Title: The collapse of a temporary structure

Authors: Chiara Crosti; Franco Bontempi; Stefania Arangio

Addresses: Department of Structural and Geotechnical Engineering, School of Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy ' Department of Structural and Geotechnical Engineering, School of Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy ' Department of Structural and Geotechnical Engineering, School of Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

Abstract: The latest collapses of entertainment structures in the USA and Europe brought the society's attention on the study of their safety. Among the most recent collapses there are the one of Radiohead's concerts in Toronto in 2012, the collapse of Jovanotti's stage concert in Trieste and Laura Pausini's one in Reggio Calabria in 2011. In this paper a specific metal truss structure made of aluminium was taken into consideration. A back analysis of the collapse of this metal truss structure is developed and produces a flow chart that points out the possible causes that led the structure to the collapse. By means of non-linear analyses by Finite Element Model (FEM) the failure sequence of this particular structure is shown and forensic investigation concerning the whole phase of the construction phase is performed, starting from the design one, through the assembling and ending with the rigging phase.

Keywords: temporary demountable structures; structural collapse; metal truss structures; back analysis; casual modelling; Swiss cheese model; temporary structures; aluminium structures; nonlinear analysis; finite element method; FEM; forensic investigation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJFE.2016.075994

International Journal of Forensic Engineering, 2016 Vol.3 No.1/2, pp.18 - 29

Received: 13 Oct 2015
Accepted: 12 Feb 2016
Published online: 20 Apr 2016 *

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