STRUCTURAL FAILURE

'Structural failure' refers to loss of the load-carrying capacity of a component or member within a structure or of the structure itself. Structural failure is initiated when the material is stressed to its strength limit, thus causing fracture or excessive deformations. The ultimate failure strength of the material, component or system is its maximum load-bearing capacity. When this limit is reached, damage to the material has been done, and its load-bearing capacity is reduced permanently, significantly and quickly. In a well-designed system, a localized failure should not cause immediate or even progressive collapse of the entire structure. Ultimate failure strength is one of the limit states that must be accounted for in civil engineering and structural design.

Contents

Notable structural failures

See also

Notable structural failures

Year	Structure	Location
1847	Dee bridge disaster	Chester, England
1865	Steamboat Sultana boiler explosion	Memphis, Tennessee
1879	Tay Rail Bridge	Dundee, Scotland
1907	Quebec Bridge	Quebec City, Canada
1919	Boston Molasses Disaster	Boston, Massachusetts
1940	First Tacoma Narrows Bridge	Tacoma, Washington, United States
1954	BOAC Flight 781, de Havilland Comet	Mediterranean Sea off Elba
1966	BOAC Flight 911, Boeing 707	Near Mount Fuji, Japan
1968	Ronan Point collapse	London, England
1978	Hartford Civic Center	Hartford, Connecticut, United States
1979	Kemper Arena	Kansas City, Missouri, United States
1981	Hyatt Regency walkway collapse	Kansas City, Missouri, United States
1985	Japan Airlines Flight 123, Boeing 747	Mount Takamagahara in Gunma Prefecture, Japan
1986	Space Shuttle Challenger disaster	Cape Canaveral, Florida, United States
1986	Hotel New World Disaster	Little India near Serangoon Road, Singapore
1987	L'Ambiance Plaza collapse	Bridgeport, Connecticut, United States
1993	Highland Towers collapse	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
1995	Sampoong Department Store collapse	Seoul, South Korea
1996	TWA Flight 800, Boeing 747	Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York, United States
2000	Pier No. 34	Philadelphia, United States
2001	Versailles wedding hall collapse	Jerusalem, Israel
2001	Collapse of the World Trade Center	New York City, United States
2003	Space Shuttle Columbia disaster	Texas, United States
2004	Collapse of the Terminal 2E roof, Charles de Gaulle Airport	Paris, France
2007	I-35W Mississippi River Bridge collapse	Minneapolis, United States
2007	Bridge over Jiantuo River collapse during construction	Hunan province, China

See also

★ Catastrophic failure

★ Structural collapse

★ List of bridge disasters

★ Porch collapse

★ Forensic engineering