Glenn P. Rentschler

Experience

Since joining WJE in 1985, Glenn Rentschler has investigated numerous deteriorated and distressed structures, including commercial, industrial, office, school, and residential buildings; parking garages; power plants; water treatment plants; bridges; tunnels; and stadiums. He has experience investigating cracked and spalled concrete, excessive slab deflections, deteriorated wood trusses, wind damage, distress to building facades, and numerous other forms of distress. These investigative efforts have typically included field observation, sample removal for laboratory tests, structural analysis, structural design, report writing, and preparation of repair documents.

Dr. Rentschler has performed investigations and provided litigation support on the subjects of structural fire damage, parking garage collapses, roof collapses, barrier pole collapses, scaffold collapses, terrazzo floor blistering, concrete deterioration, concrete masonry walls, and retaining walls, among others. In addition, he conducts scores of investigations for insurance companies to assess the cause and extent of damage to structures and building components.

REPRESENTATIVE PROJECTS

Failure Investigation

• 215 Park Avenue South - New York, NY: Collapse of fourteen-story scaffold
• Four Times Square - New York, NY: Partial collapse of forty-nine story personnel hoist
• State Street Garage - Brooklyn, NY: Collapse of parking garage
• Merrimack County House of Corrections - Boscawen, NH: Collapse of segmental block retaining wall

 

Disaster Response

• California Earthquake - Los Angeles: Damage assessment due to 1994 earthquake
• World Trade Center - New York, NY: Damage assessment due to 1993 terrorist explosion
• World Trade Center - New York, NY: On-site engineering related to debris removal following September 11, 2001, terrorist attack
• Hurricane Katrina - Various Locations: Damage assessment due to 2005 hurricane
• Storm Sandy - Various Locations: Damage assessment due to 2012 tropical storm

 

Litigation Consulting

• Parkside Elementary School - Parkside, PA: Blistering of terrazzo flooring
• 152 Wooster Street Corp. - New York, NY: Damage due to adjacent construction
• Seward Park Garage - New York, NY: Collapse of garage roof

 

Testing and Instrumentation

• Homer City Power Plant - Homer City, PA: Load test of floor slab
• Kennedy Airport - New York, NY: Load test of taxiway bridge
• Princeton University, Icahn Laboratory - Princeton, NJ: Load cell instrumentation of facade cables

 

Repair and Rehabilitation Design

• Deep Creek Generating Station - Hoyes, MD: Repair design of concrete spillway
• Eddystone Power Plant - Eddystone, PA: Repair of damaged coal stacker support frame
• Telecommunications Towers - Long Island, NY: Strengthening upgrade of three steel telecommunications towers
• Fashion Center Parking Deck - Paramus, NJ: Investigation and repair document preparation
• Parking Garage 11 - Montgomery County, MD: Concrete and structural steel repair design

 

Structural Evaluation

• Fire-Retardant Treatment Wood Trusses - Various Locations: Reduced strength of wood trusses due to fire-retardant treatment
• Middletown Middle School - Middletown, PA: Roof canopy anchorage failure
• Professional Children’s School - New York, NY: Collapse of air-supported roof structure

Professional Affiliations

American Concrete Institute
American Institute of Steel Construction
American Society of Civil Engineers
The Masonry Society

Registrations

Professional Engineer in NJ, NY, and PA
Professional Land Surveyor in PA

Education

The Pennsylvania State University
Bachelor of Science, Civil Engineering, 1969

Lehigh University
Master of Science, Civil Engineering, 1972
Doctor of Philosophy, Civil Engineering, 1979