Design to Failure: What Went Wrong?

Abstract

Failures resulted from a lack of awareness of the dangers involved, a lack of competent geotechnical engineering engagement, poor communication, and a tendency to invest insufficient resources to complete a thorough design. Various factors, including changes in the water table, progressive soil erosion, soil heterogeneity, excavation activities, soil liquefaction, and natural disasters such as earthquakes and landslides, can cause geotechnical failures. This demonstrates the need for geotechnical engineers to have the necessary knowledge and skills to build safe structures with a low risk of geotechnical failure. Prediction and anticipation are the arts of geotechnical design rather than a comprehensive quantitative analysis. As a result, this paper will offer various case studies of geotechnical failures to provide recommendations.