Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities

The State of Florida has seen an explosion of construction on the coast in recent years due to its burgeoning population, semitropical climate, and extensive shoreline. Florida has stringent permitting requirements for structures built within a predefined distance from the water line. The decision to repair or rebuild a storm-damaged structure is determined by the “50% rule,” which involves the percent of damage to the structure as compared with its present market value. After a major storm event, the decision of how or whether a structure can be reconstructed is of major importance to property owners and the engineering professionals hired to assess the structure. The physical characteristics of coastal structures were investigated to determine the role of various factors in the poststorm decision-making process. Existing and on-site data were collected and analyzed. Major damage levels of foundations were determined. Based on the damage levels, data for cost of foundation repair and condemnation were collected from construction professionals. Using cost data, type of foundation, and damage levels, a decision matrix was formed to guide emergency personnel and engineering professionals through the process of deciding to repair or rebuild a coastal structure.

Many industrial floors are required to have high-quality flat surfaces for the operation of specialized equipment, particularly high-reach stackers operating from the surfaces of warehouse floors. For new floors, the essence of floor flatness lies in the manner of finishing and the systematic monitoring of the flatness achieved immediately following construction. Achieving such surfaces in floor slabs however, is quite difficult because of the moisture and temperature gradients that cause them to curl at the joints. Such curling seriously affects the operation of an industrial facility. Floors subjected to heavily loaded forklift traffic may rapidly deteriorate, causing safety problems. Curling is also exacerbated in industrial floors by the use of power-troweled surface hardeners to produce the dense high-strength top surface required for high wear resistance. Repair of curled floors in industrial locations involves grinding, patching, installation of dowels, and grouting underneath the curled slab. The timing and appropriateness of the method used are of vital importance to the durability of the repair. Aspects of design and construction to minimize curling of new industrial floors, the factors that contribute to cracking and curling, measures to minimize curling, and the repair of curled floors are discussed in this paper.

Bridge fender systems are used to guide vessels through navigational channels under bridges. They appear to be an attractive and inexpensive solution for protecting the integrity of bridge piers. However, until now the fenders have not been designed to withstand any specific lateral design force. Thus, their existing impact capacity is unknown. The paper presents results of the research project funded by the Florida Department of Transportation aimed at evaluating the crashworthiness of the system and developing possible retrofit recommendations. The research efforts concentrated on computational analysis of a Jumbo Hopper barge impacting a commonly constructed fender. LS-DYNA, a nonlinear explicit dynamic finite-element code, was used for analysis. Various initial velocities and impact angles were used to represent possible collision conditions. Computational analyses were adopted to assess the crashworthiness performance of the constructed fender system and to identify its weakest components for possible retrofit. It appears that such retrofits could further improve the energy absorbing capabilities of existing bridge fenders.

The main purpose of this paper is to make a complete investigation into the cause of distress to a four-story residential building in Irbid, Jordan, and to determine the necessary remedial measures for the observed damages. The observed damage in this case study involved crushing and splitting of concrete, along with buckling of reinforcement bars of the 24 underground reinforced concrete short columns supporting the building. Primarily, this damage occurred due to poor quality of concrete in the short underground reinforced concrete columns, combined with overloading. With the exception of the short columns, the design and construction of the building was considered to be adequate by a technical committee from the Jordan University of Science and Technology. The main lesson learned from this case study is that poor quality control of concrete construction will significantly influence the structural integrity of a facility.

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.