Questions? Please contact Karen Heath at karenh3@uw.edu 

Thursday, February 23, 3:30-4:30pm | Alder Hall Auditorium
Reception with light food and drinks in the Alder Hall Commons following the lecture


The lecture will be in-person and the recording will be saved on this page.

 

Abstract: Building collapses are rare in the United States. As such, the world was shocked on June 24, 2021, when the Champlain Towers South (CTS) building in Surfside Florida partially collapsed without warning. The initial collapse occurred outside of the building tower, in the pool deck region. Seven minutes later, the central portion of the building collapsed; the eastern portion of the building collapsed quickly after that. The western section of the building remained standing.

To many of her colleagues, it was surprising that Professor Lehman took it upon herself to discuss and study the building collapse. Professor Lehman is a well-known expert in earthquake engineering, spending decades working with her research students and academic colleagues studying the behavior of structural systems subjected to seismic demands. In her research on earthquake-induced structural damage and collapse, Professor Lehman uses large-scale experimental studies and advanced nonlinear analysis to investigate the causes of building collapse. Could this expertise help her, the structural engineering community and the residents of Miami-Dade County develop an understanding of possible scenarios the led to the collapse of this structure? After an initial, informal collaboration, Professor Lehman joined the investigative journalism team at the Miami Herald led by Sarah Blaskey to investigate the partial collapse using the tools and technologies she had developed through her research on seismic evaluation of existing buildings and design of new concrete connections.

The primary objective of this investigation was to understand how initial damage in a pool deck could lead to partial collapse of this flat-plate cast-in-place reinforced concrete structure with an eye towards improving evaluation methods for these structures. This talk will address the investigation of the building collapse that used a wide variety of sources of information and investigation tools including: (1) timeline of the collapse as reported by eyewitnesses, (2) building damage photographs and videos, (3) building plans and repair drawings and permits, and (4) advanced nonlinear finite element analyses. The talk will introduce concepts developed in the earthquake engineering community as well as Professor Lehman’s own research using large-scale testing and nonlinear analysis to understand the initiation and development of damage of in reinforced concrete components, such as beams, columns and slabs, and their connections. The presentation will conclude with possible advancements to prevent collapse of other coastal structures with similar structural configurations and designs as CTS.

Resource hyperlinks to selected interviews and articles:

• House of Cards: How decades of problems converged the night Champlain Towers fell (Visual Article)
• The Herald built a computer model to explore how Surfside tower fell. Here’s what it showed
•  ‘We need to be patient’ — UW’s Dawn Lehman on the collapse of the Champlain Towers South
• Professor Dawn Lehman on the Champlain Towers collapse (other resources)

Bio: Dawn Lehman is a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Washington. She received her BS from Tufts University in 1989 and her PhD from U.C. Berkeley in 1998. She worked as a structural engineer in Boston MA between these degrees. She has been a faculty member at the University of Washington since 1999. Her research expertise lies in seismic engineering of structural systems. She has conducted research on a range of systems including reinforced concrete walls and frames, steel braced frames, as well as concrete-filled-tube, precast and reinforced-concrete bridge systems. Her research results have been implemented in codes, design manuals and provisional structural engineering recommendations, including AASHTO, AISC, WSDOT BDM, Caltrans SDM, and ASCE 41. She has authored over 100 peer-reviewed research articles. She led the technical investigation of the partial collapse of Champlain Towers South as a consultant to the Miami Herald. The team was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News for this work.

Inquiries, contact Karen Heath at karenh3@uw.edu. This lecture is open to the public. No RSVP required