#structural failure

[randomwikiarticles]

On July 17, 1981, the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri, suffered the structural collapse of two overhead walkways. Loaded with partygoers, the concrete and glass platforms cascaded down, crashing onto a tea dance in the lobby, killing 114 and injuring 216. Kansas City society was affected for years, with the collapse resulting in billions of dollars of insurance claims, legal investigations and city government reforms.

The Hyatt had been built just a few years before, during a nationwide pattern of fast-tracked large construction with reduced oversight and major failures. Its roof had partially collapsed during construction, and the ill-conceived skywalk design progressively degraded due to a miscommunication loop of corporate neglect and irresponsibility. An investigation concluded that it would have failed even under one-third of the weight it held that night. Convicted of gross negligence, misconduct and unprofessional conduct, the engineering company lost its national affiliation and all engineering licenses in four states, but was acquitted of criminal charges. Company owner and engineer of record Jack D. Gillum eventually claimed full responsibility for the collapse and its obvious but unchecked design flaws, and he became an engineering disaster lecturer.

The disaster contributed many lessons and reforms to engineering ethics and safety, and to emergency management. It was the deadliest non-deliberate structural failure since the collapse of Pemberton Mill over 120 years earlier, and remained the second deadliest structural collapse[2]: 4  in the United States until the collapse of the World Trade Center towers 20 years later.

[professional1977]

OH Shit Moment.

Sometimes crisis appear suddenly. Other times they sneak up on you like a deadly disease. I think the second type is worse as it gives you time to think and worry and get all twisted up. I have had a few.

One thing about me is I take on things that have never been done before. I invent stuff to solve problems. There is risk in that, but I love the challenge too much to say no. If the numbers support me I keep going.

Several years ago I did a design for a strange cover system to go on top of a large water treatment facility. This involved a fabricated truss made from composite materials so as to be corrosion proof. I had gobs of numbers and gigabytes of FEA studies. There was one particular detail that was key to it working. This was how the very end which sat on a concrete edge was shaped to carry the weight. The problem was nobody could see it once it was made.

The parts were to be built in China. Our company owned the factory so generally we have great control over what is built. The owner of our company was from Hong Kong originally but his family was from China proper in the nearby region. He traveled back and forth between our office in North America and the factory. He was very clever and a true entrepreneur. But not clever enough.

The detail I mentioned was tricky to build. And once the part was closed in you would never see it. Tricky means expensive. I had a meeting with our owner before he left for the factory and discussed this detail and told him how important it was. He made no objections.

The parts were fabricated and shipped to the site in California. Installation went well with only a few minor questions about fit and order of assembly. All was well.

After almost a year the contractor got in touch about these cracks that were appearing in the ends. At first I was not concerned as there were only a few places, and I knew that inside this box shape was this detail that was actually carrying the load. We hired a local shop to go and patch the cracks. Everything was fine for a while longer.

More cracks appeared. This time I got a photo that was able to see inside the box and it was empty. The internal frame part was missing. I contacted the factory. Are there any photos of the fabrication? No we have no pictures. They always have pictures. Actually I should have suspected something as the factory did weekly reports that always had photos, except this project. I was busy with other things so did not ask back then.

As best as I can figure our owner wanted to save money on the job so told the factory to not follow the drawings. It would be fine. Nobody can see. He is the boss. Oh and don't tell the engineer. After pushing very hard I got them to admit that all the parts had been made that way. They did have photos.

At this point there is little choice as to what to do. But it is scary as this kind of issue can cripple a company. If all these parts did not have this internal feature it would not survive the loads it was intended to. If we fixed it by replacing all these parts our company might not survive. The units on site did not fail, these were only cracks so far. There were other secondary load paths and my FEA on the "missing" configuration showed that the safety factors were far less, and not right, but no so dangerous people could not work on the cover area in the interim.

I agonized over this. It was a weekend with little sleep as I really had no choice. I knew what was wrong. What happened was not my fault, but I was responsible now. This is an OH Shit moment. Wonder I do not have an ulcer.

I informed the contractor who informed the owner. I informed our management. Our old boss had passed away so he could not offer resistance. The contractor sent me a nice letter appreciating my candor and honesty. I know some professions where you hide behind a phalanx of lawyers and let the courts deal with it years later. I am not that kind of person.

Eventually our company took it on to fix the pieces. New sections of the ends were fabricated in China with photos showing all the details. I redesigned the ends to let me see inside the critical area. We shipped the new ends to our shop and had all the defective units shipped there too. We cut off all the bad ends and spliced on all the new ones. We shipped them back.

I am sure it cost far more than the original job to do the fix. I was proud and a bit surprised we did not go bankrupt.

You have to do what you have to do.

[chamerionwrites]

See I honestly do find the prequels-era Jedi an interesting (and at times painfully recognizable) portrait of institutional violence in that...they aren't cackling villains. They're mostly sympathetic well-intentioned individuals who via a combo of traditionalist inertia, ideological blinders, proximity to power, a dash of plain old arrogance and a liberal seasoning of end-justifies-the-means compromise end up being at best indifferent to and at worst deeply complicit in some pretty heinous injustice. I don't even think this is a completely against-the-grain reading on my part. At the end of the day it's a pretty mild critique, but it's hard to argue that the PT is entirely uncritical of the Jedi imo.

Unfortunately the narrative is never interested in really sinking its teeth into that. And even more unfortunately, a chunk of the fandom will clutch its pearls in horrified outrage if anybody else is interested in sinking their teeth into that

[ardienothesieno]

lobotomizing yourself so you dont die in your superstructure's imminent collapse but in doing so you accidentally trap yourself on a mountain to freeze your ass off in agonizing isolation for the rest of eternity:

[sforzesco]

Wait what is the misdirection element with Lucullus and Crassus ?

crassus is popularly associated with greed in part due to the parthia expedition/invasion, but following plutarch's narratives: it's actually lucullus who corrupts crassus with this trait, and implies a certain amount of blame for parthia/carrhae on lucullus

Now my own opinion is that the harm Lucullus did his country through his influence upon others, was greater than the good he did her himself. For his trophies in Armenia, standing on the borders of Parthia, and Tigranocerta, and Nisibis, and the vast wealth brought to Rome from these cities, and the display in his triumph of the captured diadem of Tigranes, incited Crassus to his attack upon Asia; he thought that the Barbarians were spoil and booty, and nothing else. It was not long, however, before he encountered the Parthian arrows, and proved that Lucullus had won his victories, not through the folly and cowardice of his enemies, but through his own daring and ability. This, however, is later history.

plutarch, lucullus

[amethystsoda]

Gelatin Hell my beloathed 🤢

[luckyartdrawer]

I think... I think I miss my wife fic...

[princehendir]

Do you guys remember that Reddit screenshot that was like:

Incel-adjacent guy: the simple fact is that no hot woman wants to get with an average looking nerdy man. That's why guys like me are fucked.

Normal commenter: why don't you try dating average looking women with nerd hobbies then?

Incel guy; what would be the point of that

.......... Sometimes the male loneliness discourse feels a lot like that.

[bittersweetresilience]

it feels cosmically unfair that i think about writing all the time want to write all the time and sit down to write all the time and i come up with two sentences at best. there should be some reward system i think

[catbuspass]

So you like capitalism?

YO MAMA

[eponymous-rose]

Sometimes when Clara is loafing I'll give her a leeeeeetle push. Usually she ignores it, but sometimes she just goes with it and tips over and flops.

[tieria-erde]

i hate love triangles but i hate even more when theyre actually compelling. but i hate even more when theyre actually compelling and then STILL fail to stick the landing

[rosencrantzsguildenstern]

i am not very good at rhythm games

[ereh-emanresu-tresni]

Where's that one "I'm leaving this site forever see y'all in 15 minutes" post bc mood af.

[theprestigegirly]

can speak freely here that was a shit season finale i am so icked out by name changing through marriage im so pissed off she’s signing HER PAPERS as “penelope bridgerton”

[ask-why-i-dont-care]

1977-2024 Francis Scott Keys bridge