CALIFORNIA WEATHER

                            & EARTH SCIENCES

Construction Defects and Seismic Hazards Determinations 

Construction Defects, Foundation Failure, and  Seismic and Landslide Hazards Determinations

The recent devastating earthquake in Haiti underscores the need for preventative mitigation and restoration efforts for Haiti and for the many dams, power plants (nuclear and conventional), bridges, freeways, transmission lines, water and sewage pipelines, port facilities, oil wells, and offshore oil rigs in the U.S. and around the world, including Haiti, that my be in danger of collapse or partial destruction - in the event of an earthquake, storm, or other natural stress.

Charles B. Pyke, Ph.D., Principal Scientist and Primary Expert Witness of  Environmental Science & Energy, Inc., offers engineering and geological expertise in the determination of construction defects and seismic hazards in buildings, bridges, power plants, tunnels, and  other structures anywhere in the U.S. or Canada, or around the world. 

The types of structures affected include, but are not limited to [nearly all apply to Haiti]:

• Airport runways and taxiways, worn down by weather, by heavy aircraft traffic, and by ground shifts and subsidence.

• Bridges, road and railroad -  spanning water, such as rivers, lakes, channels, and bays.

• Bridges, road and railroad - spanning roads and land features, such as canyons.

• Bridges, pedestrian.

• Approaches to bridges.

• Dams, spillways, and levees.

• Highways, freeways, city streets, and other roads, including elevated highways, torn up by heavy truck travel..

• Railroad tracks, including elevated tracks, worn down by weather, land subsidence and liquefaction, earthquakes, and years of train travel .

• Railroad tracks that were not originally designed for today's heavy trains.

• Tunnels, road, railroad, and pedestrian..

• Elevated walkways.

• Airport runways and taxiways.

• Nuclear power plants.

• Dams and hydroelectric power plants.

• Other power plants.

• River levees.

• Seawalls, breakwaters, and jetties.

• Piers and docks.

• Oil wells, offshore oil rigs.

• Oil. refineries. 

• Public works infrastructure, including underground and above-ground water-supply and sewer pipes and conduits. 

• High-rise office buildings.

• Low-rise office buildings.

• Buildings and other structures in Lower Manhattan that may have been weakened by the attacks of 9/11/2001. 

• Buildings and other structures in overseas war zones that may have been weakened by bombs. grenades, or heavy gunfire. 

• Factories and other manufacturing facilities.

• Large antenna towers and cell phone towers.

• Large electric and telephone transmission line towers.

• Large antenna towers and cellular telephone transmission towers. 

• Telephone poles. 

• Airport towers and terminals.

• Railroad and bus stations.

• Truck terminals.

• Schools and universities.

• Churches, temples, synagogues, and mosques.

• Stadiums and other recreational facilities.

• Concert halls and movie theaters.

• Prisons, jails, and juvenile detention facilities.

• Restaurants and fast-food outlets.

• Retail stores and malls.

• Hotels, motels, condominiums, and apartments.

• School and university buildings.

• Single-family residences.

• Swimming pools - large and small. 

• Ships. including cruise ships and cargo ships.

• Boats, including houseboats.

• Railroad cars, passenger and freight,  worn down by overloading, adverse weather, and years of use. 

• Airplanes:  military, commercial passenger, commercial freight, and private - aging and wearing down by extended use.

• Numerous other types of buildings, roads, and other structures.

The defects and hazards include, but are not limited to:

• Faulty, shoddy, or generally poor original construction.

• Construction that met building and seismic codes at the time of the original construction, but which fail to meet today's codes, and which could be a hazard to life and property in the future.

• Construction that met building and seismic codes at the time of the original construction, but which have deteriorated over the years or were damaged or weakened by fire, weather, floods, earthquakes, ground subsidence, landslides, avalanches, or blasts (including sonic booms or nearby demolitions). 

• Foundation failures of all types of structures, resulting from earthquakes, subsidence, liquefaction, ground shifts, and gradual deterioration of materials. 

• Landslides:  threats; slides that have occurred since construction of a structure and may have weakened the structure.

• Corrosion, over the years, of underground and above-ground water supply and sewer pipes and conduits.

• Earthquake faults and potential for major shaking.

• Proximity of a structure to earthquake faults and soil vulnerable to magnified shaking.

• Potential for subsidence of the soil beneath a structure, including differential subsidence within a structure's footprint.