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    The partial collapse of the Willow Island cooling tower in 1978 killed 51 workers and was one of the worst construction accidents in US history. The hyperbolic concrete structure collapsed before completion. Its failure was due to the concrete becoming brittle at lower temperatures and not having adequate strength to support construction loads. There were multiple factors that contributed to the collapse, including inadequate safety training and culture, concrete testing on a different prototype that did not reflect the actual structure's behavior, and not accounting for all variables during construction. Proper testing and construction procedures considering the effects of temperature on the concrete could have prevented the accident.

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    The partial collapse of the Willow Island cooling tower in 1978 killed 51 workers and was one of the worst construction accidents in US history. The hyperbolic concrete structure collapsed before completion. Its failure was due to the concrete becoming brittle at lower temperatures and not having adequate strength to support construction loads. There were multiple factors that contributed to the collapse, including inadequate safety training and culture, concrete testing on a different prototype that did not reflect the actual structure's behavior, and not accounting for all variables during construction. Proper testing and construction procedures considering the effects of temperature on the concrete could have prevented the accident.

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    16 views2 pages

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    Uploaded by

    Kelzie Benensky
    The partial collapse of the Willow Island cooling tower in 1978 killed 51 workers and was one of the worst construction accidents in US history. The hyperbolic concrete structure collapsed before completion. Its failure was due to the concrete becoming brittle at lower temperatures and not having adequate strength to support construction loads. There were multiple factors that contributed to the collapse, including inadequate safety training and culture, concrete testing on a different prototype that did not reflect the actual structure's behavior, and not accounting for all variables during construction. Proper testing and construction procedures considering the effects of temperature on the concrete could have prevented the accident.

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    Kelsa Benensky Dr.

    Robinson MATSE 259 19 February 2013 Willow Island Cooling Tower Accident The partial collapse of the Willow Island cooling tower was one of the worst construction accidents in United States history. The collapse of the tower took place April 27th, 1978 and killed 51 of the onsite workers. The structure was designed to be of hyperbolic shape and was meant to be a cooling tower in a power plant application. Unfortunately, the structure collapsed before completion. The temperatures had been in the mid-thirties the night before the structure had collapsed. The material of the cooling tower was concrete. Concrete is very weak in tension and the National Bureau of Standards determined that the concrete had failed in a brittle manner because it did not have adequate strength to support the construction loads. There were many variables impacting the collapse of the cooling tower structure. First, the structure had become more brittle at lower temperatures and the resulting construction loads were no longer able to be supported. Secondly, the concrete strength testing for the tower had been done on a cylindrical structure prototype and did not accurately reflect the effects of construction loading on a hyperbolic structure. Additionally during the construction process, not all variables were taken into effect or known. Workers did not have necessary safety training and safety culture was not adequately stressed to avoid such an accident. Had there been a better safety culture in the organization, proper testing and construction procedures may have been taken. This would ensure that the structure would have been designed properly and not have taken so many peoples lives. Proper testing would have incorporated the structures true shape and material response to change in temperatures. From this, the construction process could be shaped around the material properties so that the structure could handle construction loads and be safely built.

    Works Cited: Jaffe, David H. "Partial Collapse of the Willow Island Cooling Tower." Safety Culture Communicator. United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Sept. 2011. Web. 19 Feb. 2013. "Other Failure Cases/Willow Island." MatDL: Failure Cases Wiki. Ed. Norbert Delatte. National Science Digital Library, 17 June 2011. Web. 19 Feb. 2013.

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