Paris airport terminal collapse: lessons for the future

The partial collapse of Charles de Gaulle airport's Terminal 2E in Paris, France on 23 May 2004 killed four people. The commission investigating the technical causes of the failure presented their conclusions in February 2005. The investigation excluded the questions of liability. The design of the structure was unusual with a shell consisting of curved concrete sections. The 26.2m span was precast in three parts. The sides were externally strengthened with curved steel tension members. There were regular openings in the roof shell for walkways. A combination of causes of failure was identified. These included the high flexibility of the structures under dead load and external actions increased by cracking; a lack of robustness and redundancy to transfer loads away from local failure; the high local punching stresses where the struts were seated in the concrete shell; and weakness of the longitudinal support beam and its horizontal ties to the columns. The failure was compared with failure of the Piper's Row car park in the UK.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/14665123
• Authors:
  • WOOD, J G
• Publication Date: 2005-3-1

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: 13-4
• Serial:
  • Structural Engineer
  • Volume: 83
  • Issue Number: 5
  • Publisher: Institution of Structural Engineers
  • ISSN: 1466-5123

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Airports; Composite materials; Concrete; Cracking; Design; Failure; Shear strength; Steel; Structures; Theory
• Uncontrolled Terms: Terminus
• Geographic Terms: France
• ITRD Terms: 1037: Airport; 3352: Building (structure); 9005: Composite; 4755: Concrete; 5211: Cracking; 9011: Design (overall design); 5520: Failure; 8036: France; 5531: Shear; 4542: Steel; 1074: Terminus; 9078: Theory
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Bridges and other structures; Design; Materials; Terminals and Facilities; I32: Concrete;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01013859
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• Files: ITRD
• Created Date: Dec 22 2005 11:25AM