Investigation of East Chicago Ramp Collapse

Abstract

A summary is presented of the investigation performed by the National Bureau of Standards (NBS), at the request of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, to determine the most likely cause of the collapse of a portion of a highway ramp in East Chicago, Indiana. The investigative effort included an extensive field study to ascertain the conditions prior to and after the accident. In addition, the NBS performed physical tests on key components of the temporary support system used to build the ramp. A structural analysis was performed to compute the magnitude of the forces acting in various components of the support system prior to the failure. The calculated forces were compared with the expected strengths of the structural components. It was concluded that the most likely triggering mechanism of the collapse was the cracking of concrete pads supporting a shoring tower. It was further concluded that there were four deficiencies that contributed directly to the collapse. Had any of these deficiencies not existed, it is unlikely that the collapse would have occurred.