Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities

An innovative cascading spillway was selected to replace a reinforced concrete slab/discharge pipe river outfall structure, which required frequent maintenance and subsequently collapsed as a result of scouring and piping action of cooling water discharging from a power plant. The cascading design was adopted because the structure is located on the bank of the Mississippi River, which has an annual fluctuation of water levels as much as 45 ft (13.73 m). To facilitate the construction of the spillway, low‐water duration of the river dictated the method of construction and materials to be used. As a result, a cascading steel sheet piles cellular structure, forming a series of stepped basins, was adopted with concrete used as the base of the basin. The new, practically maintenance‐free, stable structure was completed within a two‐month period and resulted in a substantial savings as compared to the replacement cost of the collapsed structure.

The possibility exists for any construction contractor to fail to filfill the contract requirements associated with a facility. Contractor failure occurs when a contractor is unable to perform his/her contractual duties, thus requiring the facility owner to invoke the contract's nonperformance clause. This paper provides aggregate contractor business failure statistics and outlines potential causes for failure. A framework to identify and quantify the associated costs is also introduced. Several case studies are presented to examine the cause and cost of failure and the means by which the facilities were completed. Alternatives available for project completion when contractor failure occurs are discussed. Recommendations to identify and monitor contractors at high risk for failure are outlined as well. This paper provides facility owners with a greater awareness of the possibility of contractor failure, how to quantify costs of contractor failure, and avoidance techniques.

Following the disastrous 1976 Tangshan earthquake, the Chinese government took steps to modify the seismic codes and to mitigate earthquake damage. This paper includes many illustrations. Special attention is focused on petrochemical facilities where inflammable and explosive materials are processed, stored, and transported. The performance of these facilities and methods of seismic evaluation are presented. Retrofitting measures are outlined for a number of structures and structural systems ranging from towers and furnaces to cylindrical and spherical vessels. The majority of the recommended retrofits include strengthening the tie between the structure and its support(s) by increasing the number of anchor bolts, and increasing the strength of welding ribs or plates. Although these measures were undertaken in China, the problems are by no means unique to China; they are universal.

There are two main forms of damage due to tree roots. The first involves the growth of tree roots beneath sidewalks, patios, roads, and block walls, where the physical increase in size of growing roots causes uplift and differential movement of the structure. The second type of damage is from tree roots that grow beneath shallow foundations. As the tree roots extract moisture, the clay shrinks and the structure settles. For tree‐root uplift, it is observed that damage more frequently occurs to lightly loaded structures. Damage seems to be less severe for soft or loose soil that can deform as the roots grow, rather than dense or hard soils such as road base. For the example of tree‐root shrinkage presented in this paper, a large Pepper tree caused significant desiccation of the upper 2 ft (0.6 m) of a very highly expansive clay deposit. Laboratory tests recorded expansion of the desiccated clays when they were given access to water. Two solutions to the problem are to plant the tree well away from the structure or to use deepened perimeter footings to restrict roots from gaining access beneath the foundation.

Cladding failures are on the rise. First, a consolidated effort and sole responsibility are necessary for the successful and reliable performance of cladding. Second, it is becoming increasingly apparent that there must be a rational basis for cladding design. Engineered solutions are sorely needed for the following traditional aspects of cladding: durability and integrity of cladding materials, and the design and analysis of cladding and its connections to the structural frame. It is imperative that the concepts involved in these engineered solutions are taught to architectural students and conveyed to practitioners. Most importantly, these solution must be disseminated in the form of design standards and guidelines presented in engineering formats. Described in this paper are some of the issues involved to trying to develop engineered solutions, as well as recommendations for the introduction of “principles of cladding” into education and practice.