Crane Toppling Incident, 38 Bradmill Ave, Rutherford, NSW

Martens provided expert witness services, in connection with a toppled mobile crane.

Martens provided expert witness services, in connection with a toppled mobile crane. Ground failure under the load of the crane was suspected.

Engineering services included:

• Field investigation, comprising coring and collection of samples of the pavement
• Drilling of boreholes and penetration testing
• Laboratory testing of collected core and soil samples
• Punching shear failure, bearing capacity failure and elastic settlement failure assessment, considering various loading and foundation scenarios and carrying out a 95% confidence ‘envelope’ analysis for each scenario
• Review of existing drainage conditions
• Assessment of proposed drainage layout and plans

It was assessed that bearing pressure failure occurred leading to the foot punching through the pavement and subsiding, complimented by a significant proportion of elastic settlement.