William LeMessurier, one of the nation's most distinguished structural engineers, served as design and construction consultant on the innovative Citicorp Tower, which was completed in 1977 in New York. The next year, after a college student studying the Tower design for her thesis had called him to point out a possible deficiency, LeMessurier discovered that the building was indeed structurally deficient. The deficient came from substitution of welded joints to bolted joints. LeMessuerier went through calculation and found out that bolts joints were insufficient to withstand strong quartering winds. LeMessurier’s calculations revealed that 70 mph quartering winds would topple the building. According to the New York City weather records, the likelihood of a storm with 70 mph winds was one in every sixteen years. By taking the tuned mass damper into account, LeMessurier calculated that the probability of failure could be reduced to one in fifty-five years, but that assumed that the power to the building, which was needed to keep the tuned mass damper working, was maintained without dis...
Skyscrapers are amazing! Architectural defeats. Wonders of the world. How are they able to withstand even the strongest of winds and earthquakes?
Since the industrial revolution, the field of engineering has allowed society to flourish through the development of technological advances at an exponential rate. Similar to other professionals, engineers are tasked with making ethical decisions, especially during the production and distribution processes of new inventions. One field that has encountered ethical dilemmas since its inception is the automotive industry. Today, the dawn of the autonomous, self-driving, vehicle is upon us. In this new-age mode of transportation, humans will be less responsible for decisions made on the road. With the wide adoption of autonomous vehicles, there exist a possibility to reduce traffic-related accidents. Even though computers have the ability
Ethics and morality are among the most difficult subjects to define and discuss. Opinions concerning these matters are frequently automatic, held on a preconceived notions and are never subject to verification until after the fact and, often, not even then. To some critics, any use of technology leads to increasing alienation and dehumanization therefore, technology is considered far from moral. However, most people recognize great improvement of the quality of human existence which has been possible only with technology.
The Tacoma Narrows Bridge is perhaps the most notorious failure in the world of engineering. It collapsed on November 7, 1940 just months after its opening on July 1, 1940. It was designed by Leon Moisseiff and at its time it was the third largest suspension bridge in the world with a center span of over half a mile long. The bridge was very narrow and sleek giving it a look of grace, but this design made it very flexible in the wind. Nicknamed the "Galloping Gertie," because of its undulating behavior, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge drew the attention of motorists seeking a cheap thrill. Drivers felt that they were driving on a roller coaster, as they would disappear from sight in the trough of the wave. On the last day of the bridge's existence it gave fair warning that its destruction was eminent. Not only did it oscillate up and down, but twisted side to side in a cork screw motion. After hours of this violent motion with wind speeds reaching forty and fifty miles per hour, the bridge collapsed. With such a catastrophic failure, many people ask why such an apparently well thought out plan could have failed so badly?(This rhetorical question clearly sets up a position of inquiry-which iniates all research.) The reason for the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge is still controversial, but three theories reveal the basis of an engineering explanation. (Jason then directly asserts what he found to be a possible answer to his question.)
The National Society of Professional Engineers Code of Ethics lays out guidelines and standards to which all engineers should abide when making professional decisions and communicating with their peers and the public. Ethics and communications played a large role in the cause of the event and the end result of the mission. The following section will discuss the ethics of the events that transpired prior to the launch, the communication of the crews and the NASA public relations office, and the ethics of the actions taken by the engineers after the incident.
Harm reduction has become an important concept in substance use treatment and policy in the last few decades, as the United States has increasingly been adopting these policies in a number of different areas (Van Wormer & Davis, 2013). As these policies continue to grow in prevalence, it is important that such practices can be justified through research evidence and ethical principles. While there is debate in the field as to whether or not harm reduction is truly neutral of value judgments (Miller, 2005), chemical addiction professionals must be involved in the ongoing discussion of harm reduction and its relationship to ethics. As this paper will illustrate, there is a large amount of disagreement concerning how direct service professionals, researchers, and policy-makers should understand the values of harm reduction, there are differences in opinion about the role of ethics in harm reduction, there are ethical concerns related to each concept and its implementation, and more needs to be done to unify the voices involved in the discussion of ethics in harm reduction.
The tragic failure of the Challenger does make for an excellent case study on managment process. Prior to reviewing the course material, I was aware there was a technical and mechanical failure which led to the demise of the spacecraft as well as the crew, but I had no idea that the device which failed was a known problem to the engineers, and known by at least some level of management. It is shocking. Although I was unable to obtain the PDF for Engineering Ethics Case Study: The Challenger Disaster, I found the content of The Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster: A Study in Organizational Ethics particularly interesting of case studies provided.
Next, The Eiffel Tower is a renowned monument for France. Being that it was originally built as an entrance way, some precautions were made. The safety token was moveable staging, guard rails and screens only one man died during construction. (Eiffel Tower). The tower stands 320 meters tall it uses over 18,000 pieces in the steel structure. Each year the high heats cause the structure to grow six inches, but then retracts back after the summer time. So, that is why the idea of thermal rivets were used in assembly, because the rivets allow the structure to keep its shape. Over 2.5 million rivets were used. (Eiffel ...
The bridge collapsed december 16, 1967, and killed about 46 people and seriously injured 9 others. The bridge collapse was due to the defect of a single bridge support link, which was “a brittle fracture of the lower half of the eye, then a ductile fracture of the upper half,…resulting in pulling…the companion eyebar off the pin which had connected it with the fractured eyebar”, this caused an inevitable failure of the bridge. Overall, a major factor in this bridge collapse was was the bridges design in general. “The eyebar chains supporting the bridge deck were made up of long, twelve inch wide, and two inch thick steel beams that had circular “eyes” at each end. Each chain had two eyebars in parallel.
Works Cited Journal articles: • Lane, Thomas. “Crazy Angles, Soaring Steel.” Building vol. 274 no. 8588 (28) 2009, July 17, pp. 40-46.
Ethics is the moral behavior that guides our actions; it motivates us in our personal behavior and is relevant in a business setting as well. Many organizations have set forth a set of guidelines known as a “Code of Ethics”. The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, being one of these organizations, has set forth their code as a requirement for students and engineer members to adhere to. Heading towards a career in electrical engineering I choose this organization to elaborate on for my ethics project.
A tall building or high-rise building is a building whose height creates different conditions in the design, construction and use than those that exist in common buildings of certain region and period[3]. The tallness of a building is a matter of a person’s or community’s circumstance and perception therefore, a measurable definition of a tall building cannot be universally applied. Tall building structures frame requires special structural arrangements, if they are subjected to appreciable lateral loads such as high wind pressures and earthquake loadings. In modern era, tall buildings structures are in great demands because of the following reasons which are as follows :
“There are no rules of architecture for a castle in the clouds”, fabulously stated by G.K Chesterton. Most architects learn throughout their college experience and career that rules dominate, and at one point feel so restricting that imagining freedom to design without restrictions or hurdles would make things easier. Sadly, rules in architecture are very necessary to not just know but to also try to follow. Through my experience in my internship, I’ve noticed many different aspects of rules and ethics that are followed. Ethical choices and business choices have been constantly displayed through projects. Such as the many obligations to the public, to the client, to colleagues, to the profession and of course the general obligations that come with the field of architecture. These canons are building
Taher, R. (2011). General recommendations for improved building practices in earthquake and hurricane prone areas. San Francisco, CA: Architecture for Humanity Retrieved from
The Leaning Tower of Pisa, also known as the Torre Pendente di Pisa, known for its renowned work of art is located in Pisa, Italy. The mastermind behind this historically significant masterpiece is the famous architect, Bonanno Pisano. The tower is in the shape of a circle, which was first constructed on August 9th, 1173, measuring about 185 feet (56 meters). Originally, the tower was designed to have eight stories; however, within the year of 1773, many problems occurred, causing only three of the eight stories to be completed. Due to a war which occurred, the building was incomplete. The war broke out among the Italian city-states, and construction was halted for almost a century (www.brittanica.com). This pause allowed the tower’s foundation to settle and likely prevented its early collapse (www.brittanica.com). Because of the pause, the rest of the stories were completed during 1319. There were two pauses between the constructions of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, first for 100 years, and the other occurred in 1284. Both of the pauses took place because of wars. The tower began to lean on one side due to the soft ground underneath the building; problems arose when the weight of the tower couldn’t be supported by the ground. In modern time, the famous masterpiece would’ve been 840 years old (www.softschools.com). The tower is a freestanding bell, famous for the settling of its foundation, causing it to lean 5.5 degrees to one side. However, over time, many operations were done, trying to straighten the tower, yet it only straightened out by less than 4.0 degrees. However, the lean became worse as construction continued for several decades. Gratefully, the lean was stabilized and partially fixed between 199...