kemper arena roof collapse

8/13/2019 Kemper Arena Roof Collapse

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Learning from

FailuresKemper Arena Roof Collapse

GROUP M-3


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Kemper Arena


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Location : Kansas City, USA

Opened : September 30, 1974

Original seating capacity: 17000

Cost : $23 million ($108 in 2012rates)

Architect !erman ar"#ite"t, elm%t#&a#n

Roof Area 'early 3 A"res

History at a Glance


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Design Summary

The Kemper Arenas large flat roof was suspended onhangers from 3 large spae frame ant!le"er trusses#

These trusses$ eah %' m w!de$ were spaed 3( m apart$

and were made from p!pe set!ons as large as %#) m !n

d!ameter


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*ah of the +) hangers support!ng the roof arr!ed &)) ,

!n tens!on#

The hangers used$ AS! A"#$ high strength %olts wh!h

are not reommended for "ar!a.le or fat!gue loads#

The roof was des!gned to hold water as a temporar/

reser"o!r# The roof onl/ had e!ght %3( mm d!ameter dra!ns#

The loal ode atuall/ re0u!red e!ght t!mes as man/#


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Collapse

1ate : 2une +th$ %4

a se"ere w!nd of 4( mph#

%(5 mm of ra!n per hour

6ortunatel/$ at the t!me of ollapse$ 4:%( P#M#$ the %4$&((-seat arena was

oup!ed ./ onl/ two ma!ntenane personnel 7 no one was !n8ured#

One of the arena emplo/ees present heard strange no!ses$ followed ./

e9plos!"e .angs#


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A port!on of the roof$ appro9!matel/ &( ./ &' m ollapsed !nto

the arena#

The pressure wa"e from the fall!ng roof segment .lew out

some of the arena walls#


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&' A"#$ High Strength (olts

A+( !gh ;trength


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The onnet!ons were est!mated to see )+$((( os!llat!ons

Therefore$ the ma9!mum .olt stress des!gn ould ha"e .een

!nterpreted as + ,s!#


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One $ one hanger onnet!on fa!led theload was d!str!.uted to ad8aent hangers#

These hangers ould not ta,e theadd!t!onal load

A ha!n effet started aus!ng a largeset!on of the roof to fall !n#

,' Lac- of Redundancy in Roof Design


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angers =+) !n total> transfer the ent!re roof loadto the 3 large spae frames#

"' .ea-ened Hangers

O"erall "!ew of the roof strutural s/stem#


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.olts !n"ol"ed e9per!ened fat!gue$ and thetens!on loads the/ were des!gned to ta,e$

were no longer met#

e9treme amount of os!llat!ons$ o"er t!me$an ause fat!gue !n steel elements 7 wea,en

them#

hangers e9per!ened man/ os!llat!ons =a.out)+ (((>

1es!gn tens!on fore on a hanger - %) ,!ps#

=!nlud!ng dead$ ra!n$ mehan!al$ and l!"e loads

also hor!?ontal w!nd fores# >


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All of these design and construction

flaws most likely made some

contribution to the increased

fatigue in the hanger connection

bolts and ultimately the roof

collapse.


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Lessons Learned

;!gn!f!ane of Redundan/#

;!gn!f!ane of dra!nage of a roof#

Cons!der!ng om.!nat!ons of auses when des!gn!ng

for fa!lures#

*ng!neers should not rel/ solel/ on omputer

anal/s!s programs#

@mportane of m!nusule des!gn deta!ls#

*ffet!"e ommun!at!on#


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http:www#l!neree,loudmouth#om.log)(%)(+,emper-

arena-roof-ollapse#htmlB)(

http:www#l!neree,loudmouth#omf!les,emperarenaroofolla

pse-%4report#pdf

http:www#e9ponent#om,emperarena

http:matdl#orgfa!lureases


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HA1K 2O/

kemper arena roof collapse

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