Catastrophic failures of steel structures in industry: Case histories

TWI Industrial Member Report Summary 632/1998

By: B Hayes and R Phaal, TWI

Background

Fortunately, catastrophic structural failures are rare. However, when significant structures such as pressure vessels, storage tanks, bridges or ships fail, the ramifications can be extensive, in terms of human injury, together with loss of capital revenue. In order to reduce the incidence of costly failures in the future, it is important to learn from past events. These lessons are incorporated into industrial and national codes of practice, and are valuable to practising engineers responsible for the management of critical structural plant.

Objectives

• To describe the events relating to significant structural failures, together with the associated failure investigations.
• To summarise the lessons which can be drawn from these failures.