Another Look at Hartford Civic Center Coliseum Collapse
Publication: Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 15, Issue 1
Abstract
Only a few hours after five thousand basketball fans had left, the roof of the Hartford Civic Center Coliseum collapsed under a heavy snowfall. Fortunately, the arena was empty. The design of the space frame roof had been based on an innovative and extensive computer analysis. However, when deflections twice as great as those predicted by the computer analysis were observed during construction, the warning was ignored. Overconfidence in computer analysis results played a large part in this failure. A useful lesson from this case is that the computer is only an analytical tool and computed results must be checked by the designer with a careful eye. The long, unbraced lengths of compression members made them highly susceptible to buckling. This case serves as a lesson for engineering students and practicing engineers concerning the difficult technical, professional, procedural, and ethical issues that may arise during the design and construction of a complex, high-occupancy structure.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
1.
Bosela, P. (1993). “Failure of engineered facilities: academia responds to the challenge.”J. Perf. Constr. Fac., ASCE, 5, 05.
2.
. ENR, June 29.
3.
. ENR, June 22.
4.
Delatte, N. J. (1997). “Integrating failure case studies and engineering ethics in fundamental engineering mechanics courses.”J. Profl. Issues in Engrg. Educ. and Pract., ASCE, 123(3), 111–116.
5.
ENR, April 6.
6.
Education Committee of the Technical Council on Forensic Engineering. ( 1995). Failures in civil engineering: structural, foundation, and geoenvironmental case studies, R. Shepherd and D. Frost, eds., ASCE, New York.
7.
Feld, J., and Carper, K. ( 1997). Construction failure, 2nd Ed., Wiley, New York.
8.
ENR, June 24.
9.
Kaminetzky, D. ( 1991). Design and construction failures: Lessons from forensic investigations, McGraw-Hill, New York.
10.
Lev Zetlin Associates. ( 1978). Rep. of Engrg. Investigation Concerning Causes of Collapse of Hartford Coliseum Space Truss Roof on January 18, 1978, Hartford, Conn.
11.
Levy, M., and Salvadori, M. ( 1992). Why buildings fall down: how structures fail, W. W. Norton, New York.
12.
ENR, June 14.
13.
Petroski, H. ( 1985). To engineer is human, St. Martins Press, New York.
14.
Rendon-Herrero, O. (1993). “Too many failures: what can education do?”J. Perf. Constr. Fac., ASCE, 7(2), 133–139.
15.
Ross, S., et al. ( 1984). “Hartford Civic Center, 1978.” Construction disasters, McGraw-Hill, New York.
16.
ENR, January 26.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 15 • Issue 1 • February 2001
Pages: 31 - 36
History
Received: Jan 31, 2000
Published online: Feb 1, 2001
Published in print: Feb 2001
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.