Collapse of a Warehouse and Its Repair

A single-storey warehouse hall 70 x 30 m in plan and about 12 m high with internal built-in structures was under construction when it collapsed. Its principal load-bearing structure consisted of reinforced concrete columns, steel primary beams and reinforced concrete and steel diaphragms with steel roof trusses. The collapse of the steel warehouse roof caused considerable material damage as well as some injuries. Disregarding the unprofessional performance of the producer of the steel elements, the contribution of the structural designer to this failure was clear. The structural analysis of the steel truss and the assessment of maximum computed stresses were sound. However, the analytical model did not correspond with the actual structural behaviour. Also the 4 mm fillet welds used for welding the steel box of the lower chord, having a direct casual relation to the collapse, had not been numerically analyzed and assessed at all.