A systematic approach to forensic foundation engineering

Forensic geotechnical engineering is gaining increasing importance in many countries where foundation failures may lead to litigation and even criminal action. This paper sets out a framework for forensic geotechnical assessments of foundation failures, involving a systematic consideration of the various factors that may have influenced the failure. One or more credible hypotheses are then formulated and tested for consistency with the observed behaviour. A case study of a tilting office block in Indonesia is presented to illustrate the approach.