EMERGENCY REBOUND

A basketball coliseum at an NCAA university was due for major renovations. Part of the renovations included the replacement of a one-story structure that served as an entrance for the coliseum. The entrance structure was structurally connected to the coliseum’s concrete columns, which support long-span roof trusses.

While contractors were removing the one-story structure's roof, however, the roof suddenly collapsed, causing substantial structural damage to the coliseum columns. This partial collapse and distress in the columns caused concern regarding the safety of the coliseum and led to the stoppage of construction operations.

The contractor engaged Pivot to provide emergency engineering support after operations were stopped. This support included providing temporary shoring design, evaluating the damaged coliseum columns, and developing permanent column repairs.

Pivot developed a sequence-critical repair plan that had to achieve two things. It had to successfully repair the distressed columns, and it could not threaten the structural integrity of the rest of the coliseum. In order to do this, temporary shoring was installed to support the existing seating and major structural loads. Next, temporary steel supports (splints) were installed at the damaged columns to provide an alternate load path and allow the concrete column repairs to be safely performed. Then, the distressed columns were repaired. After the columns gained strength, the renovation work could safely proceed.

PROJECT SERVICES:

Structural Assessment

Emergency Engineering Support

Repair Sequence Development

Repair Development

Temporary Shoring Design