ME4255 Materials Failures Term Paper Zeng Kaiyang (mpezk@nus.edu.

.sg, Tel: 65166627, Office: Blk EA 07-36) Instruction This document contains information about the term papers for ME4255 Materials Failure; the term paper should have minimum 7 pages (A4 single-sided) in single space (font size 12). The term paper will be graded and counted as 20% of your final grade. Please submit your term paper (hardcopy) to my office at Blk EA 07-36 latest at April 12 (Friday) (Alternatively, you can also submit your term paper to ME department office (EA-07-08) with addressed to my name). You can choose any one of the titles listed below. An initial reference (or Youtube video) has given to you as starting point of the term paper. Requirement: Your term paper should discuss one of the selected famous disasters in modern history from materials failure point of view, using what you have leant in this module. Your term paper should include following items but not limited to: Brief description of the disaster and the consequences of the disaster. How did the people investigate the disaster? What experiments or model did the people use when they investigate the disaster? What are the reasons for the disaster (from materials failure point-of-view)? and (most importantly) What have you leant from the analysis of the disaster?

Term Paper Titles 1. Comet Aircraft Crash - The Comet aircraft was the first jet transport introduced into commercial passenger service. However, not long after coming into service, two of the Comet airplanes, on climbing to their cruise altitude, underwent explosive decompression of the fuselage, which resulted in the loss of the planes as well as the lives of all aboard. The two Comets airplanes had flown 1290 and 900 flights respectively before the disasters. Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Comet . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QdKMPEZun0. 2. Kansas City Hyatt Walkway Collapse - On July 20, 1981, two suspended walkways within the atrium area if the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City, MO, collapsed, leaving 113 people dead and 196 people injured. In terms of loss of life and
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injuries, this was the most devastating structural collapse ever to take place in the United States at that time. Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyatt_Regency_walkway_collapse. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoGGMdktsRM. 3. NASAs space shuttle Challenger accident (1986) - The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster occurred in the United States, over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of central Florida, on January 28, 1986. The shuttle was destroyed and all seven crew members were killed. Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Challenger_accident. 4. Titanic accident - The RMS Titanic was a British Olympic-class ocean liner, the largest liner built in her day. She took her place in history when she struck an iceberg and sank on her maiden voyage in 1912. Estimates vary, but around 1,520 people perished in the accident and the disaster ranks as one of the worst peacetime maritime disasters in history. Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic. 5. Aloha Airlines Flight 243 This accident occurred on April 28, 1988, a Boeing 730-200 aircraft suffered extensive damage after an explosive decompression in flight, but was able to land safely at Kahului Airport on Maui. One flight attendant was blown out of the airplane and another 65 passengers and crew were injured. The extent of the damage was only just below that which would have caused the airliner to break up, and the survival of the aircraft with such a major loss of integrity was unprecedented and remains unsurpassed. References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aloha_Airlines_Flight_243 and http://www.corrosion-doctors.org/Aircraft/Aloha.htm. 6. Alexander Kielland oil platform was a Norwegian oil platform in the Ekofisk oil field. Early in the evening of 27th March 1980 more than 200 men were off duty in the accommodation on the Alexander Kielland. The wind was gusting to 40 knots with waves up to 12m high. The platform had just been winched away from the Edda production platform. Minutes before 18.30 those on board felt a 'sharp crack' followed by 'some kind of trembling'. Suddenly the rig heeled over 30 and then stabilised. Five of the six anchor cables had broken, the one remaining cable was preventing the rig from capsizing. Of the 212 people aboard 123 were killed, making it as of 2007 the worst disaster in
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Norwegian offshore history. Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Kielland_%28platform%29.

7. The Eschede Train Disaster - The Eschede train disaster was the world's deadliest high-speed train disaster. It happened on 3 June 1998, near the village of Eschede in the district of Celle in Lower Saxony, Germany. The toll of 101 dead and 88 injured is the deadliest accident in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany. Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eschede_train_disaster#Wheel_design. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-UNxGSZUJc.

8. The Mianus River Bridge Failure - The Mianus River Bridge on Interstate 95 in the Cos Cob section of Greenwich, Connecticut had a 100-foot (30.5 m) section of its deck of its eastbound span collapse on June 28, 1983. Three people were killed when their vehicles fell with the bridge into the Mianus River 70 feet (21.3 m) below, and three were seriously injured. Casualties from the collapse were minimized because the disaster occurred at 1:30 a.m., when traffic was low on the often-crowded highway. Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mianus_River_Bridge.