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Introduction Failures: Some Fatal, Most Preventable, All Embarrassing

David W. Fowler Professor Emeritus The University of Texas at Austin

This presentation is the story about the worst school disaster in U.S. history The New London Explosion: • New London school explosion March 18, 1937—the worst It Changed Everything school disaster in the history of our country left approximately 300 people dead. • It attracted attention from all over the world. • It changed laws that related to school construction and practice of engineering.

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Introduction Show map instead of this slide

• Oil had been discovered in East Texas in1930—Kilgore, the • New London is located 9 miles southwest of Kilgore and 29 county seat, was in the center of the richest field. miles southeast of Tyler. • Derricks were so numerous in Kilgore that the noise of the • Not as many derricks as Kilgore but there were many. pumps nearly drowned out church services. • Town was built quickly like cookie cutters. • But oil industry brought welcome relief to the depression that • New London had originally been called London but they started in 1929. discovered that there was already another London near Junction in West Texas so they added “New”.

• The large increase in population in New London due to the oil boom required larger schools. • The London Consolidated School District was created in 1932. • Originally the students in New London had been bused to • W. C. Shaw was named the first superintendent of schools. school in Overton, 4 miles away. • The main building was constructed in 1933. • New London was finally going to get its own schools. – It was 250 ft. long with three wings to form an “E” in plan. – It housed grades 5 through 11—there was no grade 12 at the time.

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First floor plan New London School

Heating system

• No cost had been spared—the building cost over $300,000. • Instead of a steam boiler to supply heat, 72 gas heaters filled • The building was steel framed with a concrete foundation and the rooms. brick masonry. • Each heater was attached to a pipe suspended by hangers • The school had state‐of‐the‐art classrooms, labs, vocational beneath the 8‐inch‐thick concrete first floor that was and home making facilities. supported by concrete piers. • It had a well‐stocked library that any school would have been • The gas was supplied by a local natural gas supplier, United Gas proud to have owned. Company.

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First floor plan Ground floor plan

Rest of the school • In addition to the main school building there were: • Mr. Shaw was a frugal superintendent who tried to save the taxpayers’ money. – An elementary school • About two months before the explosion he asked permission – Large gymnasium from the school board to cancel the contract with the United – Several outbuildings Gas Company. – The first high school football stadium in the state with electric lights • He wanted the janitors to tap into the bleed lines from the oil field to obtain free gas. • The total cost of the school building project was about $1 million. • After all, nearly everyone in town was using the free gas in their • Because of the huge taxes raised from the oil industry, no bonds were businesses and homes. required to pay for the project. • It was common practice although technically not legal—but the • The New London School District was said to be the wealthiest in the oil companies looked the other way. nation.

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How did they tap the bleed lines? • Tapping the bleed off natural gas lines from the oil fields was simple. • Police didn’t consider it theft since they were tapping the 1. Two short C‐shaped metal collars were placed over the pipe line. lines, too. 2. A hole was drilled through the small protruding conduit. 3. A pipe long enough to reach the building was attached. • The oil companies had no use for the gas except to heat the 4. Tapping was very easy and could be done by janitors and home boilers that ran the machinery at the rigs. owners. • But it was known that the gas was “green” or “wet” and was – Then they had free gas and plenty of it. unstable, with its properties changing constantly. – Technically it was an act of theft “but everyone was doing it”.

The Day of the Explosion • A young reporter, Walter Cronkite, had been loaned to the • On March 18, there was a short assembly before the first of the United Press International office in Dallas. athletes and academic teams boarded buses to leave for the county meet in Henderson. • He was in his early 20s, unmarried, recently graduated from • Students in the elementary school were let out at 3 pm, half hour UT. before the junior high and high school students. • His duty in Dallas was editor of the state wire, which meant • The PTA met in the gymnasium back of the school he had to stay close to the teletype. – Some 5th graders put on a dance for them. • Shortly after 3 pm he decided to play a few hands of – Mr. Shaw went out to put in an appearance at the meeting. solitaire before turning off the teletype and heading back to – He afterward went out to referee a tennis match. his hotel.

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• Lemmie Butler, the manual arts instructor, inspected a recently repaired portable sander at the rear of the shop located in the • Two young boys had been asked to collect erasers from the crawl space beneath the building. classroom chalkboards and take them outside to clean them by • The ground sloped from front to back and there was space for pounding them against the wall. several rooms beneath the first floor in the back of the building. • However, they knew it had to be a back wall so the white chalk • The crawl space in the front was 253 ft. long 56 ft. wide and dust wouldn’t deface the front wall of the school. averaged 4 ½ ft. high. • So they were walking away from the building at the time of the • At the time Butler went into the shop beneath the building there explosion. was about 65,000 cu. ft. of odorless natural gas in the crawl space. • It is not known how long the gas had been leaking.

• On March 18, 1937 at 3:17 pm Butler flipped the switch to try out the sander. • It threw a spark—the gas exploded. • At the time of a failure, people usually recall details in different ways. • But on what happened next, there was a clear consensus of the survivors who witnessed the explosion. – The building lifted off the ground to a height of several feet. – The walls sucked in and then swelled out in large broken pieces. – The roof collapsed, and then a gigantic cloud of dust obscured everything.

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Day of explosion—note surviving buildings

• The 8‐in.‐thick concrete floor slab was supported by over 100 concrete piers to a depth of 3 ft. in the ground. • The outer foundation walls were cast monothically making the crawl space a sealed compartment. • The explosion caused the floor to rise vertically. • The three wings that formed the “E” were built on grade and there was no crawl space; these three wings did not collapse.

Rear view

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Concrete slab hurled 200 ft. Collapsed wall Helpers have arrived onto a 1936 Chevy Courtesy of American Oil and Gas Historical Society

Nearly every failure involves one or more sad stories • We sometimes get so involved in determining the cause of failure that we • At the time of the explosion there were approximately 540 forget the pain and suffering, even when death and injury is not involved. students, teachers and staff in the building. • There were many very sad stories at New London—we don’t have time to • Some students and teachers had left earlier for the county meet. discuss more than a few. • Some had not attended school for various reasons. • Marie Patterson, the superintendent’s secretary, was sitting at her desk. Her sister was sitting across the desk from her waiting to give Marie a ride home. • The attendance records were lost in the blast. Both were killed, probably instantly. • As a result, the exact number of people in the building could • Ardyth Davidson died in her softball uniform, still holding her coat that her never be determined. mother insisted she bring to school. All her classmates, except two, in the general science room were also killed along with the teacher, Mr. Tate.

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• Next door, only four of Mr. Bunch’s math students survived. • Across from the science classroom were two large typing and bookkeeping classrooms. Many of the typing students had already left for the county meet in Henderson; all the others in • Next to the auditorium were two large rooms that served as the classrooms were killed. study halls overseen by several teachers. All died except the • At 3:17 there were only two people in the auditorium, Lucille two boys who had been sent outside to clean the erasers. Walker, a student who had just been given a music lesson on • Across from the auditorium Mr. Propes died with all 30 of his stage by Miss Price, a music teacher, and Lucille’s mother. arithmetic students. Next door, Mr. Waller died alone grading Lucille survived but spent months in the hospital. Her mother papers during his planning period. was killed. Miss Price died in the teacher’s lounge near the • front entrance. In the penmanship class and a nearby English class of 60 students, all but 12 died.

• William Grigg and the other boy who had been sent out to • Near the entrance were the offices of the superintendent. Mr. clean erasers were not far from the back of the building when the earth shook violently, knocking erasers out of his hands—he Shaw was on the way to referee a tennis match and the principal, fell to the ground. He never saw the other boy again. Troy Duran, was in Henderson for the county meet. They survived. • What he saw he would never forget. The entire front building • Miss Lizzie Thompson was telling her English class about the poet, seemed to float for several long seconds before suddenly Poe, when the explosion caused the building to shake and caused sucking its walls in, and just as suddenly, pushing them out again into thousands of pieces before they fell to the ground. the side of the room to collapse. Only 5 of 22 students survived. • William ran toward the tall fence at the back. He had tried to One of them, Corene Gary, always remembered Miss Thompson’s unsuccessfully climb the fence several times in the past. That last three words before she was killed by the falling wall: “Jesus day he did it twice—once to get away and later to come back help us.” to help.

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• Within minutes of the explosion, a teacher who had been in one of the outbuildings ran to Mr. Shaw’s house and used his telephone • to call the operator in Overton to relay the information about the In the UPI office in Dallas, Walter Cronkite finished his last game of solitaire, put his cards away, grabbed his hat and reached over to explosion and to plead for police and ambulances. turn off the teletype machine. • Another school employee drove to the Western Union office in • But just before he did, the machine started rapidly tapping the Overton. The telegraph operator sent the following message to his following message: supervisor in Houston: DO NOT CLOSE THIS WIRE! An explosion at the New London school here…flash the news to the offices • Cronkite took off his hat, pulled up his chair next to the teletype in this vicinity asking that they send doctors, nurses, and ambulances at and waited. once!

The responders • The first to arrive were the mothers in the PTA meeting held in the gymnasium behind the main building. • Governor James Allred quickly ordered the state police and • The blast had knocked most of them out of their chairs and had Texas Rangers to New London and ordered that a statement be broken the window panes sending broken glass all over the room. sent to the press. • When they got outside, the dust was so thick they could barely make out the building. • He also got news to President Roosevelt who was at the Little • White House in Warm Springs, GA. The president ordered one Some women collapsed when they saw the disaster. Others ran toward the collapsed building and started pulling away bricks and of his medical advisors in Louisiana to go to New London as roofing with their bare hands. soon as possible. • The initial horror gave away to an even more horrible reality. • Their children were inside.

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• Mr. Shaw, the superintendent, had almost reached the tennis • Five miles away at the Texas Company (later Texaco) lease, Marvin Dees courts to referee a match when the explosion occurred. He was and his crew heard a muffled explosion. They later disagreed as to knocked down and was hit in the head by a piece of flying whether they could feel the ground tremble. debris. • His first thought was that a boiler at one of the rigs had exploded— • He started heading toward what had been the building—his someone else said “No, the explosion was too loud and too big.” office was now a pile of bricks, broken concrete, and other • As they watched, a thick cloud of dark dust rose up beyond the pine building materials. trees. • He fell and someone helped him up and wrapped a cloth around • As they prepared to leave, a truck screeched to a stop. The frantic his bleeding head. driver said: “New London…everything…the school…you fellers got any • He started mumbling: “There are children in there. My boys and first aid stuff?” girls are in there.” He kept repeating those words through the • afternoon and night. He had a son and two nephews in the The men jumped into their trucks and headed toward New London. school who died in the blast.

Mr. Shaw being led away • Lonnie Barber had driven his bus past the front of the school, started up a long hill, and before he got to the top the ground shook, the loud blast shook the air, and the elementary school children looked out the back of the bus and started screaming. They had finished school before the explosion and were on the way home. • Lonnie knew he needed to get the kids home—many were still screaming and some were in shock. • And as he drove as fast as he could he was filled with a terrible dread because his own four children were in the building.

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x

• When Marvin Dees and his crew reached town, the front of the • William Grigg, who went to clean erasers and who had scaled the school was a storm of dust and piles of rubble. Parts of the rear tall fence, heard the PTA mothers and people in the building screaming and he scaled the fence again to go back to help. wings and the back of the auditorium were still standing. • He started calling the names of his two younger brothers, but in all • Parts of the walls continued to come free and crash on top of the the noise and screaming, he finally gave up. As he walked away he other debris, a piece at a time. Parts of chalkboards and desks saw the head and shoulders of a female student and realized that tottered unsteadily at the edges of the second floor. Marvin could she was in one of his classes. just make out through the dust people walking around up there. • He then decided to go where he could find refuge—he headed home.

Rescued children

• Marvin Dees and other oil field workers tried to get the mothers away from digging in the debris for their children. • But most of the mothers wouldn’t leave. Fathers arrived and were pushing people and debris away so they could dig for bodies and survivors. • Much of the rubble and debris were too large to be moved by hand—heavy equipment had to be brought in. But the parents were so desperate they refused to stop trying to dig into the pile.

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Rescuers removing debris

Recovering a body • They found many bodies, most dead. The dead were left so that they could keep looking for the living. Those who were alive were carried out near the highway. • Occasionally a sorrowful cry would pierce the air and everyone knew that a parent had found his or her dead child. • No one was in charge but slowly a procedure started being followed. – The dead were left in place to give more time to find the living. – When the living were found they were taken to cars and trucks even though they didn’t know were to take them.

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• Some of the bodies were placed on bread trucks supplied by a local • Soon heavy equipment began arriving, some on trucks and baker to be taken to funeral homes and temporary morgues, one some bulldozers and front end loaders on their own power. being the American Legion hall in Overton. • Acetylene torches, winches and hydraulics jacks were quickly • A new Catholic hospital in Tyler, to be dedicated the next day, was brought in to assist in moving the heavy walls and floor sections. opened early to the wounded; in addition the hospital dispatched • Before midnight dozens of big floodlights were brought in from 10 nurses to the school. The hospital quickly received 24 wounded the oilfields so that the rescue efforts could continue all night. children. Even the lights on the football field were turned on to help. • Some of the oil field workers who had moved to New London picked up their wounded and dead children and drove them many miles to • Reporters from nearby and far away had come to New their original homes. London—some had helped with the rescue at first but eventually they started taking photos and interviewing anyone who would talk to them.

Rescue continues at night American Oil and Gas Historical Society • Parents waited helplessly around the perimeter hoping for news from their missing children. Most of the news, when it came, was bad. • Dalton Abercrombie had been bloodied in the blast but survived. He was waiting nearby with his mother and two‐ year old brother for news of his older brother. • His father finally found them and gave them the sad news that the brother did not survive. What he didn’t tell them was that the boy’s body was badly mangled and was thrown a long distance. He also kept back the news that the boy called out for his mother just before he died.

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• The rain started shortly after the sun went down. It started slowly • Walter Cronkite arrived with his UPI bureau chief from Dallas. but eventually turned into a steady rain, turning the ground into mud. Reportedly the chief had stopped at his favorite bootlegger’s • Most of the survivors, except a few that were still under the debris, to refill his flask before they left the city. had been removed and either sent home or to hospitals nearby. • When they got within a couple of miles of the school, a • The work turned to finding all the bodies. It was going to take policeman stopped them. The bureau chief told Walter to get hours to remove some of them due to the large and heavy sections out and get to work. of building that had to be removed. • He ran through the mud in the rain, but when he got to the • The three large extensions at the rear of the building appeared like bombed building but were still standing. school he said later he was not prepared for the horror that he witnessed that nearly took his breath away.

• Around 9 pm, no one knew who was in charge of the rescue operations. Law officials had arrived in droves along with • Within an hour, men from nearby National Guard units were doctors and nurses to add to the hundreds of workers who had arrived to search for wounded and dead. They were all working arriving to take up their posts around the school. Lt. Col. without any leadership. Clarence Parker stationed in Tyler was placed in charge. • Finally Governor Allred issued three announcements: • He ordered everyone other than medical, rescue, law officers – A board of inquiry would be appointed to determine the cause of the and necessary school officials and parents needed to identify blast. the bodies out of the area. – He urged radio stations to tell those with no business not to go to • Some minor fighting broke out when some of the parents of the site and if they did they would be turned away. dead children objected to photographers taking photos. – An area with a radius of 5 miles from the campus would be under martial law.

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• Then someone remembered that Mr. Shaw, the superintendent, had asked the school board to terminate the contract with the gas company so that he could have his staff • Mr. Shaw readily acknowledged his role. He had just learned connect to the bleed off gas lines from one of the oil leases. that his son, Sam, and two nephews had died in the blast. • The crowd quickly decided that the use of the free, unstable, • Several Texas Rangers stayed close in case any angry parents unrefined gas was the cause. Of course, nearly all of them tried to harm him. were also using the free gas tapped from the lines, too. • The crowd had grown to about 2000 by now, all standing in • They quickly forgot their initial theories involving communists, the rain watching the rescuers and the heavy machinery do the crazy people or anarchists. slow and sad work. • Cronkite found Mr. Shaw, still bandaged and disoriented, to • Among the crowd a lady started singing “Rock of Ages” and a ask him if the rumors about the gas line were true. few more joined in.

• Many of the children had been so disfigured that they could not be • It rained all night. The crowd seemed to grow during the night. identified. • The workers were dead tired but kept on. They had worked a – In one case the pocket knife in a pocket served to identify the full day’s shift and then all night. student. – In another case the missing toe identified the little boy. • By sunrise most of the bodies had been recovered and all the – In some cases it was the dress or shirt that permitted identification wounded had been taken to area hospitals. • But for many, fingerprinting experts had to come in to make • The dead outnumbered the living, and identification became identification. • Many of the children had attended the Texas Centennial Exposition a long and tedious process. in Dallas the previous summer and had their fingerprints taken at a law enforcement exhibit.

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Their child found!

• As a result, a large data base of fingerprints of school children was available, a rarity at the time. This proved to be very helpful in identifying many of the children. • Many of the parents were fortunate—they found their injured children in area hospitals after frantic searches. • Many others, after exhausting the search at hospitals, finally located their children in morgues and funeral homes.

Families searching for their children • The first reports of casualties were too high—The Paris, TX paper reported initially that 500 died and a short time later claimed that the number was 640. • By the next morning, nearly every newspaper was reporting the disaster with widely varying numbers of casualties. • Cronkite issued his first report within an hour of arriving Thursday night. He worked straight through for over 48 hours. He conducted hundreds of interviews of workers, parents, police, and survivors, but the most painful was with Superintendent Shaw who cried when he told him that he had asked the school board for permission to tap into the free gas.

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• Interestingly enough, the other national story that competed with the New London blast was the story of Amelia Earhart trying to • circumnavigate the globe. One message said: “On the occasion of the terrible explosion at New London, Texas, which took so many young lives, I • The tragedy was noticed around the world. want to assure your Excellency of my and the German • The Texas State Teacher’s Association received sympathies from the Teachers Association of France and an international teachers people’s sincere sympathy.” association representing 29 countries. Adolf Hitler, German Reich Chancellor • President received many messages of sympathy from countries around the world.

Site has been cleared Aftermath of the rescue • By morning on Friday, the rain had stopped. • The machines were now starting to push down the three two‐story sections at the rear that survived. • The debris and rubble were taken to gullies and low lying areas. • The Bureau of Mines estimated that in less than 24 hours a workforce of about 1000 men, most of whom who had worked all day in the oil fields before volunteering for the rescue operation, moved approximately 4 million pounds of debris, mostly by hand. • By the next morning everything was gone.

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Digging graves Funerals begin

Investigation begins

• The funerals began on Saturday before all the rubble was cleared. • But the majority were held on Sunday—reportedly over 200. • Most of the funerals were for many children at the same time. • There were not enough workers to do all the graves and other work. • By Sunday morning there was only one unclaimed small body, a girl, in the American Legion hall in Overton. • She was eventually identified.

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Court of Inquiry Court of Inquiry

• The court of inquiry ordered by Governor Allred convened on Saturday morning at 9 am in the band hall, one of the outlying buildings on the campus. • Some of the key participants were: – Adjutant General, Major Gaston Howard, presiding officer – Director of the Department of Public Safety – Edward Clark, Secretary of State – Dr. Eugene Schoch, professor of chemistry at UT, a recognized expert on explosives

Gas Regulator • Major Howard began by saying that the court was not charged to be a criminal court but only to determine the cause of the explosion and hopefully preventing it from ever occurring again. • They heard testimony from over 50 people—janitors, school board president, Superintendent Shaw, eyewitnesses, and technical experts. • One of the chief pieces of evidence was the cast iron gas regulator that had been damaged in the explosion. It had modified the pressure of the gas entering the school.

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• An unsuccessful bidder for the school’s heating system was called. • The first witness was the architect of the new school who – He had complained in a letter to the governor and was called as a witness. testified that he designed the school to be heated by steam – He said he had warned the school officials about changing the original plans generated by a boiler which was his charge. from steam to gas and he viewed that as a crime. (Of course he was in the business of selling boilers). – Therefore no extensive ventilation was specified for the crawl space • A representative of Parade Gasoline Company, who owned the bleed‐ where the gas collected. off lines that the school tapped to get the free gas stated that no one – The few vents that were designed were only for temperature control had been given permission to connect to the pipeline which was and would not have been sufficient to remove the gas. located near the school. • The contractor testified that the school had met the building – He claimed the first he knew about it was after the explosion when he sent a crew to disconnect the line. code of Henderson, the county seat, but for a boiler system – After a few moments of silence, the audience could be heard coughing and and not for a gas heating system. quietly laughing. • Does following the specifications matter or not??? – Everyone knew that everybody was tapping the lines.

• Mr. Shaw, the superintendent, was the first witness called on Monday – He went on to say that the school board had not made the decision morning. and that it had been his decision alone—he had only received – He had aged considerably. permission from the board to proceed. – He had lost his 17‐year‐old son, Sam, and two nephews along with the – He said that United Gas, the company that had sold the school natural majority of the junior high and high school students in his school. gas until Shaw had not renewed the contract, had warned him that – He was pale and obviously tired and his hand was bandaged. there might be some danger in using the wet or green gas from the bleed‐off lines. – When asked if he had been given permission from the gas company to tap their bleed‐off lines, he seemed confused by the question. After – But Shaw said he assumed that they said that because they didn’t want thinking about it, he said he said he had spoken with Earl Clover, the to lose the school’s business, which was about $250 per month. superintendent of the plant near New London and thought that he had – At that point Shaw broke down and was released from any further not objected. testimony. – (Clover had been interviewed the day before and said he had refused to • The president of the school board was called. give permission.) – He testified that he had had no dealings with Parade Gasoline Company. – Then Shaw stated that Clover had not given him permission, “any – He said “Shaw had said it would be all right”. Everyone wrote those words definite permission at all.” down.

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– One story that circulated was that some boys (unknown) had been • The Court of Inquiry found: seen pushing down on a capped gas line that came up out of the – The cause of the disaster was due to a vast accumulation of concrete floor—they liked the way it felt when it came back up and odorless natural gas in an improperly ventilated crawl space that one time it didn’t come up. beneath the school. • The use of the free gas came up multiple times during the – The specific cause was determined to be the spark caused by the testimony. instructor, Lemmie Butler, flipping the switch in the manual training room. A surviving student had witnessed the event. • One of the school board members stated that Clover, the – As to how the gas got into the crawl space, Parade Gas Company superintendent, had known of the • Dr. Schoch had determined that it didn’t seep in through the school connection to his bleed‐off line. ground. • He went on to state that the use of free gas from all the oil • The cast iron regulator was found not to have been defective. companies was a very common procedure (a huge • It was determined that the cause had to be a break in the pipe understatement that all the locals were well aware of.) that ran around the entire outer wall of the crawl space.

Recommendations • The Court of Inquiry made several recommendations regarding the construction and ventilation of public buildings. • The proceedings came to a close on Tuesday, the next week • But the two recommendations that would bring about the most after the explosion. important changes were: – An agent with a distinctive odor (mercaptans) be added to all natural • No blame was assigned as was promised at the beginning of gas. the inquiry. – Workers who installed fixtures or who worked with connections on • And neither was blame assigned in a later investigation by gas lines be trained and certified. the U.S. Bureau of Mines. • It was not found that the use of green or wet gas had anything to do with the explosion; the later Bureau of Mines report specifically stated that the explosion would have occurred whether free or purchased gas had been used in the school.

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Postscript A major result of the explosion • A group of 107 parents and 90 other “concerned citizens” were not happy that no one was found guilty. • Public pressure called for legislation to register engineers since – They petitioned President Roosevelt for a more thorough it was believed that poor engineering had been at least partly investigation which they did not get. to blame for the accident. The Texas State Board of • About 70 lawsuits were filed against Shaw, the school board Registration for Professional Engineers was created by Senate and Parade Gasoline Company. Bill 74, 45th Legislature, Regular Session, in 1937. – Only a few came to trial. – They were quickly dismissed due to lack of evidence. • It was probably a relief to Superintendent Shaw when the school board either dismissed him or asked him to resign.

• In the spring of 1958, several senior boys of New London High School were walking from the school that had been built as a • Shaw was gracious to the end. replacement. – He replied to the dismissal in a letter that was published in an area paper. • As they walked out to the gymnasium, they noticed an elderly – He didn’t appeal for sympathy and had only nice things to say about the man in a three‐piece suit walking slowly along the sidewalk. board and for the teachers who had worked for him. • One of the students recognized him as his great uncle. He – His greatest praise was for all the students who had attended his school. walked over and asked if he could help him. Then he asked if he would like for him to take him home. – He ended his letter thanking people through out the nation for “their • splendid spirit of helpfulness.” Mr. Shaw started to say, “Don’t you know…” • He then grabbed his great nephew’s arm and said, “My boys – Never did he say that the explosion had not been his fault. and girls are in there.”

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• Now you know the rest of the story. Acknowledgements • The New London explosion changed a lot of things – Lives—298 people died • Unless otherwise noted all photos are courtesy of the New – Laws London Museum, New London, Texas – Building codes http://nlsd.net/Museum.htm – The Texas Board of Professional Engineers was created • Most of the information was taken from an excellent book by • The explosion is one of the best kept stories. Ron Rozelle, My Boys and Girls Are in There, Texas A&M – People did not want to discuss it for years. University Press, College Station, TX, 2012 – The pain was too great. – You are encouraged to learn more about it.

Background • In 1900, Galveston was a booming town of 36,000 residents that was 8 feet above sea level. • It was a center of trade and one of the largest cities in the state. • Since its founding in 1839, Galveston was subjected to The Great Storm of 1900: The numerous storms which the city had easily weathered. Deadliest of Them All • Isaac Cline was one of the rising young meteorologists in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, later to become the U.S. Weather Bureau. • After serving in several assignments in Texas, he was sent to Galveston to organize and direct the office in 1889. His brother, Joseph, later joined him as a staff meteorologist.

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• However, in 1891, Cline wrote an article in the Galveston paper in which he stated (1) a seawall was Area Map not needed to protect the city and (2) it would be impossible for a hurricane of great strength to hit the island. At some point he called it a “crazy idea.” • The seawall was not built, and sand dunes along the shore were removed to serve as fill in low lying areas of the city, removing what little barrier there was to the Gulf of Mexico. • That proved to be a terrible mistake!

Beginning of the Storm • On September 5, the Galveston Daily News ran a small account datelined “Washington, D.C.” that advised readers of a tropical disturbance in Cuba that was moving northward over western Cuba and was eastbound, heading for the south Florida coast. • In other words it wasn’t a hurricane and it was headed away from Galveston—this was completely in error. • This would suggest that both meteorology and international communications were in a primitive state. • But that was incorrect.

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• As early as September 3, the storm was being observed by meteorologists in Cuba. They were perhaps the best in the world • But by the time it had entered the Caribbean Sea on August 30 when it came to assessing and predicting the paths of hurricanes. and then had dumped heavy rains on Antigua on September 2, it • So why, two days later, was the U.S. Weather Bureau, giving out had grown into a group of storms that would now be called a incorrect information on the hurricane? tropical depression. • The most likely answer was (1) a poor relationship between the • From a tropical depression, the system turned into a tropical U.S. and Cuba and (2) an overwhelming self-confidence of the storm and then a hurricane. leadership of the U.S. Weather Bureau. • When it reached Jamaica, it washed out miles of railway • The storm had begun far to the east off the Cape Verde Islands. roadbed—next it headed for Cuba.

• But Willis Moore, head of the U.S. Weather Bureau, had little use for the Cuban priest and his fellow meteorologists. • A Jesuit priest, Lorenzo Gangoite, was one of Cuba’s great • But the Cuban Jesuit priests had developed a very good body weathermen—he knew exactly what he was seeing. of knowledge related to storms and hurricanes—meteorology • As soon as he could determine its direction, he would give an had become one of Cuba’s most important sciences. urgent warning to the U.S. • The priest had the ability to interpret clouds and how they • But Willis Moore, head of the U.S. Weather Bureau, had little use related to hurricanes. for the Cuban priest and his fellow meteorologists. • He had learned that the clouds come in a specific shape, and • But the Cuban Jesuit priests had developed a very good body of the bottoms of these shapes point directly at the eye of the knowledge related to storms and hurricanes—meteorology had hurricane. become one of Cuba’s most important sciences. • That signaled that the hurricane was coming but it gave time to act.

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• Another priest, his predecessor, built the first model by which • Priest Gangorite was considering the likely path of the meteorologists could determine if a hurricane had formed, storm that was drenching Cuba on September 3--his calculate approximately how far away it was, determine how prediction: it was headed toward the east coast of Texas. fast it was moving and even track its path. • But the head of the U. S. Weather Bureau, Willis Moore, got • In 1875 and 1876 the model had correctly predicted the the U.S. War Department to formally ban all messages paths of two hurricanes. from Cuban telegraph lines referring to weather. And he got • The model had been proven but the U.S. Weather Bureau Western Union to go along with the ban. refused to believe it or accept the results. • The U.S. Weather Bureau said that any storm over Cuba • In 1898, the USS Maine exploded and the U.S. declared war. would turn toward Florida and never head further west toward Texas.

• On Wednesday morning, Sept. 6, Cubans predicted a hurricane based on three observations: • But unfortunately, these predictions were not allowed to be – It had gained intensity as Gangoite had predicted. telegraphed to the U.S. mainland. – It had gained structure—it was twirling around a definite • Willis Moore had blocked the forecast but he couldn’t stop the eye—indicating that it was a hurricane. hurricane. – The hurricane was taking a route different from what Willis • Moore said the storm—certainly not a hurricane—would Moore was predicting—not curving northeastward toward continue slowly northward and its effects would be felt by the Florida, but straight toward the Texas coast. middle Atlantic coast by Friday night. • The Cubans even pinpointed the destination of the • In Galveston that Thursday morning Isaac Cline and his brother, storm’s eye—Galveston, and it would go Joseph, were busily taking readings but there was nothing out of somewhere between Abilene and Palestine on the the ordinary. Texas mainland.

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Storm track of 1900 hurricane • The Weather Bureau suddenly reversed itself—Friday morning Isaac received a telegram from Willis Moore to raise the red and black storm warning flag to alert ships captains of trouble in the gulf. • Later it was learned that the bureau headquarters in D.C. had been surprised by reports from Florida—the storm had failed to arrive as predicted. • So they concluded the storm must be somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico—but where?

• New Orleans was reporting that the storm was southwest of NO • On Friday Morning Willis Moore accepted that the and moving westward—that meant it was headed for Galveston Cubans were right about the storm’s direction, but they Island. • By Friday night, on the roof of the building where their couldn’t be right about it being a hurricane. “Because instruments were located, Joseph Cline began to sense hurricanes can’t do that. It is just a modest storm that impending disaster. will bring high winds to the Texas coast.” • He went back to Isaac’s house where he lived and tried to sleep. • By Friday afternoon, a heavy swell formed off the beach • At 4 am he suddenly awakened—from the window, he saw water in the yard. and it was coming from the southeast—it arrived with a • From the window, he looked down and his worst fears were loud roar. realized. • The barometer was falling but only slowly. • Joseph went to awaken Isaac and told him their yard was underwater—Joseph was sure a disastrous hurricane was • Crowds gathered at the beach to enjoy the high waves. coming.

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• They hurried to their office where Isaac quickly learned that the tide gauge indicated a tide that was 4.5 feet higher than usual--that would have made sense if the wind was • Saturday morning the train track between the island and the coming from the south or southeast—but it was mainland has washed out. coming from the north at 15 to 17 mph. That had never • All over the city people were finally realizing that this was not happened before. just a storm—they were seeing things they had never • The water was slowly filling up streets and yards in the city. experienced before--walls blowing in, water coming into the • But people were still on the beach and dodging water first floors, and roofs starting to collapse. filled streets as they went about their morning. •By 11 am the barometer was falling fast and the winds were 30 mph, still out of the north. Joseph sent the news to Director Moore in D.C. .

• People were chopping holes in the first floor to relieve the water pressure from below so that it wouldn’t lift the houses off • The winds were gusting to 75 mph and the wind had shifted the foundation. from the NW to the NE. The wind was circulating around • People started going to the tallest and best constructed the eye. buildings they could find. • Galveston was right in the hurricane’s path. • The hurricane of the century is starting to hit Galveston. • Once the wind got behind the water and started pushing • Isaac Cline kept sending messages to Willis Moore in it, there was no telling how high the water would rise on Washington. The cable he sent at 3:30 pm finally stated the the island. situation for what it was—a deadly disaster. Moore had • When Isaac realized this, he called the weather station and instructions to never use the word “hurricane”. dictated a new message to Willis Moore in Washington.

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The Night of Horror • The message stated that there was to be great loss of life. • Joseph Cline left the assistant in charge and left for Isaac’s “Gulf rising rapidly. Half the city underwater.” house—it was well built and had withstood every storm. • The barometer reading taken on Saturday afternoon around • Wood was flying everywhere, splitting walls and siding. Entire 5:15 was below 29 inches—that was lower than barometers homes were being opened to the wind and rising tide. were known to fall. • Isaac was already home--Galveston was cut off from the • The last official wind velocity was 84 mph but there was a two- outside world and there was nothing he could do. Outside the minute interval of winds at nearly 100 mph. And the wind was home, the water was waist deep and nearly all the way to the getting higher. top of the porch steps. • What Isaac had feared had come true—the wind was now • The assistant to the Clines took a final reading at 7:15 pm of coming out of the east and was no longer holding back the 28.48 inches—the lowest official barometer reading ever rising gulf. taken in the U.S. up to that time.

• The brothers watched the water rise four feet in four seconds— the porch was underwater. • Inside they found Joseph’s pregnant wife, Cora, his three daughters and a house full of refugees. • They looked outside and saw they were really alone. Almost • Joseph decided that they should stay on the windward side of every other house in the neighborhood had been demolished. the house, so in case the house overturned, they would then be on the top side. • The Cline’s upper and lower, front and back porches had been • From the second floor, the terrified occupants of his house could torn away. The water was now at least 15 feet high. see other houses that had come down and split into pieces. • Joseph was certain the house was doomed—he urged • The houses broke up and became massive pieces of debris in the everyone to get ready to get out of the windows, climb on heavy tide and rain. The Cline brothers felt it was only a matter whatever was left of the house and then ride the house like a raft. of time before their home would do the same.

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• Joseph could see that the wreckage of buildings was causing more damage—the timbers and parts of the building structures were thrown by the waves against standing buildings, driving down the walls and roofs • Isaac grabbed his youngest daughter and his wife, and the house together—the domino effect. started to come apart. Joseph grabbed the other two girls. • His house was the only one standing in the neighborhood, • Joseph broke the windows and storm shutters, and as the building and debris was building up around it forming a high dam. Soon the water level at the Cline house was 20 slowly turned on its side, the three went through the window to feet above the ground, 10 feet higher than the storm the topside of the overturned house. tide itself. • Isaac, Cora and the six-year-old slid across the floor into a wide • A section of steel train trolley track started pounding chimney and tumbled all the way to the bottom of the capsizing against his house—it was doomed. house—they were underwater.

• Isaac managed to get to the surface with his six-year-old daughter floating on some wreckage. In another flash of • A lightning flash suddenly revealed a small four-year- lightning he saw Joseph and the other two girls. He took the old girl floating alone on a piece of wreckage—they youngest and swam over to them. Cora, his wife, drowned pulled her onto their own raft. after becoming entangled in the wreckage. • The five struggled all night to remain on top of the debris. • Suddenly, a very large piece of wreckage, nearly an • During the night they were repeatedly hit by flying debris. entire house, was rapidly moving toward their small They had to keep moving from one chunk of wreckage to raft. It carried big piles of debris with it. In a matter of another. seconds it would strike their raft and dump them in the • Above the roar of the wind and waves, the group could hear human screaming from the dying and injured, sometimes water. very loud.

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• Just as the massive hulk reached their raft, they grabbed its upper edge and hung on. They managed to get the children • The seas were less rough, the water level was receding and debris in the air was not as severe. on top of the hulk, and Joseph and Isaac joined them. • They could see a few remaining houses and even an occasional • They had no way to steer the raft, and eventually they could light. not see any of the few lights remaining in the city—they had been swept out to the Gulf of Mexico. • The Cline house had turned over about 8 pm. It was now about • All they could do was hold on. midnight. • At last they felt the wind and tide change and found themselves • They realized that the hurricane was finally leaving Galveston. riding back toward Galveston. • Then their raft struck a solid structure—it stuck against the building.

• The Clines banged on the walls for help. Some after storm photos • From inside the house, people opened the windows and • This is what the survivors saw the next morning—extreme they crawled inside--they were finally safe. destruction. • The Cline story is one of countless stories of extreme danger, loss of loved ones, terror, and sometimes nearly miraculous survival. • There were thousands of stories from that terrible night, all different, yet in many ways the same.

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The aftermath • The most pressing problem was to dispose of the thousands of corpses. • The wharves and shipping fleet were destroyed. • They started by setting up a warehouse morgue, but the • Mansions and ordinary homes were demolished. gigantic scope of the task wouldn’t allow it—too slow and too • The banks, offices and houses of worship were in ruins. much odor. • More than 3,600 buildings were completely destroyed. • On Tuesday morning they loaded corpses on barges and • The unheard of property loss of over $20 million (about $700 took them 18 miles out into the gulf, tied weights on them and million in today’s money) was experienced. threw them overboard. By Tuesday afternoon, the bodies • Sunday morning, the mayor invoked emergency executive were brought back by the tides to Galveston’s beaches. powers and declared martial law since there were already rumors of wild drunkenness, looters pillaging corpses and • The only other solution—burn the corpses searching ruined buildings for valuables, and price gouging.

Hearst and Pulitzer get involved • Workers worked endlessly to recover bodies and the open cremation fires located among the wreckage burned day and • At the time of the storm, William Randolph Hearst owned the San night. The stench was terrible. A foul, ashy smoke continually Francisco Examiner. hung over the island. • Joseph Pulitzer owned the New York World. Hearst bought the New York Journal to go head to head against Pulitzer. • Every able bodied man was forced on the threat of being shot to • When the Galveston storm disaster hit, Hearst and Pulitzer serve on the “dead gangs”. Troops served whiskey to the workers competed to see who could get the most news from the storm. who worked 30-minute shifts and then took a break. • They raised enormous amounts of money through the publicity they gave the story in their newspapers. • Through their competing efforts, they brought in huge amounts of medical supplies, doctors, water, food and other necessary supplies.

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• Hearst hosted a fundraiser in New York that drew big money • Boat service had been partially restored between Galveston from the wealthy New Yorkers and Hearst himself gave and Houston, and refugees were pouring onto the $50,000 (nearly $1.5 million in today’s money). mainland. • Ordinary people across America began contributing. • Electric companies restored light and power. • Joseph Pulitzer, Hearst’s newspaper competitor, would not be • Telephone and telegraph companies quickly acted to restore outdone by his young rival—his newspaper, the New York communication. World, began raising funds for Galveston, also. • Railroad companies started repairing track and depots. • Pulitzer had his own secret weapon—Clara Barton, founder of • U.S. Postal Service resumed mail service as early as the American Red Cross. September 12, less than a week after the hurricane struck. • Clara Barton left for Galveston in what proved to be her final • And there continued mission for the Red Cross.

• This was easily the worst natural disaster Americans had ever • Clara Barton opposed the plan to rely long-term on temporary witnessed. shelters for the thousands of homeless people—she demanded • Death tolls could only be estimated, but at least 6,000 people that the committee earmark funds for low-cost permanent perished in one night, and the toll was likely considerably higher. housing. • The trolley service was resumed. • And she demanded that housing be apportioned equally to • The railway bridge and track were rebuilt, and train service to the people in need, regardless of race. mainland resumed. • The committee acceded to all her demands. • The army supplied tents for temporary housing on the beach in • By the time Clara Barton had left the island November 15, 1900, that housed relief workers and homeless citizens. not only had the sick and injured been treated, the homeless • There was a hospital tent along with kitchen and dining tents. housed, the hungry fed, the infected cleaned and the orphans adopted, but revolutionary ideas about equality for African •But Hearst and Pulitzer deserve enormous credit for their relief Americans and women had come to Galveston. efforts even if their efforts were selfishly motivated.

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Beach tent Rebuilding the Island • Some monumental tasks had to be faced starting with the fact that Galveston was only 8 feet above sea level—disaster could come again at any time. • Denial was now at an end. • Three prominent American engineers were selected to develop a plan: Colonel Henry Robert, Alfred Nobel, and H.C. Ripley. • With the disaster that had occurred, these three were not about to think small—they developed a powerful plan.

• The new city commission heard the ambitious proposal from the three engineers: • The total plan was audacious as was its budget--$3.5 million (about – Instead of a breakwater in the gulf, they proposed a seawall on $100 million today). land. • Galveston was broke and already defaulting on its bonds. – The concrete wall must run along three miles of beach and • No civic engineering feat like this had ever been attempted. reach 17 feet above sea level—that would hold back waves, • Construction of the project began following Colonel Robert’s floods and storm surges of any future hurricanes. detailed and revolutionary specifications. • But the engineers went even further—they also proposed a much • The seawall construction required many smaller projects. more difficult engineering feat. • Special rail tracks had to be laid through the city to get building materials to the construction site—thousands of carloads of crushed • They proposed that the island should be standing higher than 8 granite, sand, cement , timber pilings, granite blocks and reinforcing feet above sea level, even though the city, now beginning to recover steel. from the devastation, was already sitting on top of the island.

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• At the building site along the beach, four steam pile drivers drove the pilings deep into the ground—the pilings were topped with planks four feet thick. This was the wall’s foundation. • Very large wooden forms, 60 feet long, were erected in sections. • Tracks were built to run along the top of the wall to bring in concrete that filled the forms—steel rebars were placed every three feet. • When the forms were removed, a massive concrete wall was revealed.

Cross-section of seawall

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• To prevent scouring beneath the wall, large granite blocks and • The engineers required that the elevation a the beach/seawall boulders were set at the wall’s toe and extended 30 feet into the gulf. side be about 18 feet above sea level and slope to an elevation of 8 feet at the bay side. Any waters that came over the seawall • On the back side of the wall, granite and gravel filled in the void, resulting in a new, high streetscape. would be drained to the bay. • The entire three-mile seawall was built in just 16 months. • 2100 buildings within the 500-block area from small shacks to • The most ambitious part of the project—raising the island—had mansions to heavy stone public buildings had to be raised by begun. jacks ¼ inch at a time until the specified elevation was reached. • The engineering team had proposed a 500-block area to be lifted. • The island had to be sloped from beach to bay.

• The buildings would sit on stilts temporarily, adequately braced, with wooden boardwalks enabling people to enter buildings until sand could be brought in and placed beneath the buildings to • One of the biggest issues was how to get 16 million cubic create the higher finished grade. yards of sand to raise the grade of the island. • But it was much more than just lifting buildings: • The answer was to dredge sand out of the shipping channel in the harbor—it regularly needed dredging so that – Streets had to be removed to lift up gas lines and water and plan accomplished two purposes. sewer lines, and the streets had to be relocated at the higher • Three dredging ships were brought in from Germany. grades. • But a channel would have to be cut through the middle of – Trolley tracks had to be removed and reinstalled after the the city running from the harbor on the north to the beach on streets had been brought up to finished grade. the south and that meant disrupting the citizens even more.

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46-inch pipe carrying slurry from dredge ships

• The canal, 200 feet wide, 20 feet deep and over 3 miles long was dug along with two wide turning basins to allow the dredgers to circle and head back to the bay for more sand. • Since the canal divided the city a new drawbridge had to be built—but it was built quickly. • The German dredgers loaded with sand from the bay started making daily trips down the canal and into the city. • The dredger would anchor at a discharge station along the canal. •A 46-inch-diameter pipe was laid out at the deck level of the dredger.

• Workers pumped the ships’ load, a slurry of sand and water, into the pipe which was connected to a network of smaller pipes that branched out beneath the jacked-up Sand slurry pumped to raise level of island buildings and onto the streets. • The slurry traveled through the pipe network and flowed beneath the buildings and over the open areas—the water flowed back into the canal and bay, and the sand settled into place. • The city was raised in sections, in some places up to 18 feet. – St. Patrick’s Church weighed 6 million pounds, required 700 jacks (averaged 8500 pounds each) and was raised 5 feet. – The Moody mansion took 300 jacks.

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House on stilts awaiting slurry St. Patrick’s Church

A few postscripts… • Isaac Cline was one of the central characters. • He was able to return to work after a week although he he • And that is the story of how Galveston was raised up was in grief over the loss of Cora and their unborn child. from disaster. • Nearly miraculously, Cora’s body was recovered and was • It was later determined that the maximum wind identified by her dress and wedding ring. She was one of speeds were approximately 145 mph, making it a the few who received a burial. category 4 hurricane. • Remember the little four-year-old girl that the Clines rescued while on the raft? They had left her with the • Between 6000 and 12000 people perished. family who lived in the home where they at last found refuge. They assured her they would find a way to provide for her.

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• The little girl told them she lived in San Antonio and had been visiting her grandparents in Galveston with her mother. A few days later, Joseph was in a drugstore and overheard a grief-stricken • It was never clear how much, if any, Cline blamed himself for man telling the druggist that he was from San Antonio. Joseph the disaster due to recommending against building a seawall and had a strange feeling. He asked the man if he knew the little girl. saying that a hurricane could never hit Galveston. “She is my daughter,” the man happily said. They were reunited. • And this is the story of the greatest natural disaster in our history. • Eventually, Cline was promoted to a new and expanded New Orleans office of the U.S. Weather Bureau which oversaw the entire Gulf Coast.

References You Didn’t Get a Perfect Wall • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1900_Galveston_hurr • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Cline Finish—Whose Fault Was It? • https://www.google.com/search?q=photos+of+galveston+hurri cane+1900&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahU KEwij7ODk_7DZAhWD6YMKHS3oB9UQ7AkIQg&biw=1340& bih=672#imgrc=jZOzW1tE9xyTkM:&spf=1519009620425 David W. Fowler • Rooker, Al, Storm of the Century, HarperCollinsCanada, Professor Emeritus Toronto, ON, Canada, 2015 The University of Texas at Austin

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Introduction

• We don’t often think about specifications being failures. • Reportedly, the architectural firm was known for great • But when they do not perform the way they were designs, but not very experienced with construction. intended, failures can and do occur. • The structural engineering firm was experienced and • This case involves a large university classroom building sound. on the west coast that utilized a significant amount of self- • The concrete subcontractor was experienced with a good consolidating concrete (SCC) for the extensive reputation. architectural, structural concrete in the building.

What is self-consolidating concrete?

• According to Portland Cement Association, SCC is a “high-performance concrete that can flow easily into tight and constricted spaces without segregating and without requiring vibration. The key to creating self-consolidating concrete (SCC), also referred to as self-compacting, self- leveling, or self-placing concrete, is a mixture that is fluid, but also, stable, to prevent segregation.”

VIDEO

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• Normal concrete cannot achieve this; in order to make it Test methods for SCC (not used for normal flow without vibration considerable additional water would concrete) have to be added that would lower strength, result in • Slump flow test (ASTM C1611) segregation of aggregates, and result in very poor quality. • J-ring test (ASTM C1621) • SCC was made possible by a new generation of superplasticizers developed in the late 1980s. They • Segregation test (ASTM C1610) permit the amount of water to be the same or less and still have the same, and even better, workability. • SCC must be carefully proportioned, and workability must be evaluated by several special tests.

Slump flow test Diameter of flow is J-ring test measured (20 to 28 Difference in elevation in.) between inside and outside the ring (0.5 in.)

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Segregation test So what was the problem? Measured by the difference in amount of coarse aggregate in • University and their design team did not like the quality of the surface finish of the SCC that was furnished by the concrete top and bottom cylinders after subcontractor for cast-in-place architectural concrete— a specified time (15% max after including color, staining, uniformity but mostly bugholes. 15 min.) • There were other issues such as irregular surfaces due to formwork not being stiff enough but that was not in my scope. • I represented the concrete subcontractor; my scope was to evaluate the SCC based on the specifications.

Performance Specifications Issues with specifications • National Ready Mix Concrete Association defines a performance specification as5: “A performance specification for concrete materials establishes performance indicators measured by • Specs were prepared by architect and engineers and standard test methods with defined acceptance criteria stated in approved by university. contract documents and with no accompanying restrictions on • The university and design team had not accepted many of concrete mixture proportions” the SCC cast-in-place wall placements, citing incorrect • Good example is buying a cake—you can specify: color, staining, out-of-plane wall surfaces, and especially, – Size and number of layers bugholes. – Flavor of cake and icing • The university and design team maintained that it was a – But if you give them the recipe for how to make it, it is no longer a performance specification, but was it? performance spec—you just bought whatever they produce.

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Aggregates Problems with aggregate specs • Specification had required that all aggregates must come • Aggregate was specified that was not available. from a specific source since they wanted a particular color. • Reportedly, the project manager was advised by the • However, after the contract was let, it was found by the contractor prior to bid date that the specified aggregate was contractor that the aggregate was not readily available in the not available. size required and a 5 or 6 week delay would occur. • The specification of a specific aggregate should not be part • The contractor submitted a substitute source, and it was of a performance specification. Color can be specified, but immediately rejected, but due to the potential delay in contractor should be left to select the aggregate. securing the specified aggregate it was finally accepted four • The substitute aggregate should not have initially been months after originally being proposed. rejected; the result was significant delays without reimbursement to the contractor.

Concrete Mixture Design • Required a permeability reducing additive to be used in • Referenced ACI 211 for proportioning, intended for normal some cases concrete. Doesn’t work for SCC. • Required a high range water reducer to be used. • Specified maximum water-to-cement ratio, 0.45 • Required a viscosity modifying admixture to be used to • Specified use of a supplementary cementitious material prevent segregation • Required slump flow test with correct flow values • Specified shrinkage limit • Specified aggregate grading and maximum aggregate size

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Problems with mixture proportions spec • Should have left proportioning to contractor; instead specified the wrong proportioning guide (ACI 211) and never • Specified many of the constituents in the mix referenced the appropriate documents for SCC, ACI 237. • OK to specify strength, workability requirements, • Specified water-to-cement ratio shrinkage, permeability but must let contractor decide the • Failed to provide test methods for all tests, e.g. segregation constituents and shrinkage; failed to mention J-ring test; didn’t give limits • Giving the recipe in the spec makes the specifier for segregation test. responsible for the resulting concrete if specs are followed.

Surface Finish Specifications

• First issue was bugholes on the surface. • The specification stated: “Finished concrete surface shall be free of bugholes to the extent published by Cresset Chemical Company for “CCS 1” in connection with “Crete- Lease” Form Release or equal.” • The only specification for surface finish regarding bugholes was a 2-in. photo for a proprietary form release agent with no indication of how photo was made or the scale.

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• Design team brought in an outside expert who said he thought it was a very good finish. Owner didn’t accept their own expert’s opinion. • The university and design team did not want to accept many of the SCC finishes claiming that the finishes did • I made an inspection of the building and found the surfaces to be better than for other buildings on the not meet the spec based on the photo. campus that used exposed, non-SCC concrete. • The building had mostly good surfaces but some bugholes were in evidence. • Question: What would have been a better performance spec for bugholes?

SCC walls More SCC walls

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Other building surfaces-non SCC Other campus buildings—non SCC

• Second issue on surface finish was vibration. Spec specifically excluded vibration. • Third issue was staining of walls. • But when design team was not happy with surface finish, • Owner’s reps said that staining was due to fly ash which they required contractor to vibrate but refused to pay for it. was required by the owner’s spec. • Eventually the contractor was ordered to eliminate fly ash in mix.

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Problem with surface finish specs • Since spec for SCC was a prescriptive spec rather than performance, the owner should have accepted finish. • The use of a small proprietary photo to determine acceptance of large architectural exposed concrete wall • The concrete should not have been required to be vibrated. subject to bugholes is not acceptable. The university’s own ACI 237 says vibration will do more harm than good for SCC. standards for specifications did not permit it. Method of consolidation should not have been included • ACI 237, the ACI document on SCC (that the specs did not • Staining was said, by the project manager, to be caused by reference), stated that defects such as bugholes are largely addition of fly ash (that was required by the spec), and reduced (but not eliminated.) eventually they required it to be omitted. • Their own expert thought the surface finish was very good • But the prescriptive spec that required fly ash to be used but owner still rejected the finishes. caused significant delays for which the owner refused to pay.

Results • The concrete subcontractor filed suit against the university. In turn the university filed suit against the subcontractor. • Both sides were unhappy--it was a tie. • After eight weeks of testimony, the jury returned a verdict • As Darrell Royal, the former Texas football coach once said that upheld the lawsuit against the university but also before tie breakers came into being, “A tie is like kissing your upheld the lawsuit against the subcontractor. They agreed sister.” on the SCC issue for the contractor and with the owner on • The subcontractor’s attorney: “We all walked away like the father the formwork issues. of the bride after the wedding—empty pockets!” • But the jury awarded no money to either side. • Win-win or lose-lose?

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Lessons Learned

• Performance specifications should not include prescriptive • If specialty materials such as SCC are going to be requirements, but designers don’t always feel comfortable specified, the design team should employ an expert to in only specifying performance criteria. assist in writing the specs and evaluating the results in the • If prescriptive specifications are used, the owner must be field. prepared to accept the results assuming the contractor • Spec writing is often the unappreciated part of the follows the specs. process, but it is as important as the design.

Conclusion

• We must learn from mistakes in order that history doesn’t repeat itself. • If there isn’t already, there should be an ancient Chinese What Caused the Handrail to Fail? proverb that says, “Much better to learn from mistakes of others than from mistakes by you.” • Specifications are important!

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What Happened? • The friend called EMS and the lady was rushed to the hospital. • Two ladies were staying at a local hotel. • One was in an upstairs bedroom and the other was downstairs. • The friendhad the presence of mind to take several photos, including the handrail placed back in its original • The lady upstairs started down the stairs, and when she grasped the handrail, it came loose and she fell. location. • She suffered a broken ankle. • Her photos proved crucial to a clear understanding of • The other lady, her friend, could look out her door and see her what caused the failure. fall.

What failed? Purpose of my investigation: To determine the • Handrail bracket cause of the handrail coming loose came loose

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• Hardware consists of a bracket and three #10 Photographs at time of accident 1‐1/2‐inch screws to attach to the wall • Her friend took several photos just after the accident. • Handrail attaches to the • These photos turned out to be invaluable in bracket with a strap and two #9 1‐inch screws determining cause.

• The failure was in the bracket to wall connection

Note two sets of holes • Upper end of the handrail had come loose

Set #1

Set #2 • Upper end of handrail had nearly dropped to floor

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She placed hardware back on wall Another view of bracket

(She replaced screws in holes to take photo.) Previous Holes

Previous Hole

Significance of two sets of holes Lower bracket had apparently come loose before and been reattached in a different location • The bracket had come loose at least one time before and had 9/16” been reattached in a different location with a different type bracket. 15/16”

Previous Hole

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My first investigation on Feb. 18, 2005 Upper end of handrail

• The wall had been patched and painted. • The handrail had been reinstalled.

Lower end of handrail What had caused the bracket to come loose?

• The most likely causes: – The screws were only attached to the sheetrock—there were no wood 2x4 studs in the wall behind the bracket. – There were studs but they were decayed and screws didn’t hold. – The screws were too short to provide the required strength.

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Another investigation was conducted The upper end of the handrail went to about the Feb. 21, 2006 same position as at the time of the accident

• Purpose was to see what was in the wall to hold the screws. • The upper end of the handrail was taken loose.

2002 2006

Wall with bracket removed The sheetrock was cut away around the bracket connection.

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Two studs were found Holes on left were for earlier attachment • Appeared to be the first connection

Holes on right were for connection at time of failure What did we learn from the last investigation?

• Studs were behind the wall—that wasn’t the problem. • No rotten wood—that wasn’t the problem. • What about length of screws—was that the problem?

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What did we learn?

• The earlier connection on upper left had been made with short screws, certainly not with 1‐1/2 inch screws that come with the hardware. • The connection had been moved over to the right and down.

Note screw on carpet and note pattern on carpet • Is there any way to determine the length of the screws used at the time of the accident? • We did not have the original screws as evidence. • Let’s go back to her friend’s photos.

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At time of last investigation, a tape measure was placed Establish Photographic Scale on the carpet

10 Intervals

Scale: 8 inches / 10 intervals = .8 inch / interval

Establish Photographic Scale The measurement may be verified by a 1-inch screw placed on the carpet

Each space = 8/10 inch

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Verify Scale How long was the screw in the friend’s photo? 1 Interval

1” Screw

Apply Established Scale What happens if a 1-inch screw is used?

• There is only about ¼‐inch penetration into the wood stud. • For a #10 screw, ¾‐inch penetration into wood is required or else Approx. 1” the screw is assumed to not be able to carry any load. Screw • This requires a minimum length of 1‐1/2‐inch screw to go through the metal bracket and 5/8‐inch sheetrock and still have ¾‐in penetration. 1 Interval • Therefore, a 1‐inch screw is not permitted to be used.

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If 3 #10 screws 1-1/2 inch long had been installed properly… What we know… • It would take a suddenly applied load of about 600 pounds to • The handrail has been installed several times. cause it to pull loose due to a downward force • Initially short screws were used. • And nearly 800 pounds to pull it out of the wall horizontally. • Different hardware was later installed that had different • In my opinion, 1‐1/2‐inch screws furnished with the handrail spacing of the holes. Apparently the 1‐1/2‐inch screws bracket were not used. normally furnished with handrail brackets were not installed.

Final Opinions • The previous failures likely occurred after the hotel was occupied in 1984. The first hardware would • The failure was caused by short screws being used in the have been installed after the painting had been handrail bracket. completed which would have been near the end of • Had the 1‐1/2‐inch screws furnished by the handrail the construction. bracket manufacturer been used when the handrail was • The short screws would have kept the handrail in first installed, the failure would not have happened. place with the ¼‐inch penetration for a while even • Had the 1‐1/2‐inch screws furnished by the handrail though the building code does not recognize that bracket manufacturer been used when the handrail was the connection could carry any load. reinstalled later, the failure would not have happened.

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Final Thoughts

• Unfortunately, some failures result in fatalities. • Most are preventable with proper design, construction and maintenance. • And all of them are embarrassing.

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