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The article “Hyatt Regency Walkway Collapse” brought attention a famous case of failed structural design and engineering, analyzed the history of the building’s design and construction, and considered what is to blame for the accident that occurred.
The Incident
During a party in the lobby of a Hyatt Regency Hotel located in Kansas City, Missouri, the night of July 17th 1981, two suspended walkways collapsed after the connections holding them up to the ceiling failed. The box beams separated from the ceiling rods because the beams that rested on the supporting rods nuts and washers were malformed and could not hold the additional weight of the party-goers. The fourth floor walkway fell first and crashed into the second story walkway on the way down, bringing it along for the drop down onto the crowded main atrium below. Perhaps fortunately, the third floor walkway had been built away from the other two to offset them, thus remained connected and kept additional wreckage from further hurting the hotel guests. However, this incident is still considered one of America’s “most devastat...
The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire not only affected the city of New York, but also the rest of the country. It forever changed the way our country would look at safety regulations in factories and buildings. The fire proved to America what can and will happen if we over-look safety regulations and over-crowd buildings. Unfortunately, 146 lives are taken before we fully understand this concept.
Steven Hermosillo Professor Wallace Fire Tech 105 15 November 2015 Silver Bridge Collapse According to Wikipedia, Forty-six people were killed in the silver-bridge collapse and another nine people were injured. “The Silver Bridge was an eye-bar-chain suspension bridge built in 1928 and named for the color of its aluminum paint. The bridge connected Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and Gallipolis, Ohio, over the Ohio River” (Wikipedia). This was a highly used bridge serving thousands of cars a day before the collapse.
People standing outside the building watched helplessly as people dropped from the windows of the ninth floor. William Shephard, a reporter for the United Press said, “Thud -- ...
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is split into three sections. In the first section, Bierce describes in detail the situation, a youn...
December 1st, 1958 tragedy comes to Chicago, the catholic school Our Lady of Angels is a blase a fire has started in the basement of the north wing of the school at the bottom of the stairwell and is roaring through the north wing in a matter of minuets despite the best efforts of the Chicago fire department the north wing is nearly a total loss resulting in the death of 90 people died in the blaze and 5 more were critically injured resulting in deaths. Through my research I have sought to find the role that the construction of the building has played in the precipitation of this tragedy.
In Time magazine, the article “A Good Time Goes Bad”, explains, how a junior at Texas A& M University, embarked this fall on a rite of passages that began in 1909. Fernando Shaun was an eye- witness to this tragedy late that night. The week before the accident Fernando would help cut the wood and load the trucks. He worked hard around the clock to build the wooden tower. At 2:28am is when he saw the 44-ft tall tower fall to the ground. After 24 hours the rescue workers had found 12 dead bodies and 28 were injured. The people began to question, why did the tower fall?
On April 18, 1906 at 5:12 a.m., a forceful shaking woke many people from their sleep. “It seemed as if I had scarcely been asleep when I was awakened by a terrifying sound—the Chinese porcelains that I had been collecting in the last years had crashed to the floor... The whole house was creaking and shaking, the chandelier was swinging like a pendulum, and I felt
Rayfield, Jo Ann. "Tragedy in the Chicago Fire and Triumph in the Architectural Response." Tragedy in the Chicago Fire and Triumph in the Architectural Response. Illinois Periodicals Online, n.d. Web. 02 May 2014. .
Walsh, Julie. "September 11 Terrorist Attacks." In Campell, Ballard C., Ph.D., Gen. Ed. Disasters, Accidents, and Crises in American History. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE52&iPin=DACH0197&SingleRecord=True (accessed April 6, 2014).
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.)
“August 2000, our family of six was on the way to a wedding. It was a rainy day, and Gregg was not familiar with the area. The car hit standing water in the high-way, and started hydro-planing. Greg lost control of the car. Then, the car went backwards down into a ditch and started sliding on its wheels sideways. After sliding for 100 feet or so, the car flipped, at least once. After flipping, the car came to rest on its wheels, and the passenger window broke out.
The residents were also not left behind in relation to the problems caused by the damages on the roads. To begin with, several cases of accidents and injuries were experienced. Examples included the frequent falls by the residents who never paid key attention to the holes while walking on the roads. Moreover, due to the lack of finances, more individuals who specialised in the renovation processes...
Have you ever stepped into an elevator? Do you stand there and zone out? Or maybe instead you focus on what’s happening around you. Do you notice the heavy push against your feet, and realize you're moving through a dark and hollow hole in the middle of a building? It only takes ninety seconds to undergo this experience that profoundly changed America.
I. Summary On May 25, 1979 about 1504 c.d.t, American Airlines Flight 191 McDonnell-Douglas DC-10-10 aircraft crashed into an open field shortly after take-off from Chicago O'Hare, killing all 271 aboard and 2 on the ground TSGC, (n.d) During takeoff, the left engine and strut assembly along with three feet of the leading-edge wing separated from and fallen off the wing. The pylon separation severed hydraulic lines, causing the loss of hydraulic pressure and retraction of all the slats outboard of the left engine and loss of electrical power powered by that engines electrical generator (Admin, n.d).
The escalator death ignited the anger of many Chinese netizens who saw the video on social network Sina Weibo. There were some who blamed the mall staff for not turning the escalator off or preventing customers from getting on the faulty machinery. Most of them put the blame on the management of the department store.