Investigation of Construction Failure of the Riley Road Interchange Ramp, East Chicago, Indiana

摘要

The National Bureau of Standards (NBS), at the request of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, conducted an investigation to determine the most likely cause of the collapse of a portion of a highway ramp in East Chicago, Indiana. The accident occurred on April 15, 1982, and resulted in the death of 13 workers. A team of engineers from NBS and the Federal Highway Administration carried out an extensive field investigation, in cooperation with personnel from the Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 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 also performed to compute the magnitude of the forces acting in various components of the support system.