shockwave

ICC News

View the Anatomy of a Disaster

International Code Council instructor Dilip Khatri is considered an expert in the structural engineering field. So he wasn’t completely surprised when he was asked to participate in a History Channel program called “Shockwave.”

“I had done interviews for some episodes of Modern Marvels,” said Khatri. “Someone in the engineering industry saw those and recommended me for Shockwave.”

“Shockwave” revisits historic disasters and studies how they happened. Using raw video footage of the incidents as they occurred, talking to survivors and recreating the event with 3-D modeling, “Shockwave” views the anatomy of a disaster.

Khatri explained, “My role is to be the technical expert…to explain why the disaster happened and how it could be prevented.”

In one “Shockwave” episode, Khatri analyzes the collapse of a 100-year-old, 50-foot brick farm silo. The owner was trying to bring the silo down using a bulldozer and a chain. When it started to lean a little bit, he tried to use the bulldozer to push the silo to the ground. Surprisingly, the silo started falling in the opposite direction, crashing down on the owner. Not surprising to Khatri.

“There’s no way to tip over that silo the way he attempted to do that,” Khatri explained in the program. “It can never be pushed over because it’s structurally not an independently functioning cylinder. The best way to do it…is to implode it from the top down very carefully with a professional demolition team.”

Miraculously, the man in the bulldozer who tried to knock over the silo survived without a scrape. But, again, Khatri was not surprised.

“He survived because there was a tree inside (the silo) that shielded him and saved the bricks from hitting him,” Khatri said. “If the tree was not there he would not have walked away.”

Khatri provided analysis for additional episodes of “Shockwave” including explaining hurricane, tornado and wind damage, and the flooding of a river lock system. Being in front of the camera isn’t unusual for him. His engineering company, Khatri International, shoots and creates short video segments on some of its projects.

A Code Council and legacy instructor for nine years, Khatri teaches structural seminars. He also teaches at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. He said it’s great that California has adopted the International Codes, but expresses some uneasiness as well.

“A lot of people are somewhere between frightened and scared about the new codes,” he said. “California’s been operating on cruise control for a long time.”

“Shockwave” airs on the History Channel on Fridays at 9 p.m. EST. For more information about the show, visit http://www.history.com/minisites/shockwave. To learn more about Khatri and his engineering practice, visit http://www.khatrinternational.com/.