直到9/11的事件为止，在密苏里州堪萨斯城的前凯悦摄政酒店的天行崩溃是美国有史以来最具破坏性的结构性故障违反道德规范的工程师。
The tragedy took place on the night of July 17, 1981, during a “tea dance” with 1,500 people in attendance. Because two engineers behaved with conscious indifference toward their professional duties, 114 people died and another 216 were injured. On a beautiful, clear autumn day 34 years later, Kansas City dedicated the Skywalk Memorial Plaza to the first responders, the victims and the survivors of this engineering failure.
该纪念馆位于致命崩溃所在地的马路对面 - 酒店仍然在那里，尽管有不同的主人，却在医院旁边，那里有许多受害者受到治疗。一个标题为24英尺的不锈钢雕塑，名为“ Send Love”，援引了两名舞者，而基地则刻有114人死亡的名字。雕塑是圆形广场的焦点，同心圆代表了悲剧对受害者，家庭，社区和国家的涟漪影响。
Many false theories persist about the cause of this fatal collapse. The failure was not due to poor workmanship, shoddy materials, a rushed schedule, swaying from dancing, “harmonic vibrations” from the music, poor contractor communication or design changes that did not receive proper review.
记录在官方的调查报告, two professional engineers issued sealed design drawings without performing critical calculations to determine whether sufficient load capacity existed.
将责备归咎于他人很简单。但是，将责任集中在我们自己的工程专业上教会了我们一课辛苦的历史课：忽略一个小细节（即使是在一个数百万美元的项目上）也可以证明是致命的。
悬挂在杆上
The skywalks spanned 120 ft across an open atrium and connected the function blocks of a new hotel to the guest-room tower. The walkways, on which many of the partygoers gathered, were suspended from the roof with thin steel rods, to maintain an airy aesthetic. The second- and fourth-floor skywalks were hung from the same rods, about 20 ft apart. The third-floor skywalk, meanwhile, was offset and hung on its own set of rods.
故障发生在盒子梁中（即两个“ C”通道，焊接以形成一个盒子，可以支持四楼的天行。一家结构工程公司Gillum-Colaco负责将设计概念转化为施工文件。密封图纸的结构工程师Jack D. Gillum都没有执行计算，他的项目工程师也没有执行计算，以确定盒子梁是否足够强大，可以实现静态负载，更不用说任何动态负载了。法官最终维持了州许可委员会将工程师许可取消的决定。
众所周知，分包商表示很难像最初设计的那样制造太难制造后修改了设计。这导致崩溃早日发生。
Flawed Original Design
Few people know or remember that the original design also would have failed, as seen in the deflection of flanges of the box beam on the one skywalk that remained. The engineers failed to conduct stress calculations on either design, yet the structural engineer-of-record, Gillum, applied his professional seals.
当晚起重机将残骸从受害者身上撤离的同一家公司也将纪念雕塑放到了位。堪萨斯城将永远记得天行崩溃。
For professionals, the disaster provides enduring lessons. First responders are taught the skywalk collapse as a case study in the “all-hazard approach” when dealing with multiple disciplines across jurisdictions. Architects and engineers study this case in classes on structures, design, and professional ethics.
But for engineers, the disaster holds special significance. We must always remember that while our actions better the lives of the public, our misconduct risks those same lives. We can do no less than to take this lesson into our hearts and minds and live up to the expectations of the public.
Robynn Andracsek，P.E。是位于堪萨斯城的Burns＆McDonnell Engineering Co.的副环境工程师，也是自由作家。她可以接触到randracsek@burnsmcd.com.
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