EXPERT COMMENT: “The risks of building collapses are increasing due to both the ageing of our building stock and the effects of climate change.”

DesignEngineering
Aerial view of high rise buildings

Image credit: Getty

Following yesterday’s partial building collapse in New York, Dr Mohamed Shaheen Lecturer in Structural Engineering at Loughborough University, comments on the increasing risks of incidents like this, due to the ageing of building stock and effects of climate change.

“This type of incident could, in principle, occur in any building, but our structures are normally designed to withstand such scenarios, which we classify as accidental loads. Because of their very low probability during a building’s lifespan, design codes allow us to accept limited local damage, but not the collapse of the entire structure.

“However, the risks of accidental loads are increasing due to both the ageing of our building stock and the effects of climate change. Older structures in particular may lack the capacity to resist such events. This highlights the importance of regular maintenance - not only of heating systems but also of the structural system itself.”

Speaking on whether the chimney collapse could affect the rest of the building, Dr Shaheen commented:

“From initial observations, the chimney appeared to be a separate structure simply tied to the building, which is generally considered good design practice. However, such separation makes the chimney very slender, with a high height-to-width ratio, leaving it vulnerable to sudden failure under accidental loads such as blast or impact. To mitigate this risk, chimneys should be braced laterally either through a strong system of beams and columns, or by using weaker but sufficient ties to the main building. In the available images, these lateral supports are not visible, which may explain why the entire chimney collapsed rather than sustaining only local damage.

“The spread of failure from an initial local weakness to the collapse of an entire structure is known as progressive collapse. Modern design codes now include guidelines to prevent disproportionate failure, so without knowing when this particular building was constructed, it is difficult to say whether such principles would have been considered in its original design.

“Importance will now be placed on assessing whether the explosion caused local damage to other structural elements, particularly columns and beams, of the main buildings. Even small damage, if left unchecked, can propagate and lead to disproportionate collapse of other parts of the building.”

*ENDS*

For further comments and interview requests with Dr Mohamed Shaheen please call the PR team on 01509 222224 or email publicrelations@lboro.ac.uk.

Notes for editors

Press release reference number: 25/139

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