Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A View on the General Practice in Engineering Failure Analysis

  • Feature---Peer-Reviewed
  • Published:
Journal of Failure Analysis and Prevention Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Analysis of engineering failures is a complex process that requires information from personnel having expertise in many areas. From the information gathered, a failure analyst tries to discover what was fundamentally responsible for the failure. This fundamental cause is termed the “root cause” and helps in the determination of the sequence of events that led to the final failure. Root cause analysis also helps in finding solutions to the immediate problem and provides valuable guidelines as to what needs to be done to prevent recurrence of similar failures in future. However, experience suggests that most failure analyses fall short of this goal. A significant number of failure analysts incorrectly use the term “root cause” when what they really establish is the primary cause of failure or simple physical cause. This paper examines a few service failures to demonstrate that the term root cause is not adequately understood.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Dennies, D.P.: How to Organize and Run a Failure Investigation. ASM International, Materials Park, OH (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Zamanzadeh, M., Larkin, E., Gobbin, D.: A re-examination of failure analysis and root cause determination. www.matcoinc.com. Accessed July 2008

  3. Ramachandran, V., Raghuram, A.C., Krishnan, R.V., Bhaumik, S.K.: Failure Analysis of Engineering Structures: Methodology and Case Histories. ASM International, Materials Park, OH (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Bhaumik, S.K.: An aircraft accident investigation: revisited. J. Fail. Anal. Preven. 8, 399–405 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Office of Safety & Mission Assurance, Chief Engineers Office, Root cause analysis: overview. www.hq.nasa.gov. Accessed July 2008

  6. Kepner-Tregoe, Inc., Princeton, NJ. www.kepner-tregoe.com. Accessed July 2008

  7. The Reliability Center, Inc., Hopewell, VA. www.reliability.com. Accessed July 2008

  8. The Failsafe Network, Inc., Montebello, VA. www.failsafe-network.com. Accessed July 2008

  9. Shanin LLC, Livonia, MI. www.shanin.com. Accessed July 2008

Download references

Acknowledgments

The author thanks Head, Materials Science Division and Director, NAL, for granting permission to publish this paper. The contributions of Mr. M.A. Venkataswamy, Dr. M. Sujata, and Mr. M. Madan in the investigation of the failure cases presented in this paper are acknowledged.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Failure Analysis & Accident Investigation, Materials Science Division, National Aerospace Laboratories, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Bangalore, 560 017, India

    S. K. Bhaumik

Authors
  1. S. K. Bhaumik
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to S. K. Bhaumik.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bhaumik, S.K. A View on the General Practice in Engineering Failure Analysis. J Fail. Anal. and Preven. 9, 185–192 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11668-009-9226-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11668-009-9226-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation