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 Radio
Tower Collapse On Valentine's Day in 1986, a 450-foot radio
tower collapsed near San Francisco during a wind storm. Exponent
engineers determined that the collapse was triggered by the
failure of a support insulator at the south leg, where a new
type of insulating anchor had recently been installed. |
 Snow
Load Assessment In 1994, unprecedented heavy snows in the
northeastern U.S. caused many buildings to collapse. One of
those collapses at a steel-framed warehouse structure resulted
in over $15 million of damage. Exponent engineers identified
the defect that triggered the collapse—an unusual framing
detail at the juncture between the original structure and an
addition. Exponent recreated the collapse sequence using state-of-the-art
computer analyses and visualization. |
 Hurricane
Andrew In August 1992, Hurricane Andrew swept through Florida
causing billions of dollars of damage. In the aftermath, Exponent
engineers investigated two damaged 400-foot reinforced concrete
chimneys at an electrical power plant in South Florida. Exponent
determined that immediate controlled demolition of one chimney
was imperative, but the second chimney was repairable. |
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