, if any mathematical model has not been validated within the boundaries at issue, its use in the courtroom should be carefully considered.

Read the entire page →

From page 939...

... Reference Guide on Engineering documents, and understanding constraints can be critical in terms of effective critical review, engineers called as experts may need to review deposition testimony relating to the design to supplement what they learn from the documents themselves.

Read the entire page →

From page 940...

... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence achieved. To gain that understanding, testimony from the product designer as well as testimony by engineers with experience in design may be helpful.61 The adequacy of testing done on a product is closely related to the issue of design defect.

Read the entire page →

From page 941...

... Reference Guide on Engineering 2. Manufacturing The manufacture of a product and the quality process through which uniformity of ingredients, processes, and the final product are ensured may properly be the subject of product safety litigation.

Read the entire page →

From page 942...

... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence nonetheless may not be allowed to testify based on the substantive law applicable to such products.66 For example, industrial engineers, or engineers educated in human factors, may have training that allows them not only to testify when warnings are necessary from an engineering perspective (recall the discussion above about the design process) , but also about the efficacy of warnings, and development of risk communications including text, pictures, auditory, or visual signals.

Read the entire page →

From page 943...

... Reference Guide on Engineering been "caused" by it.68 But issues regarding the standard to apply for the sufficiency of causal proof may be both scientific and legal issues. Thus, the adequacy or admissibility of an engineer's opinion on causation will be evaluated in light of the law, as well as the adequacy of the science that forms the basis for the opinion.69 Situations where property damages are asserted may pose special problems on which engineering testimony may be appropriate.

Read the entire page →

From page 944...

... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence relate to that definition. These issues may be the subjects of the testimony of an engineer.

Read the entire page →

From page 945...

... Reference Guide on Engineering C Intellectual Property and Trade Secrets Engineering testimony may be helpful in disputes regarding patents and other forms of intellectual property.

Read the entire page →

From page 946...

... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence ultimately a question of law for the court to decide. However, the underlying factual determinations, including the secondary factors involved in determining patent validity, remain jury questions concerning which expert engineering testimony may be admitted.77 Questions regarding the scope and teachings of prior art also may invite engineering testimony and interpretation.78 A similar analysis applies to trade secret matters.

Read the entire page →

From page 947...

... Reference Guide on Engineering • Claims of personal injury or property damage resulting from the spread of a toxic substance may involve a number of issues where engineering testimony may be both reliable and relevant.82 • Environmental disputes regarding the necessity for and nature of an envi ronmental problem and the responsibility for and cost of its cleanup involve numerous issues concerning which properly qualified engineers may provide reliable and relevant evidence.83 • The testimony of an engineer can be helpful in determining causation in both product liability cases and nonproducts liability cases as well. Recent cases in the electrical engineering area demonstrate the range of possible situations where such issues may arise and engineering testimony may be admitted.84 For example, an electrical engineer was allowed to testify about lightning in Walker v.

Read the entire page →

From page 948...

... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence Public Resources Code which defined "electric transmission line" as "any electric power line carrying electric power from a thermal power plant located within the state to a point of junction with any interconnected transmission system."87 The engineer, employed by Pacific Gas & Electric, testified at the hearing before the CERCD about the use of certain terms in the industry related to that definition and about electricity transmis sion principles. The court subsequently relied on that testimony in part in determining that "electric transmission line" had a plain meaning, and that the plain meaning cut off the CERCDC's jurisdiction at the first point at which a power line emanating from a thermal power plant joined to the interconnected transmission grid.

Read the entire page →

From page 949...

... Reference Guide on Engineering 1. Qualifications In an earlier section of this guide (Section III.C.2)

Read the entire page →

From page 950...

... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence The phrase "standard of care" has various meanings and connotations to engineers that are somewhat discipline specific. Standard of care in the medical sciences may be different than standard of care in some other context.

Read the entire page →

From page 951...

... Reference Guide on Engineering with ambiguity. In the end, the more important issue is whether there was adherence to the design process.

Read the entire page →

From page 952...

... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence the other hand, failure to use a code, or comparison of code values to actual values does not guarantee that a disaster will occur. Common sense is often the best judge in these situations -- if a code value is exceeded, yet no damage is observed, it is likely that the conservative nature of the code met its objectives and protected its subject.

Read the entire page →

From page 953...

... Reference Guide on Engineering found. The repositories of documents and reports that may be alleged to be OSIs to an issue at bar can have many original purposes, and a collection of such documents may serve multiple purposes for the owner institution.

Read the entire page →

From page 954...

... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence to apply objective measures to questions of substantial similarity and thus quantify the level of similarity between an event proffered as an OSI and the instant case. The reverse is also true.

Read the entire page →

From page 955...

... Reference Guide on Engineering air or water exposure, reactions to corrosive elements, reactions to acid or base contaminants, and in potential interactions with surrounding materials and components that can be of differing electrochemical potential. Engineers with the appropriate technical background can evaluate operating conditional applications and determine if the conditions that obtain for a proffered OSI are similar to those that had obtained in an instant case, thereby assisting the determination of substantial similarity.

Read the entire page →

From page 956...

... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence make the observations and assertions included in such reports, and may or may not have any specialized training necessary to evaluate proper system function or state of repair. The persons who report events collected and offered as OSIs may not be fully informed of the set of circumstantial conditions that are necessary and sufficient to determine causation of the reported event.

Read the entire page →

From page 957...

... Reference Guide on Engineering expert's opinions and qualifications.104 To assist the court in this difficult task, we present some guidance regarding the types of technology presently in use and the strengths and weaknesses of each. A primary basis for misunderstanding and uncertainty is the difference between a computer animation and a computer simulation.

Read the entire page →

From page 958...

... Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence the most correct answer. For example, a computer model depicting the motions of a vehicle prior to and after an impact with a pole may be correct if it matches the known physical evidence (e.g., tire marks and vehicle damage)

Read the entire page →

From page 959...

... Reference Guide on Engineering from those to which they are accustomed. The conversations are somewhat alien.

Read the entire page →

Key Terms

← Previous Chapter Skim

Next Chapter Skim →

This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More information on Chapter Skim is available.