The Importance of Disaster Investigations for Systems Engineers :: Engineers Engineering Systems Essays

The Importance of hazard Investigations for Systems Engineers- What is a Systems Engineer?In the modern industry engineering systems ar becoming more complexby the day. Therefore a motivating for elite engineers i.e. the SystemsEngineer, capable of applying a wide range of engineering disciplinesto a variety of tasks from product design and development fromrequirements analysis to simulation to manufacturing and marketingetc is essential.Such engineers work within a team at the midsection of the organisationwhere the design and development of a project is carried out. At this academic degree it is of great importance that every aspect of the design isstudied accurately in order to ensure the final product workseffectively, efficiently and safely. However, although maximum effortis made during the design, it is impossible to produce a aftermath 100%efficient. This unfortunately leads to the occurrence of accidents andin some extreme cases to a disaster. By carrying out investiga tionsinto the disasters and their causation, lessons can be learnt andemployed in prox designs. This allows the team of engineers toimprove the performance and efficiency of the system whilstmaintaining the maximum preventive levels.- Disasters and why they happened?- Air disasters caused delinquent to faulty designThere catch been historically countless cases of confusion in handlingthe flaps and the string controls on the DC3 aircraft as they are inclose proximity to apiece other and of similar shape. This is a problemthat should have been addressed by the system engineers before thefinal go ahead for production was approved considering the importanceof such instruments and their role during the flight of the aircraft.- Challenger disaster caused due to faulty designThis incident saw the destruction of the United States quad shuttleChallenger 73 seconds after take-off from the Kennedy Space Centre onJanuary 28, 1986 killing the entire shuttle crew.The disaster was caused b y the failure of an O-ring varnish in thesolid-fuel rocket on the shuttles right side. The seals faultydesign and the remarkably cold weather, which affected the sealsproper functioning, allowed hot gases to leak through the joint.Flames from at heart the booster unit rocket escaped through the failed sealand enlarged the micro hole. The flames then burned through theshuttles external fuel tank and stroke away one of the supports thatattached the booster to the side of the external tank. The boosterbroke loose and collided with the tank, piercing the tanks side.Liquid hydrogen and liquid type O fuels from the tank and boostermixed and ignited, causing the shuttle to tear apart.It is sooner clear from this example that had the design of the ring