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

The Importance of Disaster Investigations for Systems Engineers - What is a Systems Engineer? In the modern industry engineering systems are becoming more complex by the day. Therefore a need for elite engineers i.e. the Systems Engineer, capable of applying a wide range of engineering disciplines to a variety of tasks from product design and development from requirements analysis to simulation to manufacturing and marketing etcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ is essential. Such engineers work within a team at the heart of the organisation where the design and development of a project is carried out. At this stage it is of great importance that every aspect of the design is studied accurately in order to ensure the final product works effectively, efficiently and safely. However, although maximum effort is made during the design, it is impossible to produce a result 100% efficient. This unfortunately leads to the occurrence of accidents and in some extreme cases to a disaster. By carrying out investigations into the disasters and their causation, lessons can be learnt and employed in future designs. This allows the team of engineers to improve the performance and efficiency of the system whilst maintaining the maximum safety levels. - Disasters and why they happened? - Air disasters caused due to faulty design: There have been historically countless cases of confusion in handling the flaps and the gear controls on the DC3 aircraft as they are in close proximity to each other and of similar shape. This is a problem that should have been addressed by the system engineers before the final go ahead for production was approved considering the importance of such instruments and their role during the flight of the aircraft. - Challenger disaster caused due to faulty design: This incident saw the destruction of the United States space shuttle Challenger 73 seconds after take-off from the Kennedy Space Centre on January 28, 1986 killing the entire shuttle crew. The disaster was caused by the failure of an "O-ring" seal in the solid-fuel rocket on the shuttle's right side. The seal's faulty design and the unusually cold weather, which affected the seal's proper functioning, allowed hot gases to leak through the joint. Flames from inside the booster rocket escaped through the failed seal and enlarged the small hole. The flames then burned through the shuttle's external fuel tank and cut away one of the supports that attached the booster to the side of the external tank. The booster broke loose and collided with the tank, piercing the tank's side. Liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen fuels from the tank and booster mixed and ignited, causing the shuttle to tear apart. It is quite clear from this example that had the design of the ring