Harbor Cay Condominium
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The Harbor Cay Condominium was a five-story flat plate residential development project in Cocoa Beach (Brevard County, Florida, United States) which collapsed during construction on 27 March 1981. Eleven workers were killed and twenty-seven injured.[1]
[edit] Cause
The collapse was due to numerous errors in design and construction. The concrete slabs were only 200 mm (eight inches) thick and should have been 280 mm (eleven inches) thick to satisfy the American Concrete Institute's Building Code minimum. The plastic chair spacers used to support the slab steel were 108 mm (4 ΒΌ inches) high, which coupled with the thin slabs led to a very small effective depth.[1] The accident led to more rigorous enforcement of engineering and construction codes in Florida and elsewhere.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Delatte, Norbert, P.E., Ph.D., Assistant Professor (July 2003). Harbor Cay Condominium, Florida (html). Case Studies in Failures and Ethics for Engineering Educators. The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of Alabama at Birmingham. Retrieved on March 2008.
- Lew, H.W. (1982). Investigation of construction failure of Harbour Cay Condominium in Cocoa Beach, Florida. Washington D.C.: U.S. Department of Commerce, National Bureau of Standards.
[edit] External links
- Montgomery, Paul. "Two still missing in condominium collaspe", New York Times, March 29, 1981. Retrieved on March 2008. (English)
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