Habitat Engineering & Forensics, Inc.

About Habitat Engineering & Forensics, Inc.

Habitat Engineering & Forensics (HE&F;) provides consulting and expert witness services including peer reviews, investigation of construction defects/accidents/disputes, condition and performance assessment, evaluation of damage, causation, engineering errors & omissions, failure analysis, repair/remediation design and construction management.

Services

Habitat Engineering & Forensics provides design, consulting and expert witness services including peer reviews, investigations of construction defects/accidents/disputes, condition and performance assessment, evaluation of damage, causation, errors & omissions, failure analysis, repair & remediation design, and construction management. Our experience includes buildings, bridges, silos, water containment vessels, pipelines, slabs, earth retaining walls and structures, foundations, pile driving, equipment installations, building component failures, demolitions, damage to historic structures, and personal injury cases.

Our clients have included architectural and construction firms, property owners and individuals, technology & mining industries, governmental institutions, insurance companies and law firms. We have assisted the legal counsel for both plaintiff and defense.

Expertise:

Structural Engineering
Civil Engineering
Geotechnical Engineering
Construction Management

Services:

Analysis, Design, Investigation & Retrofit of Buildings, Foundations & Retaining Walls (Wood, Steel, Concrete, Brick & Concrete Masonry Units, Adobe) Condition & Vulnerability Assessments, Damage Evaluation & Failure Analysis of Existing Facilities (Buildings, Historic Structures, Bridges, Silos, Towers, Earth and Water Retaining Systems, Tunnels & Mines, Roadways, Slabs & Pavements, Industrial & Offshore Installations, Pipelines, Conduits); Destructive & Non-Destructive Testing Construction & Demolition Forensics: Defects, Accidents, Disputes, Standard of Care OSHA Standards, Personal Injury Cases Slip, Trip & Fall Accidents Vibration, Blast and Seismic Analysis; Performance-Based Design Strengthening for Wind & Earthquakes; Engineering Analysis/Design for Installation of Artwork, Turbines, Power Transmission Lines, Roof-Top Equipment Finite Element Stress Analysis; Product Development; Failure Simulation Soil-Structure Interaction Problems Soil Testing and Report Temporary & Permanent Shoring/Underpinning Landslide Control, Slope Stability, Erosion and Drainage Problems Due-diligence, Damage Inspection & Report Insurance and Legal Support

Litigation Support Services

Habitat Engineering & Forensics provides unbiased and impartial expert testimony and litigation support services for plaintiff and defense attorneys.

Areas of Expertise

Architecture
Bridges
Building Codes
Building Technology
Concrete
Construction
Construction Accidents
Construction Claims
Construction Defects
Construction Disputes
Construction Injuries
Construction Safety
Construction Site Work
Damages
Due Diligence
Engineering

Engineering Civil
Engineering Design
Engineering Geotechnical
Engineering Highways
Engineering Investigation
Engineering Structural
Engineering Structural Failure
Explosion
Failure Analysis
Fall Protection
Fire Investigation
Flooding
Guardrails
Highway Safety
Intellectual Property
Investigation

Ladders
Offshore
OSHA
OSHA Construction
Patent
Personal Injury
Playground Injuries
Playground Safety
Premises Liability
Railroads
Research
Safety OSHA
Scaffolding
Slip and Fall
Structural Failure
Transportation Construction

Profile

Dr. Barzegar is the founding principal of Habitat Engineering & Forensics. He is a registered professional engineer with over 30-years of experience in engineering consulting, design, construction project management, university teaching and research.

Dr. Barzegar's experience in Damage Assessment & Forensic Investigations as Expert Consultant & Witness includes facilities affected by natural (earthquake, wind & flood) and man-made (vibrations, impact & blast) hazards, construction defects/accidents, failure analysis, and repair and remediation design. Amongst numerous projects, Dr. Barzegar has investigated buildings, bridges, industrial installations, foundations & retaining walls, excessive floor vibrations, failure of concrete & steel grain silos, water storage tanks and underground water conduits, distress in slabs and pavements, concrete mix design and placement, defective concrete & terrazzo, flood and vibration damage to historic buildings, structures affected by wind, fire and explosion, blast in coal mines and in chemical plants, pile driving damage to adjacent buildings, water intrusion problems, failures and injuries during construction, demolition damage, construction contracts & disputes, and slip, trip & fall cases.

Dr. Barzegar has been retained by the construction, insurance, mining, manufacturing and hi-technology industries, legal counsel for plaintiff and defense, other organizations, and individuals. Dr. Barzegar serves as an external expert reviewer for California Board for Professional Engineers & Land Surveyors on complaints filed against licensed engineers.

Dr. Barzegar's structural engineering design experience includes single and multi-unit wood-frame residential, steel, concrete and masonry buildings, and adobe custom-designed "Green Homes". He has also served as "structural engineer of record" for additions and retrofits to single-family residences, and tenant improvements to commercial buildings. Dr. Barzegar also consults on dynamic, blast, and seismic analysis & design incorporating computer-based three-dimensional modeling, nonlinear pushover and performance-based studies (SEMI Code, ASCE, FEMA & ATC Guidelines) and finite element stress analysis.

Dr. Barzegar was on the faculty of the Structural Engineering Department at the University of New South Wales (Sydney-Australia) and the Civil Engineering Department at Louisiana State University. Prior to founding Habitat Engineering & Forensics, he also held positions at Zolman Construction & Development, Struct-Tech Group (design/build firm), Rutherford & Chekene Consulting Engineers, and Exponent Failure Analysis Associates, in San Francisco Bay Area.

Dr. Barzegar's Publications have appeared in various professional journals. He has served as a reviewer for a number of technical journals.