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Well-Known Investigations
Below is just a sampling of our well-known investigations. To browse through our past projects, please visit our Services page and select a practice and/or industry.
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Turkish Airlines Crash, Paris France March 3, 1974 |
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Amoco Cadiz Grounding and Spill, Brittany Coast, France March 16, 1978 |
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Kemper Arena Roof Collapse, Kansas City, MO June 4, 1979 |
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Alexander Kielland Rig Accident, North Sea March 27, 1980 |
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Hyatt Regency Walkway Collapse, Kansas City, MO July 17, 1981 |
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World Airways Crash, Boston, MA January 23, 1982 |
World Airways Flight 30H was on approach for landing at Boston’s Logan Airport. The DC-10 broke out of the low cloud ceiling to the right of the runway, and banked to line up for touchdown. The aircraft touched down long and could not stop before bounding over a sea wall and into Boston Harbor. Exponent analyzed information from the flight data recorder and produced a computerized animation overlaid with the actual cockpit voice recording. The animation depicted a “pilot’s eye” view of the approach, touchdown, and rollout of the plane, dramatically illustrating the icy plunge into the sea. |
Glomar Java Sea Drillship Capsize, South China Sea October 25, 1983 |
The drill ship Glomar Java Sea was caught in a typhoon in the South China Sea east of Vietnam. The 400-foot oil exploration ship was unable to survive the storm and sunk. Eighty-one people were aboard. Exponent was called in to analyze the causes. |
GM X-Car Investigation 1985 |
In 1985 General Motors “X-car” was declared to be unsafe by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Exponent undertook one of the largest automotive accident studies at that time to analyze brake design defect and assist General Motors disprove the allegations. |
Dupont Plaza Hotel Fire, San Juan, Puerto Rico December 31, 1986 |
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Northwest Airlines Crash, Detroit, MI August 16, 1987 |
A Northwest Airlines jetliner carrying 155 people crashed during takeoff from the Detroit Metropolitan Airport after climbing less than 50 feet off the ground. The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 was scheduled to fly non-stop from Detroit to Phoenix and continue to Santa Ana, California, but the aircraft had difficulty gaining altitude and the left wing was severed after striking a light pole approximately 2, 700 feet beyond the end of the runway. The jet subsequently careened out of control, crashed into a railway overpass, and disintegrated along an adjacent road. Two people on the ground and 154 people on-board the plane were killed by the crash; the only passenger to survive was a four-year-old girl. Exponent engineers performed a complete accident reconstruction using aerodynamic models and a computer simulation to show that the flaps required during normal takeoff were never deployed. |
Suzuki Samurai Recall Investigation 1988 |
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PEPCON Explosion, Henderson NV May 4, 1988 |
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Piper Alpha Oil Rig Accident, North Sea July 6, 1988 |
Occidental Petroleum’s Piper Alpha was a billion dollar oil platform located in the North Sea off the coast of Scotland. An explosion on the platform resulted in a fire that completely destroyed the structure and cost 167 lives and millions of dollars a day in lost revenue. Exponent participated in the public inquiry conducted by the British Government under Lord Cullen. |
Phillips Petroleum Plant Explosion, Pasadena, TX October 23, 1989 |
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Dunsmuir Train Derailment July 14, 1991 |
A 131-ton tank car derailed near the town of Dunsmuir, California, and landed upside down in the Sacramento River. The tank car ruptured and spilled almost 20,000 gallons of pesticide into the water. The deadly chemical destroyed fish and vegetation as it flowed 27 miles downstream and discharged into Lake Shasta. Engineers from Exponent were called to inspect the tank car and provide modeling expertise for derailment accidents. |
Oakland Hills Fire, Oakland, CA October 20, 1991 |
Fueled by drought, low humidity and high winds, a two-day fire storm swept death and destruction through the Oakland hills above the San Francisco Bay. The October 20-21, 1991 fire killed at least 24 people, injured 148, and caused damages in excess of $2 billion. The flames devoured 3,000 houses and apartments. Engineers at Exponent worked with homeowners and contractors to identify and restore usable portions of building foundations in an effort to speed up reconstruction and reduce repair costs. |
James Dean Accident Investigation, Paso Robles, CA 1992 |
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Chicago Flood, Chicago, IL April 13, 1992 |
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US v Lee Harvey Oswald August 1992 |
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NBC "Dateline" Investigation November, 1992 |
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Northridge Earthquake 1994 |
During the aftermath of the January 1994 Northridge earthquake, a number of Exponent engineers volunteered as Safety Assessment Evaluators with California’s Office of Emergency Services. In addition to our work with the State of California, as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Exponent provided geotechnical and structural consulting to clients to evaluate the extent of earthquake damage to their properties. |
Murrah Federal Courthouse Bombing, Oklahoma City, OK April 25, 1995 |
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Sea Cliff Incident, San Francisco, CA December 1995 |
In early December 1995, winter rains and construction activities combined to cause a major sewer pipe to fail in the prestigious Sea Cliff area of San Francisco. This sudden and massive flow of water scoured soil from under several homes and streets. One home was complete destroyed when it fell into the 250-foot wide by 40-foot deep pit created by the erosion. An adjoining home was also damaged, but no one was injured. Exponent investigators assisted the City of San Francisco in determining the cause of the sewer failures. The findings, presented in a widely-distributed report and at several public meetings, indicated that cracks in the sewer developed when a series of events converged, including constriction of stormwater flow in the pipe and construction activities around the sewer. |
Titanic August 1998 |
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Trunk Protection |
1998 |
At the request of a vehicle manufacturer, a project was conducted in which various devices were tested with young children to determine the one most likely to be used by them to escape from inside a vehicle’s trunk. Based on the testing, the lever-style handle was the device chosen for production. The project ultimately involved nearly 400 children, primarily ages three through six, and their parents who were present throughout the testing. |
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World Trade Center, New York, NY September 11, 2001 |
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American Airlines Flight 587 |
November 12, 2001 |
American Airlines flight 587 crashed into a residential area of Queens, New York, shortly after takeoff from JFK International Airport, when the vertical tail departed the aircraft. All 260 people aboard the airplane and five people on the ground perished, and the airplane was destroyed by impact forces and a post-crash fire. Exponent assisted with the investigation of the crash, including flight path reconstruction, evaluation of aerodynamic loads on the vertical tail of this aircraft during the crash, and aerodynamic loads on the tails of other aircraft during past in-flight upsets. Exponent also evaluated the rudder system design of the A300-605R against that of other aircraft, as well as the response of the A300-605R to various pilot and yaw damper inputs with various rudder system designs. |
MARCbot |
2004 |
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Unintended Acceleration in Toyota Vehicles 2010 |
Beginning in 2009, Toyota was thrust into the national spotlight as a result of a NHTSA investigation into unintended acceleration of its vehicles. Consumers reported that their vehicles had rapidly accelerated without driver input, causing crashes, injuries, and fatalities. Regulators expressed concern regarding all-weather floor mats, accelerator pedals, electronics, software, and electromagnetic interference as potential causes of these events. In late 2009, Exponent was retained by Toyota to provide an independent investigation surrounding the incidents involving claims of sudden unintended acceleration. Exponent’s investigation concluded that the electronics, software, and electromagnetic radiation were not the root cause of the reported incidents of unintended acceleration in the Toyota vehicles evaluated. About a year later, in February 2011, two independent U.S. government agencies, NHTSA and NASA, found that there were no electronic or software problems to account for reports of sudden, unintended acceleration; these findings confirmed the results found by Exponent. |
Deepwater Horizon |
April 20, 2010 |
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PG&E Explosion |
September 9, 2010 |
A 30-inch diameter natural gas transmission pipeline (Line 132) owned and operated by Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) ruptured in a residential area in San Bruno, California. The explosion and fire destroyed 38 homes and damaged 70. Eight fatalities and numerous injuries and damage resulted from the explosion and fire. Exponent was retained by PG&E to perform a root cause analysis of the accident, examining records of operations and physical assets of Line 132; pipe specifications; gas flow data; pressure readings; historical purchase orders; interviews and testimony regarding the accident and third-party reports; and our own metallurgical analysis of the Line 132 pipe and specimens collected by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Exponent’s conclusion: no single factor led to the rupture — a unique combination of structural and metallurgical factors precipitated the tragedy. |
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Ground Penetrating Radar 2011 |
IEDs (improvised explosive devices) were responsible for as many as 60% of the annual casualties experienced in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). For the U.S. Army, Exponent solved several challenging technology development and integration problems to rapidly develop a state-of-the-art ground penetrating radar (GPR) system for integration on a fielded military vehicle to aid in the detection of IEDs in Iraq and Afghanistan. The GPR system was a result of Exponent’s applied knowledge and experience with rapid development of leading military equipment, along with software and signal processing expertise. Working with several other companies, Exponent’s GPR system was integrated onto a SN2A Land Rover that was modified for remote control operation. This program took 11 months from kickoff to deployment to Afghanistan in early 2011. Exponent personnel supported both programs in theatre, modified any aspect of the system as required by evolving threats, trained soldiers to operate the systems, and performed major maintenance and logistics tasks. |
Superstorm Sandy October 20, 2012 |
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Hydraulic Fracturing 2014 |
Exponent’s consultants have provided an integrated approach to all aspects of hydraulic fracturing operations, including: gas well drilling, completions, and operations; natural gas geochemistry; groundwater and surface water evaluation and treatment; and atmospheric sciences, state and federal regulatory support, geochemical and operational consulting, environmental forensics, chemical transport and fate, exposure assessment, dose reconstruction, and site specific human health risk assessment. |
Oso Landslide March 22, 2014 |
The collapse of a hillside triggered the single deadliest landslide event in United States history, engulfing 49 homes and killing 43 people in the Steelhead Haven community near the town of Oso, Washington. Exponent geological and civil engineers and hydrogeologists were called in to assess drainage and other potential contributing factors to the disaster, including forest harvesting and the plateau’s three distinct aquifers. |
Wearables 2015 |
Wearable technologies — such as activity monitors, headsets, smart watches, smart clothing, and smart glasses — contain synthetic materials and electronic components that can have prolonged contact with skin under close conditions. Exponent has developed methods to assess dermal doses of sensitizing chemicals and estimate biocompatibility risks for the sensitized and general populations of users of these products. Exponent assists clients with customer skin reaction issues from wearable products — by identifying sensitizing chemicals and material sources in these products, by helping clients develop new biocompatible wearable products with prototype testing, and by offering guidance in finding substitute materials compatible with prolonged skin contact. |
Lumber Liquidators 2015 |
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