Structural Mechanical Faiulre: Case of Hyatt Regency Walkway - Essay Example

During construction, certain difficulties came up resulting in a delicate, but the flawed change of design. The change intensified the weight on the connection between the walkway tie roads and the support beams carrying the load of the second-floor walkway and the fourth-floor walkway. This design was not adequate enough to support the weight of the structure, as well as the weight of the spectators (Engineer). The investigations conducted also revealed that the change or alteration of the design by the contractors without consulting the engineers contributed to the structural failure.

The failure was brittle in nature since it occurred as a result of one-grain boundaries being stronger than the other. Additionally, the collapse of the structure also occurred with no prior deformation on the walkway. However, it is worth noting that the collapse could have been prevented. This could have happened if the contractors could have consulted the engineers of the structure before making changes on the design of structure (Engineer). Therefore, in order to prevent future structural failures of the same, Hyatt Regency walkway structural failure is used as a case study while training engineers and contractors on the significance of engineering ethics.