Blame it on the Snow
I just gave an interview to a local radio station about the possible cause of the collapse of the ice-skating and swim stadium in Bad Reichenhall. A real tragedy since at least 9 12 people died under the debris and rescue work is still continuing, expecting even more casualties.
It is awkward that for the work of a structural engineer such incidents are shocking but also are a great opportunity to learn by experience. The really sad thing is that it seems to be the only way to create awareness among people of the huge responsibilities engineers carry upon their shoulders in our society.
From analysing the pictures it seems unlikely that the weight of the snow was the real cause for the collapse. It seems that there has been far less snow on the roof than calculated as design capacity. The structure itself consists of several meters high wooden girders that span over the full length of the stadium being covered by profiled steel sheets.
Failure occurred in the middle of the huge girders and although eye-witnesses reported that the ceiling came down with little to no warning at all, there must have been signals of pre-existing damage as the stadium got closed for structural reasons before.
The problem is that a damage at these huge wooden girders would have been most likely visible far before the collapse. At least to an extend which would have made it necessary to call for a structural expertise.
[Update]
It seems that not the amount of snow but the sepcific weight of the fallen snow did increase. With twice as much weight as »regular snow« and snowbanking it might be likely that this incident points out the need of the inceased design loads of the Eurocode.
It is awkward that for the work of a structural engineer such incidents are shocking but also are a great opportunity to learn by experience. The really sad thing is that it seems to be the only way to create awareness among people of the huge responsibilities engineers carry upon their shoulders in our society.
From analysing the pictures it seems unlikely that the weight of the snow was the real cause for the collapse. It seems that there has been far less snow on the roof than calculated as design capacity. The structure itself consists of several meters high wooden girders that span over the full length of the stadium being covered by profiled steel sheets.
Failure occurred in the middle of the huge girders and although eye-witnesses reported that the ceiling came down with little to no warning at all, there must have been signals of pre-existing damage as the stadium got closed for structural reasons before.
The problem is that a damage at these huge wooden girders would have been most likely visible far before the collapse. At least to an extend which would have made it necessary to call for a structural expertise.
[Update]
It seems that not the amount of snow but the sepcific weight of the fallen snow did increase. With twice as much weight as »regular snow« and snowbanking it might be likely that this incident points out the need of the inceased design loads of the Eurocode.
posted by Dr Sno* at 09:59
5 Comments:
Huhu, Herr Doktor,
mein Bloc hat Schmerzen. Können Sie mir weiter helfen? Oder jemand Ihrer Kollegen hier im www?
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sagt er wenn ich was neues veröffentlichen will. Und ich kann nur noch Bilder in meinen neuen Post laden, keine Verlinkungen ect mehr.
Kannst Du mir helfen? Bitte! Woran liegts? Was mach ich falsch? Schick mir doch bitte ne Mail an amelie@kohn.de
Schade, dass ich das Interview nicht im Radio mitverfolgen konnte - ich denke auch, dass da noch was vertuscht wird....und jetzt alle ihre Sporthallen und Turnhallen und Festhallen überprüfen bevor sie die Faschings-Narren reinlassen werden.
Genau! Also falls jemand seine Halle, Hütte oder sonstweges Dach überm Kopf von einem Sachverständigen überprüfen lassen möchte... nur her damit!
Furchtbar diese Tragödie! - Wie meinst du das? Nicht die Menge des Schnees sondern sein spezifisches Gewicht? Das heißt, dass es nicht auf die Menge ankam, sondern aufgrund von besonderen Witterungsbedingungen auf die Beschaffenheit des Schnees, der halt schwerer war als sonst. Und wenn es so ist, hätte das bekannt sein müssen und niemand dürfte sich mit nicht erreichten Grenzwerten rausreden?
Anstelle der üblichen 150kg/m³ scheint der Schnee der letzten Tage mit ca. 300kg/m³ aufzuwarten (Wasser hat zum Vergleich 1.000kg/m³). Für eine Schneehöhenmessung bedeutet das, dass der gemessene Wert mal locker flockig verdoppelt werden müsste bevor man ihn mit einem Grenzwert vergleicht.
Ob sowas eine Hausverwaltung wissen muss, halte ich für äußerst strittig. Mich wundert es auch im Hinblick auf die Sicherheiten am Bau dass es am Dach keine Vorschädigung gegeben haben soll...
Wenn die Hallen jetzt alle einkrachen weil wir aufgrund wasauchimmer Schnee mit anderen Qualitäten auf den Dächern rumliegen haben, dann stellt sich eher die Frage ob unsere Bemessung nicht angepasst werden müsste. Erstaunlicherweise bietet die bislang noch nicht bauaufsichtlich eingeführte E DIN1055-5 Schneelasten die dieser Erhöhung Rechnung tragen würden.
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