Civil Engineer Expert

Why Did Cowboys Facility Collapse?

A fabric-covered, steel frame practice facility owned by the National Football League’s Dallas Cowboys collapsed under wind loads significantly less than those required under applicable design standards, according to a report released on October 6 for public comment by the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Located in Irving, Texas, the facility collapsed on May 2, 2009, during a severe thunderstorm. Twelve people were injured, one seriously.

Based on the national standards for determining loads and for designing structural steel buildings, NIST researchers studying the Cowboys facility found that the May 2 wind load demands on the building’s framework—a series of identical, rib-like steel frames supporting a tensioned fabric covering—were greater than the capacity of the frame to resist those loads.

Assumptions and approaches used in the design of the Cowboys facility led to the differences between the values originally calculated for the wind load demand and structural frame capacity compared to those derived by the NIST researchers. For instance, the NIST researchers included internal wind pressure due to the presence of vents and multiple doors in their wind load calculations because they classified the building as “partially enclosed” rather than “fully enclosed” as stated in the design documents. The NIST researchers also determined that the building’s fabric could not be relied upon to provide lateral bracing (additional perpendicular support) to the frames in contrast to what was stated in the design documents and that the expected wind resistance of the structure did not account for bending effects in some members of the frame.

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Shell structure is able to adapt to changing environmental conditions.

Weather conditions such as wind and snow loads can cause failure and collapse of supporting structures in roofs and similar constructions. Based on new hybrid intelligent construction elements (HICE), researchers at the University of Stuttgart have developed a shell structure which is able to adapt to changing environmental conditions. In a further step, the scientists will now use their knowledge to develop machines from these new structural elements which will also be able to react to their environments and adapt to given conditions.

According to experts, this development may eventually lead to a significant acceleration of entire construction processes in mechanical, electrical and control engineering.

A research group of six engineers from different fields such as civil, aerospace, mechanical and process engineering is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation) with a grant of 1.858 m € assigned for the first three years of a six-year project. The research group has started to operate in June.

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Basically structural engineers construct. But there is more to it than dreaming up a design and constructing it. When you look at a construction – a bridge, a concert hall, a block of flats – you may not see an apparent similarity with one of nature’s finest examples of structural engineering – the human body. But the similarity is there.

The central strength of the body lies in the skeleton, the hidden framework that supports our shape and is integral to our ability to function.

What do structural engineers do?

Without it we would collapse.

To the chartered structural engineer, the same considerations of strength, shape and function are paramount in their conception of the framework of a structure.

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The Structural Engineer’s Professional Training Manual

The Structural Engineer's Professional

The Structural Engineer’s Professional Training Manual offers a solid foundation in the real-world business and problem-solving skills needed in the engineering workplace.

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A beautifully illustrated guide to integrating functional structures as a design feature in buildings . Structure As Architecture provides readers with an accessible insight into the relationship between structure and architecture, focusing on the design principles that relate to both fields.

Structure as Architecture

Over one hundred case studies of contemporary buildings from countries across the globe including the UK, the US, France, Germany, Spain, Hong Kong and Australia are interspersed throughout the book. The author has visited and photographed each of these examples and analyzed them to show how structure plays a significant architectural role, as well as bearing loads.

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Structure and Architecture

Structure and Architecture’ is an essential textbook for students and practitioners of architecture and structural engineering. MacDonald explains the basic principles of structure and describes the ranges of structure types in current use. Furthermore, the book links these topics directly with the activity of architectural design and criticism. An update of the first edition, ‘Structure and Architecture 2ed’ includes a revised opening chapter, and a new section that discusses prominent buildings constructed since the last edition was published in 1994.

Angus MacDonald deals with structures holistically, relating detailed topics back to the whole structure and building. He aims to answer the questions: What are architectural structures? How does one define the difference between the structure of a building and all of the other components and elements of which it consists? What are the requirements of structures? What is involved in their design?

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Michael Niu has once again produced a very reasonable book. This book is destined to become a standard reference and will complement the other classic in the industry very well (Bruhn’s Analysis and Design of Flight Vehicle Structures).

Airframe Stress Analysis and Sizing

The book covers just about most topics required to perform effective practical stress analysis. Again as with Bruhn this is a bit of a cookbook, but in many instances that’s what is required to design practical aerospace structures.
Some of the material is a repeat of what’s available in Bruhn; however, there is plenty of additional material which makes this book worth having.

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