Masonry Magazine April 1981 Page. 28
CONFERENCE REPORT
continued from page 26
Yorkdale of the Brick Institute of America. Their presentations centered on two vital aspects of the masonry industry "Progressive Collapse" and "Passive Solar Energy."
Callahan, who is vice president of engineering of NCMA, showed slides involving the progressive collapse of masonry buildings. The term "progressive collapse" is defined as one story of a structure toppling inward upon another from abnormal loading or impact from a vehicle, airplane or explosion, or structural failure resulting from natural disasters such as earthquake.
For example, in Canning Town, England in 1968, a gas explosion on the 18th floor of a 24-story precast loadbearing structure blew out the exterior loadbearing panel, resulting in a corner failure of 22 of the 24 stories. The collapse, known as the "Ronan Point Failure," initiated an awareness for a "need to know" regarding the behavior and structural interaction of building components in multistory loadbearing construction.
Callahan went into detail about the work that NCMA is doing to reduce the risk of progressive collapse and gave preliminary results of the comprehensive test program that has been undertaken by the association in a joint research project with the Portland Cement Association under the sponsorship of the Department of Housing & Urban Development. He graphically illustrated this material with color slides.
"Progressive collapse is not necessarily a function of the strength of concrete masonry loadbearing wall systems but rather the connections and potential collapse of the interior floor span," Callahan explained.
Betty Miller, wife of MCAA executive vice president George A. Miller (far left), was thoroughly surprised at the Annual Banquet when she received the gift of a fur coat from the MCAA membership. Showing their approval are Louis J. Helbert, Jr. (center), MCAA president, and L. C. Pardue, Jr., regional vice president from Portland, Ore. Mrs. Miller was honored for her many personal contributions to MCAA over the years.
"In other words, failure of the floor system that is, collapse from the debris loading as one floor span falls on top of another could progressively occur with inadequate connection detailing. Structural integrity of the entire system is maintained by proper detailing of joints and connections adequately tying the floor system to the wall assembly."
Callahan indicated that all testing has been concluded and reports are being written and reviewed. He anticipated that the reports would be published by HUD this summer. text continues on page 30
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28 MASONRY/APRIL, 1981