Manuel Buitrago

Limitations of Grundy and Kabaila’s Simplified Method and Its Repercussion on the Safety and Serviceability of Successively Shored Building Structures

AbstractOne of the most critical stages for a structure’s safety is its construction process, and this problem is even more acute in buildings with reinforced concrete structures. These structures ...The authors would like to express their gratitude to the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport for funding received under the FPU Program (FPU13/02466) and to the Generalitat Valenciana (GV/2015/063).

Structural failures in cast-in-place reinforced concrete building structures under construction

Abstract Many published studies agree that the construction phase of a structure is one of the most critical as regards to its safety. During this phase, the loads borne by the slabs can be even higher than their design loads. When combined with the possible failure of the shores supporting the slabs, this situation can be critical during the construction phase of building structures. Cases of buildings that collapsed under construction include “2000 Commonwealth Avenue” (Boston, MA, USA) in 1971 and the “Skyline Plaza” (Fairfax County, VA, USA) in 1973, which have been widely reported. The OSHA (Occupational Safety & Health Administration, USA) also studied several cases. Two more recent cases occurred in 2017 in Kanpur-India and Mexico City, Mexico. In all these accidents one floor collapsed and the dynamic effect of the impact on the lower floors caused the progressive collapse of the entire building. The aim of the chapter is to provide a compilation of the best-known case studies in order to identify the causes and mistakes that were made. In addition, a compilation and analysis of recent collapses is provided to lay the foundations for engineers and researchers to work on mitigating and eliminating on-site construction failures.