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CONCERETE STRUCTURES
Introduction
Studying structural failure case studies is a way of studying the history
of the engineering profession. Typical calculations for design are based
on predicting and avoiding failure. The factor of safety is used to avoid
failures, but knowledge of past failures will better equip an engineer to
steer clear of future failures. It is not only important to know what
caused the failure, but also to understand how it occurred and how to
avoid the problem in the future.
This failure study will make you a better Structural Engineer.
VASUDEO PANDYA P.E. ; S.E.
2. PROFESSIONALISM
2.1 General: The essence of professionalism is integrity and honesty. Engineers should maintain ethical
and professional standards when performing structural Engineering Services.
2.2 Obligation to the Public: When performing structural engineering services, an engineer should:
2.2.1 Endeavor to protect the general health and safety of the public, as well as fulfill obligations to clients.
2.2.2 Perform services only within the engineers area of expertise.
2.2.3 Perform services in an objective, honest, and impartial manner, basing decisions on education,
analysis, knowledge, experience, and sound engineering judgment
2.2.4 Issue public statements in an objective and a truthful manner.
2.2.5 Refer deceit, misrepresentation, violation of contract, fraud, negligence, or incompetency of others
performing Structural Engineering services to the Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land
Surveyors. An objective and unbiased approach to referring such acts to the Board of Registration is
important.
2.3 Obligation to the Client: When performing structural engineering services, an Engineer should:
2.3.1 Act faithfully and honestly in the clients best interest, and respect the confidentiality of information
obtain from, and on behalf of, the client.
Professionalism in Engineering .. Continue
2.3.2 Disclose to the client real and potential conflict of interest prior to
performing services for the client, thus offering the client the opportunity to
decide whether a conflict of interest would be detrimental to the interest of the
client.
2.3.3 Solicit professional assignments in an ethical and professional manner.
2.3.4 Accurately represent the engineers qualifications and experience.
Client ( Owner) of these Plants will sue your firm. There will be expert witnesses in the
court. Finally Court decides that this was a Design/Detailing flaw. Court will order Heavy
penalties (Money awards for damages). Also you as a HOD(Civil/Structural) or MD of your
firm will loose your P.E. or S.E. license to practice Structural Engineering. With this, my
best guess is you will not be in business of Structural Engineering anymore .
Sorry to point such a bleak picture but this is the way Structural Engineering is practice
in USA. Liability, taking responsibility of mistakes and when required paying heavy court
fines are always expected from us engineers.
So my advice to you is when you submit a project proposal have enough Man Hrs to
implement Quality Assurance using these Industry Standards from USA.
Failure of Structures Education in India
http://www.structuremag.org/article.aspx?articleID=
336
Failure of Structures Education (Courses) and
Problems in India
Indrajit Barua.
Failure of Structures Education (Courses) and
Problems in India
regards
murali
Failure of Structures Education (Courses) and
Problems in India
regards
bijay sarkar
Delhi Metro Concrete Pier Failure
I found this important recent failure in India from Google web search.
This DMRC failure was also published in ENR (Engineering News Record) of USA.
In a 11-page report, the panel headed by IIT Professor A K Nagpal said, there was a departure at site from the
requirements of the design in the application of grout to the interface between the end plates of the steel strut
and the face of the pier/pier cap to which the plates are attached.
"The drawings followed on site for construction of Pier 67 were advance copies and not authenticated by
DMRC's design section. On enquiry, it was found that on occasions work commences without 'Good for
Construction' signed drawings to avoid delayed construction," the report said.
It also recommended the "reconstruction of or modifications to pier caps 54, 66, 67 and 68 to a revised design
configuration."
The July 12 incident at Zamrudpur where an under-construction metro bridge collapsed due to "design fault" in
pier 67 killed seven people.
The panel also asked the DMRC to strengthen its design review system to ensure that rigorous checking of
special structures is carried out in future and that certified drawings are made a prerequisite for construction to
proceed.
Delhi Metro Concrete Pier Failure
continue
The report also said that unconditional "no objection" was not obtained for the permanent
works drawings prior to construction, which should have been the practice for structures of
such a special nature.
"The contractor (Gammon India) did not ensure that 'good for construction' status with
appropriate certification by DMRC was achieved prior to constructing the works," the report
said and added that there is concern regarding the sample test recording by the contractor
and witnessing of the same by DMRC.
"The consistency of concrete sample test results is highly abnormal. This raises doubts
over the authenticity of the records submitted," the report said.
The panel concluded that deficiencies in material, design and failure to carry out material
testing at the time of appearance of the first cracks and deferral of the load test were the
causes of the accident.
It also said both the temporary works and permanent works designers should be required
to check the material and workmanship of special structures at site to certify compliance
with design intent prior to application of loads on temporary works assemblies and prior to
pouring concrete at permanent works locations.
Dear SEFIN'S:
I watch "NDTV" documentary today 23/09/2011 evening "Agar Delhi Hili
Hoti". That was for a Structural Engineer like me walking through a
dangerous land. That was riveting. Work is cut out for us. What else to
say. We should all ask for a copy of it and see it. Delhi is Seismic Zone IV
and that TV documentary scare's me, a Structural Engineer like nothing
else.
Illegal and poor quality constructions continue to be the bane of urban India, coupled
with a crippling lack of awareness regarding safety norms. Structural engineers have
criticized city authorities for flouting regulations and risking lives. Behind the shoddy
construction is murky collusion between real estate and municipal authorities, mired in
corruption and rule bending.
India needs to draw lessons from Japan, which has stringently enforced strict building
codes, put into effect a functional warning system and conducted regular drills among
people. The Himalayan quake is a reminder to get our act together. Besides enforcing
building codes, important infrastructure such as arterial roads and airports needs to be
fortified. Community-level preparedness could drastically reduce the loss of lives and
property. Education and information are two vital conduits for spreading awareness.
The government`s resource material on quakes should be widely disseminated and
discussed at every forum, starting with schools. Disaster management is already part of
the social sciences school syllabus. Regular drills can help prepare children to deal with
sudden situations. It is the extent of disaster preparedness which will help India protect
itself from quake devastation.
Failure of concrete Structures.. Tower of
Pisa
Introduction
The Leaning Tower of Pisa is the freestanding bell tower of the
cathedral of the Italian city of Pisa. It is situated behind the
Cathedral and is the third oldest structure in Pisas Cathedral
Square. The tower is about 60 m (200 ft) tall from foundation to
belfry, 19.6 m in (66 ft) in diameter and weighs approximately 145
MN (14,500 tons). Its foundation is inclined at almost 5.5 degrees to
the south; the tower overhangs the ground about 4.5 m (20 ft) out of
plumb. Today its inclination is about 10%; the value corresponding to
the eccentricity on the loads on the foundation is 2.3 m.
Lessons
The failure of the Tower of Pisa is without doubt unique for a number
of reasons ranging from the fact that it is a failure that has been
occurring essentially on a continuous basis for more than 800 years.
Despite the extensive investigations and analyses conducted over
the past 60 years, there is still no consensus on the cause of failure.
What is significant however is that finally, after 8 centuries, the
condition of the tower has been improved.
Introduction
Studying structural failure case studies is a way of studying the history of
the engineering profession. Typical calculations for design are based on
predicting and avoiding failure. The factor of safety is used to avoid failures,
but knowledge of past failures will better equip an engineer to steer clear of
future failures. It is not only important to know what caused the failure, but
also to understand how it occurred and how to avoid the problem in the
future.
In the collapse at 2000 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts on
January 25, 1971, punching shear failure is believed to have triggered the
collapse of two thirds of the 16-story concrete building during construction.
But an investigation called for by the mayor proved that there were many
flaws in the design of the apartment building. It is important to remind
engineers about past failures, such as this one, so that history does not
repeat itself.
2000 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston Massachusetts
(January 25, 1971)
This building used flat plate construction. A plate is a slab of uniform thickness supported on columns.
This is a very economical type of construction for short spans and light loads because formwork is very
simple and
the absence of beams reduces the floor-to-floor height (p. 606, Wight and MacGregor, 2009) 3. However,
the
problem with the system is that it is subject to two-way or punching shear of the slabs, which can be a
brittle failure
mechanism. Despite the importance of this failure mechanism, textbooks often suggest that the material
not be
covered in an introductory course but be deferred to an advanced course.
Prof. Delatte
The punching shear mechanism is illustrated in Fig. 2. The slab breaks away and the column punches
through the slab. The resistance to punching shear depends on the strength of the concrete, the effective
depth of the
slab, and the perimeter of the failure plane around the column. Clearly, the loads applied to the slab and
the removal
of shoring under the slab are also important. In the collapse at 2000 Commonwealth Avenue, the strength
of the
concrete was low and strength development was impaired by cold weather. Some of the reinforcement was
improperly placed and poorly developed. The roof slab of the building held heavy mechanical equipment,
and there
was evidence that shoring had been removed prematurely.
2000 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston Massachusetts (January 25, 1971)
Lesson learned:
Unfortunately, 2000 Commonwealth Avenue would not be the last project that suffered from
faulty construction practices leading to a punching shear failure and progressive collapse of
the
building. Skyline Plaza was one of the first major failures to follow Commonwealth Avenue.
Similar to the collapse in Boston this 30 story concrete structure failed due to early removal
of
shores, insufficient concrete strength, and improper construction planning. Harbour Bay
Condominium was another case of a building project that resulted in a collapse during
construction. Again procedural errors were largely to blame leading to a punching shear
failure
and progressive collapse during construction. Immediately following the collapse a summary
of
the failure at Commonwealth Avenue was available but the details were not widely known.
Skyline Plaza and Harbour Bay both could have benefitted from the timely dissemination of
information about this failure. For a further discussion of similar failures please review
Concrete
System Collapses and Failures During Construction.
http://matdl.org/failurecases/Building_Collapse_Cases/2000_Commonwealth
Building Collapse Cases/Skyline Plaza at Bailey's Crossroad
Building Collapse Cases/Skyline Plaza at Bailey's Crossroad
Introduction:
On March 2, 1973, the Skyline Plaza apartment building in Baileys Crossroads, Virginia
collapsed while under construction. The collapse extended vertically through the building from
the 24th floor to the ground, leaving an appearance of the structure as two different high rise
buildings with a gap between them. The collapse tore a sixty-foot (18 m) wide gap through the
building all the way to the ground. At the time of the collapse, two practically identical
reinforced concrete towers had already been built (Kaminetzky 1991, p. 64). The collapse
occurred at about 2:30 pm (Leyendecker and Fattal 1977 pg. 2).
Structural Analysis:
At the time of the collapse, three dimensional elastic finite element (FE) analysis using
computers was still a relatively new technology. The NBS investigation team used FE analysis
to evaluate the slab stresses in the region where the collapse occurred, using beam and plate
elements. Stresses were compared to the provisions of ACI 318-71 (ACI 1971). Three different
cases were analyzed, with different shoring and concrete conditions. Yield line analysis was
also used. The results showed that even with low concrete strength, a flexural failure of the
slab would be unlikely. However, under any of the cases where shores had been removed, a
punching shear failure of the slab would probably occur. Once punching shear occurred at any
one column, the collapse would rapidly propagate as other slab-column joints became
overstressed. There was no indication that the crane was a contributing factor to the collapse
(pp. 65 83, Leyendecker and Fattal, 1977).
It should also be noted that by the ACI code (ACI 1971), sand-lightweight concrete has a 15 %
lower shear strength than conventional concrete for the same compressive strength. The most
critical locations for punching shear were found to be at columns 67, 68, 83, and 84 (Carino et
al., 1983)
Building Collapse Cases/Skyline Plaza at Bailey's Crossroad
Lesson learned:
The NBS investigation concluded that the probable cause of the
collapse was a punching shear failure of the 23rd floor The premature
removal of forms supporting the 23rd story slab when the concrete of
that slab had a relatively low strength produced shear stresses in excess
of the concrete capacity at the time of the incident Most of the
eyewitness reports indicated deflection in the 23rd and 24th story slabs
[varying from 6 in. to 2 ft. (152 mm to 0.6 m)] which increased over a 15
or 20 min time period before failure The loss of support from any one
of these columns led to overstressing of the slab around the remaining
columns and the failure propagated through the 23rd floor until a stable
configuration remained. The accumulation and impact of falling debris
from the collapsing 23rd and 24th floors overloaded the 22nd floor slab
and induced the progressive collapse of successive floors down to the
ground (Carino et al. 1983, p. 41).
Building Collapse Cases/Skyline Plaza at Bailey's Crossroad
http://matdl.org/failurecases/