Structural Engineering Mishaps and Disasters Hindenburg: An Unnecessary Disaster In the 1930s airships, better known today as “blimps”, were the main source of air travel. During this time, the airships were used for various different reasons such as: bombing enemy targets, patrolling coastal areas, escorting naval ships during the night or through unsafe bodies of water, or used to make luxury flights across the Atlantic. The Hindenburg was believed to be the biggest and most sophisticated aircraft
I Wish to Pursue Structural Engineering A simple bridge truss was the first structure I ever analyzed. The simple combination of beams that could hold cars, trains, and trucks over long spans of water fascinated me. Having the tools to analyze the loads on the truss further increased my interest in structures. I encountered the bridge in a textbook for my first engineering class. Knowing that the professor, Mr. Paul Davids, was a tough teacher, I asked him for the textbook so I could study
Structural Engineering and Ethical Decision Making INTRODUCTION Currently in the state of California, designers employed in the building industry follow the 1997 Uniform Building Code (UBC 97). The UBC 97 is intended to be a minimum requirement for both engineers and architects to follow in the design of any structural building or bridge. There are exceptions to the use of the UBC; local jurisdictions have the right to adopt other codes for there use. For instances some counties or cities
As an aspiring structural engineer, I need to obtain a Master of Science in Civil or Structural Engineering before I can begin my job search. As a senior in the University of Washington’s (UW) Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) department, I came to understand why UW’s CEE program is one of the most rigorous in the nation with a faculty well-known for their seismic engineering research. With UW as a potential graduate program in mind, I interviewed the aged Dr. Charles Roeder, my current
never was “ ~Theodore Von Karman After almost five years of experience as a Structural Engineer, I feel entirely satisfied with my decision to choose Civil Engineering as my career option as it has unveiled the most realistic & rational path to undertake human obstacles to me. My interest conjoined with outlook for opportunities & innovations obtainable in this field has
Few engineering disasters are as infamous as the collapse of two walkways within the Hyatt Regency Kansas City Hotel on July 17th, 1981. Because of a plethora of ethical violations and poor planning, over one-hundred people lost their lives, and another two-hundred were severely injured as the walkway was overloaded and crumbled under the addition of a large live load. At the time, this was the worst structural engineering failure in US history. A thorough investigation revealed fatal flaws in the
responsibility. Structural engineers have the responsibility of making decisions that affect the structural integrity of buildings, bridges, dams, et cetera. Engineers daily make decisions that affect the outcome of projects. The construction industry revolves around money; consequently, employers sometimes request engineers to overlook a certain aspect of their project that breaks certain building or city codes. This situation forces an engineer to anger his employer and follow the engineering “Code of
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
In computing we are used primarily to sketches, engineering drawings, and diagrams. But in other restraints a much wider range of demonstrations are employed, often in parallel, not competing, but complementing each other. For instance, within the architectural practice relevant representational forms encompass
Literature Survey Background: The structural support in structural engineering refers to load-resisting system of a structure. The structural system transfers loads through interconnected structural components or members. Commonly used structures can be classified into five major categories, rods, beams ,columns, trusses, cable and arches .the structures are classified on the basis of how the forces i.e shear, compression, tension and bending are distributed in the members of the structures under
Transportation Safety Board has just begun, but it is easy to see the underlying cause. Poor construction caused the bridge to collapse due to improper procedure and structural flaws. The collapse happened on Thursday, March 15th. That being said, it appears that
Forensic Engineering is the application of the art and science of engineering in the justice system. It may include an investigation of the physical causes of accidents and other sources of claims and litigation, preparation of engineering reports, testimony at hearings and trials in administrative or judicial proceedings and the rendition of advisory opinions to assist the resolution of disputes affecting life or property. Structural Engineers are one of the many trained professionals who are
3. ANALYTICAL INVESTIGATION 3.1 Truss Configuration • Truss type : How truss • Span length:6.1m • Basic wind speeds:44 m/sec • Centre to centre distance span: 2m • Height of building : 5m The dimension details of the truss are given in table 1. Roof trusses are subjected to the following types of load: • The dead loads of roof trusses consists of weight of roof covering , weight of purlins, weight of festering and self weight of the trusses. • live load or imposed load IS 875-1987 (Part-2) recommends
In 1975, an arena was built in the city of Hartford, Connecticut. The arena was designed to hold 12,500 people and showcase many different events. From sports events to concerts and other events. However, in 1978, having been open for only 3 years, the stadiums roof suddenly collapsed due to a snowstorm. It took less than 5 inches of snow, 4.8 to be exact, to bring down the roof. Lucky it was early in the morning around 4 am and no one was hurt, however the incident had occurred a few hours earlier
steel ultimately rendered masonry construction obsolete. “The International Style was thus formed under the dictates that modern buildings’form and appearance should naturally grow out of and express the potentialities of their materials and structural engineering. A harmony between artistic expression, function, and technology would thus be established in an austere and disciplined new architecture.” The International Style grew from a small group of brilliant and original architects who went on
properties which allowing it to link mineral piece into a solid mass. Cement through chemical reaction (hydration) to form a hardened mass. Among different types of cement, Portland cement is the most commonly used as binding material in nowadays civil engineering. The name "Portland cement" was originated in a patent obtained by Joseph ASP din of Leeds, England in 1824. 1.2- Water Water undertake two important roles in concrete mixture. The first one is to act chemical reaction with cement and carry out
foundations. No building can possibly exist without this component and quite often architecture is defined by structures rather than the other way around. In any case, it certainly has to be a point of much consideration on behalf of both architects and structural engineers. Biological structures came to exists much earlier than the man-made structures, let alone the structures in architecture. If you think about it, almost every example of flora and fauna has a structure to resist mechanical forces in
Analysis • Structural Make-up • Beam Calculations • Load Trace • Choice of Materials • Conclusion Introduction This report will investigate the structural makeup of the commercial building we are working on as part of the Studio 2 module. The building has a single-storey basement that is to be used for car parking, with 5 upper storeys comprising of a café and open plan offices. This report investigates firstly the site that the building is situated on, secondly, the structural make-up of the
construction, and defined as “building construction in general, but also formal amplification of its presence in relation to the assembly of which it is a part.” He calls for the return of the irreducible structural unit as the ideal architectural form, and the visual expression of both structural and construction elements. Frampton references Heidegger to imply that the essence of the tectonic is an act of making that is revealing. Tectonic expression should “reveal” the logics of construction, clarity
The results show that the bridge in Case 1 collapsed under 44% of the total applied load with 0.097 inches bending displacement and 0.45 inches buckling displacement, as shown in Figs 10 -11. The bridge collapsed due to the huge lateral movement at the top of the webs, which caused a loss of stability and ability of the webs to carry any load, Figs 12-13. The value of the bending displacement is small compared to the value of the buckling displacement because almost no bending moment was created