Dr. Freidenberg did his undergrad at USC and completed a Ph.D. at UCSD in 2013. His graduate research included “blast” experiments at UCSD’s off-campus Extreme Events Simulator lab, along with high-fidelity finite element analysis. He then went to New York to teach structural engineering at Manhattan college for a year and then at West Point for 5 years. Since 2019 he’s been at Exponent’s Irvine office where his work broadly deals with structural engineering forensics and dispute resolution.
Structural collapses can occur due to extraordinary events as well as design or construction errors. The presentation will include a case study of a partially collapsed reinforced concrete bridge and a separate case study of a badly damaged house, both of which occurred for reasons that are not immediately obvious. With help from the audience, we’ll present convincing arguments of the root causes of the failures and the parties at fault for those two case studies. Typical investigative steps include information gathering (including a visit to the site), review of design documents, eyewitness accounts, and an analysis of multiple possible failure sequences.