It is generally understood that the structure depicted in the final construction drawings represents the completed condition, and that it is the designer's responsibility to properly check stiffness, strength, and stability in this condition. It is also generally understood that because the contractor chooses means and methods of construction, they must accept responsibility for strength and stability of the structure in all conditions prior to completion. When design firms provide turnkey industrial structures with partial or comprehensive construction directives, these traditional lines of responsibility may not apply. This paper presents such a situation that unfortunately led to catastrophic buckling of a series of industrial steel towers during construction, before the structures were completed and properly braced. Global and local finite element analyses were combined with laboratory testing of the physical evidence to fully explain the nature of the collapse and to investigate possible contributions of reported construction imperfections. The authors hope that lessons from this failure will help to avoid similar disasters in the future.
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