Charles De Gaulle Airport Airport Case Study

Decent Essays
Register to read the introduction… 4.2. Why it failed?

* Poor choice of material (concrete): * The similar terminal, Terminal 2F, was made with the same design as the Terminal 2E, and used 5,400 tons of steelwork arches, which was more difficult and more expensive. To keep cost down and ease construction, the design was reverted back to using concrete for the structure instead of steelwork arches. (Reina, 2004) * Structural design flaws: * Berthier's report pointed to four connected causes: 1) insufficient or badly positioned structural steel; 2) lack of mechanical "redundancy," in that the stresses were concentrated and could not be shifted to other structural components; 3) concrete beams that offered too little resistance to stress and use, and 4) the positioning of metal supports within the structural concrete. * The metal support structure of the shell was found to be too deeply embedded into the concrete blocks, which meant the metal support structure pierced through the concrete blocks, weakened the roof and decreased the stability of the whole structure. (Downey,
…show more content…
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4266591.stm#map>
Bennhold, K. (2005) ‘Paris airport: ‘Weak points’’. The New York Times. Available from: < http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/15/world/europe/15iht-airport.html?_r=0>
Downey, C. (2005) ‘Investigation into Charles de Gaulle Terminal Collapse is highly critical’. Architectural Record News. Available from: <http://archrecord.construction.com/news/daily/archives/050222terminal.asp>
Reina, P. (2004) ‘Investigation into collapse of Terminal 2E concourse continues’. Architectural Record. Available from: http://archrecord.construction.com/features/digital/archives/0407dignews-1.asp
Reina, P. (2005) ‘Airport roof failure blamed on process’. Engineering news-record. http://enr.construction.com/news/buildings/archives/050221-1.asp
Schofield, H. (2004) ‘ France’s showcase airport under spotlight’. BBC News. Available from: <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3740567.stm>
Whetton, C. (2005) ‘Structural faults led to airport terminal collapse’. The International Society of Automation. Available from:

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