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Design Paradigms: Case Histories of Error and Judgment in Engineering (Paperback)

by Henry Petroski (Author) "The concept of failure is central to design process, and it is by thinking in terms of obviating failure that successful designs are achieved ..." (more)

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Product details

Paperback: 221 pages
Publisher: Cambridge University Press; illustrated edition edition (27 May 1994)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0521466490
ISBN-13: 978-0521466493
Product Dimensions: 22.4 x 15 x 2 cm

Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 423,366 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Review

‘The reader will be well served, especially because the case histories are so interesting and well presented in themselves.’ N. A. F. Smith, Nature

‘Extremely well documented and illustrated … Design Paradigms can be read by all those interested in engineering, not just structural engineers.’ Tom Wyatt, New Scientist

‘…excellent,it should be essential reading for every student, practising engineer and manager of engineering work.’ Journal of Naval Engineering

‘… will prove fascinating and intelligible to the non-technical reader.’ Professor Ronald N. Bracewell, TImes Higher Educational Supplement

‘… a lively and informative read, it presents a dozen excellent case studies from 2000 years of structural engineering history, showing how engineers can learn from failures.’ Bill Addis, New Scientist

Product Description

From ancient Greek temples to twentieth-century towers, engineers have learned more about design from failure than success. The concept of error, according to the author, is central to the design process. As a way of explaining the enduring aspects of engineering design, he relates stories of some of the greatest engineering successes and failures of all time. These case studies, drawn from a wide range of times and places, serve as paradigms of error and judgment in engineering design. By showing how errors were introduced in the design process and how they might be avoided, the book suggests how better quality and reliability might be achieved in designed devices, structures, and systems of all kinds. Clearly written, with striking illustrations, the book will appeal to engineering students, practising engineers, historians of science and technology, and all those interested in learning about the process of design.

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Inside This Book (Learn More)

First Sentence
The concept of failure is central to design process, and it is by thinking in terms of obviating failure that successful designs are achieved. Read the first page

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Education in Technical Risk, 30 Oct 2000

By A Customer

Petroski illustrates the real-life risks of novel technologies with this selection of classic failures in structural engineering. Petroski argues that design assumptions from old technologies are extrapolated to novel technogies. The fact that the old designs were successful lends weight to the usefulness of the design assumptions. However, new design principles manifest unanticipated failure modes that are not prevented or ameliorated by the conventional wisdom. Here are several cautionary tales and the book should be read by anyone involved in risk analysis - especially those benighted in naively quantitative approaches.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Those who don't learn from history ..., 16 Mar 2006

By	kvetner - See all my reviews

The origin of several chapters as separate articles is clearly evident in the text, which repeats the same ideas over and over from very similar angles. But it's nonetheless a very interesting book, which takes a number of fairly simple case studies of (mostly structural) engineering failure, and illustrates how they are examples of wider tendencies towards error. My personal favourites were examples from distant history, Galileo and Vitruvius, perhaps because they were less familiar than some of the more recent accounts of bridge collapse.

The final chapter, which was written in 1994, queried whether major bridge failures run in roughly 30-year cycles (Dee, Tay, Quebec, Tacoma and Milford Haven all fitting the pattern) and wondered whether another was due in 2000. Although Petroski suggested that cable-stayed bridges might be the form that would see the next failure, the more obvious example in retrospect is that of the Millennium Footbridge in London. Eerily, even Petroski's predicted probable cause of failure - "an instability" - came true!

This also ties in with an earlier chapter, where Petroski noted that the design climate at the time of the Tacoma Narrows failure "evinced confidence in analytical techniques and a preoccupation with aesthetics". The same was very much true at the time of the Millennium Footbrige design.

Thought-provoking, especially so for bridge engineers, and let down only by the repetition.

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