Cofferdams Protecting New York Bridges from Ship Collisions
During the past few decades, there have been a number of cases where ships have rammed bridge piers, triggering the superstructure's collapse. The most tragic case was the...
Failure of the Breakwater at Port Sines, Portugal
The objectives of the Port Sines Investigation Panel were to collect perishable data on and to identify causes of the failure on February 26, 1978, of the rubble mound breakwater at Port...
An Improved Design for Grain Storage Tanks Solves Problem of Brittle Failures
The welded tank features fracture-tough steel and tube stiffeners to overcome problems evident in several failures of major tanks in recent years. Used extensively for grain storage in...
Behind the Sines, Protugal Breakwater Failure
This article highlights a report on the possible causes of failure of the massive, $178 million breakwater at Sines, Portugal. This was the largest breakwater of its kind in the world....
Causes and Preventions of Lamellar Tearing: Engineer's Notebook
Within the past 10 years, a steel cracking problem, lamellar tearing, has arisen after welding of thicker sections and higher-strength steels. A separation underlying a weld joining plate...
Trouble Shooting ChemicaLly Resistant Masonry
This paper is a series of case histories showing specifically how lack of understanding of the nature of the materials and their proper uses has caused failure in design, specification,...
Olmos Dam Modifications
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Structural Safety
Future building codes will go far beyond the classical emphasis on dimensioning, calculations, and specification writing. Emphasis will shift from scientific thinking to strategic thinking,...
Some Proposals for Reducing Structural Failures
Illinois is one of the few states requiring a Structural Engineer's License: a P.E. alone is not enough to practice structural engineering there. Unfortunately, even in Illinois,...
State-of-the-Art Report on Finite Element Analysis of Reinforced Concrete
This comprehensive state-of-the-art report contains a summary of the special features of finite element analysis applied to reinforced concrete, including: constitutive relationships,...
Replacing Corroded Cables on a Cable-Stayed Bridge
The cable-stayed bridge across Venezuela's Lake Maracaibo is among the longest bridges of its type. But after years of service, corroded cables threatened to snap, which would...
Slope Stability Program
This article includes an entire computer program, written in BASIC computer language. The program is a simplified version of programs which have been written for large computer systems....
GAO Finds Massive Failure of Wastewater Treatment Plants
A year-long study by the General Accounting Office of 242 wastewater treatment plants in 10 states concluded that discharge permit violations are the norm, not the exception. The failures,...
Management Keys: Freedom to Create, Responsibility for Failure
Management policies for inventors and engineers are reviewed in this interview with Professor Dan Pletta, University Distinguished Professor of Engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute...
Geotechnical Research Needs
A National Science Foundation-ASCE workshop on research needs looked at, among other subfields, geotechnical engineering. The study identified a number of research needs�based on society's...
Structural Failures
A relatively few, spectacular failures of new buildings have caught the public attention. Despite the publicity, the track record of structural designers is generally outstanding. Nevertheless,...
Stop the World-- I Want to Get Off!
The essays that won first and third prizes in the 1981 Essay Contest are presented. The first-prize essay, by John Huston, is entitled Stop the world�� I want to get off. It is a satire...
Roof Design: Avoid Ponding by Sloping to Drain
Roofing contractors recommend that roofs possess enough slope to permit complete drainage within 48 hours of rainfall. Otherwise ponds will form which can cause leakage and even contribute...
West Virginia Cooling Tower Collapse Caused by Premature Form Removal
The collapse of a reinforced concrete cooling tower under construction at Willow Island, W.Va. in April 1978 resulted in 51 fatalities, making it the worst construction accident in American...
Hartford Coliseum Roof Collapse: Structural Collapse Sequence and Lessons Learned
As with all structural failures, the collapse of the Hartford Civic Center Coliseum roof has raised many questions about design and analysis procedures. The profession should learn from...
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