This event replaces the originally planned lecture The Craftsman Engineer and the Industrial Revolution which was cancelled due to health problems and is both an in-person and on-line event. To reserve a spot for either option, please visit the lecture’s Eventbrite page.

The Technical Investigation Department (TID) was founded in 1947 with the purpose of giving “Lloyd’s Register of Shipping a capability to explore marine failures … with a view to improving the Rules”. The basic tenet was “when you can measure what you are speaking about and can express it in numbers, you know something about it” (Lord Kelvin).

TID investigated a wide range of failures in the marine industry and some statistics on relative failure occurrences are given. Medium speed diesel engines are the most common power source and failures are therefore perhaps of the widest interest, especially to the Chief Engineers responsible for operating the machinery, the Engineer Superintendents and the Underwriters.

Eight failure cases are presented with a wide range of origins: mechanical overload, fatigue, crack initiation by rubbing, bearing failures, human error and operational problems. The use of metallurgical examination, fatigue theory and fracture mechanics is described.

About the Lecturer

Peter Filcek worked for the Technical Investigation Department (TID) of the ship Classification Society, Lloyd’s Register of Shipping.