A design flaw that almost wiped out an NYC skyscraper (2014)

https://www.slate.com/blogs/the_eye/2014/04/17/the_citicorp_tower_design_flaw_that_could_have_wiped_out_the_skyscraper.html

by Mainsail • 2 years ago

9 3 2 years ago

slate.com

ggm• 2 years ago

Two large box girder bridges constructed in the same manner, one in Wales and one in Melbourne Victoria collapsed during construction because of flawed computer modelling of engineering stress.

rurban• 2 years ago

I would rather call this, which "Will Wipeout the Citicorp building". We dont know what happened with the emergency repairs then, but it is certainly not possible to fix the quarter wind problem enterily. I remember being taught about this particular Citicorp problem in my structural engineering class 30 years ago.

themadturk• 2 years ago

So if the mass damper needs to be "running" to work, why wasn't a generator installed to keep it running in the event of a power failure?

Besides that question, the article contains several flaws. For instance, the context around the storm that never happened are vague. What were workers "welding" overnight to help mitigate wind problems during the storm? What of other storms?

The name of the architecture undergrad who pointed out the problem is obviously not "lost to history," since the article mentions her name and some of the circumstances of her discovery and reporting the problem further down.

It appears to be hard for amateurs to get a decent photo of the new version of St. Peter's Lutheran. It so blends in to the skyscraper above it it's hard to see (there are better pictures online than on the church's website). No matter how disappointing the old church looked, the new one is simply dull.

A design flaw that almost wiped out an NYC skyscraper (2014)

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