The Mechanics of Failure: A Case Study in Foundation Washout

I have spent forty years interpreting the language of concrete, and I can tell you that gravity is the only law that never gets repealed. In my line of work, we don’t deal in hunches; we deal in kips, shear strength, and load-bearing ratios. However, the incident at the tenement on Fourth Street in the winter of 1984 remains the singular anomaly in my career - a moment where the calculations hit zero, yet the structure refused to obey.