Forensic engineering
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| 3 Tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) | |
| Examination | No residential school |
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Summary
Why do products fail? Inadequate materials, poor manufacturing or assembly methods, bad design – failure can arise at any stage, giving designers clues as to what failed, why, and how to avoid future failures. Using real case studies, this course examines the principles of good product design and assesses the significance of poor design on the development process. You will work with techniques for analysing product failure, including scientific and engineering tests and observation. You will investigate real catastrophic failures – the Challenger space shuttle, the Hindenburg and the Tay Bridge – and consider the role of design, manufacturing, materials and communications in these fatal disasters.
Course content
Forensic engineering, which draws on many different disciplines, is of relatively recent origin as a subject in its own right. Product design lies at the heart of successful manufacturing, whether of cars and aeroplanes at one level of complexity, or ladders and bottles at a simpler level. Failure gives the designer a clear indication of what to avoid in order to improve quality. Any innovations made by the designer should be protected, either by patent or by registered design. One of the course’s central aims is to provide guidance for good product design before development, so that wasted effort during development is eliminated. Our approach is through case studies, many based on the authors’ own cases, others on historical catastrophes and failures.
Block 1 Introduction to forensic engineering uses case studies, many including polymeric materials, to develop the skills you need for the analysis of product failure.
Block 2 Failure of products and processes provides a ‘toolbox’ of techniques: observations, scientific and engineering tests that can be used to establish evidence of the causes of a failure in a metallic product or process. A casebook presents real cases drawn from over forty years of one forensic metallurgist’s work. Some take you step by step through an investigation and ask you to consider allegations of serious or criminal negligence.
Block 3 Catastrophic failures examines large-scale failures that have caused loss of life, including the Tay Bridge disaster (1879), the Challenger space-shuttle disaster (1985) and the airship Hindenburg (1937). The studies consider the roles of stress concentration in the design of critical components, poor manufacturing and poor design, material failures, and poor communications.
Block 4 Intellectual property matters considers protection of new designs and inventive concepts. It concentrates on the arguments used for understanding particular patents, and the precedents that lawyers use for assessing construction, infringement and validity. Case studies include trials in which imitators were successfully sued by means of patents, and cases of new designs that were challenged unsuccessfully because the patents were weak or did not define the inventive concept widely enough to catch the alleged infringing product.
Entry
The course is for engineers, managers and scientists who work in manufacturing industry, especially those who are engaged in product design or quality assessment and control. There are no entry requirements, but we do assume that you have already done some study, up to HNC, HND or bachelors degree level, in a relevant subject area, or have equivalent experience from your employment. If you are already an OU student we recommend that your previous study should include our undergraduate Level 1 course Engineering the future (T173) and/or our Level 3 course Structural integrity: designing against failure (T357) (or the discontinued course T353). If you have any doubt about the suitability of the course, please contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service.
Qualifications
T839 is an optional course in our
- Postgraduate Certificate in Systems Thinking in Practice (C72)
- Postgraduate Certificate in Technology Management (C49)
- Postgraduate Diploma in Systems Thinking in Practice (E28)
- Postgraduate Diploma in Technology Management (E08)
- MSc in Science (F12)
- MSc in Systems Thinking in Practice (F47)
- MSc in Technology Management (F36)
Some postgraduate qualifications allow study to be chosen from other subject areas. These qualifications allow most postgraduate courses to count towards them. We advise you to refer to the relevant qualification descriptions for information on the circumstances in which this course can count towards these qualifications because from time to time the structure and requirements may change.
If you have a disability or additional requirement
Some of the course materials are presented on DVD. Written transcripts are available for the audio-visual material. You will need to spend considerable amounts of time using a personal computer and the internet. Our Services for disabled students website has the latest information about availability.
If you are a new student, or new to courses using a computer or the internet, you will need to inform us of your particular needs as soon as possible, as some of our support services may take several weeks to arrange. Details of how to do this and our range of support services are described in our booklet Meeting Your Needs which you can download or request from our Student Registration & Enquiry Service.
You can also find information about accessible course materials, financial support and the Disabled Students' Allowance, equipment and other services, on our Services for disabled students website. It also includes our contact details for advice and support both before you register and while you are studying.
Course materials
What's included
Course books, other printed materials, DVD, software.
You will need
A DVD player.
Computing requirements
This course has online computer activities – you can access these using a web browser that can play Flash and Shockwave.
You will need internet access and a computer. If you have purchased a new computer since 2002 it should meet your course computing requirements. Check our Technical Requirements section if your computer is older than this or is otherwise unusual.
Teaching and assessment
Support from your tutor
You will have a tutor who will be responsible for monitoring your progress on the course, marking and commenting on your written work and whom you can contact for advice and guidance. There is also an often lively online forum for all students on the course which one of the course tutors moderates. Contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service if you want to know more about study with The Open University before you register.
Assessment
The assessment details for this course can be found in the facts box above.
You will be expected to submit your tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) online through the eTMA system unless there are some difficulties which prevent you from doing so. In these circumstances, you must negotiate with your tutor to get their agreement to submit your assignment on paper.
Professional recognition
The Open University is registered with The Institute of Quality Assurance (IQA), Institute of Materials (IOM) and The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), for professional recognition.
Students also studied
Students who studied this course also studied at some time:
Future availability
The details given here are for the course that starts in November 2009. We expect it to be available once a year after that, in November.
How to register
To register a place on this course return to the top of the page and use the Click to register button. For more information and advice about registration see OU Study Explained.
About this page
A postgraduate course in Engineering and Technology.
Study explained
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Student Reviews
Interesting course - not at all taxing. I thought the legal aspects would be boring but not so. Highly recommended ...
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This is a very interesting course. It has a good mixture of content, plenty of theory, case studies which would ...
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