DHA SUFFA UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

ME2102: Mechanics of Materials-I

Instructor: Prof. Dr. Johar K. Farooqi / Engr. Zaid Hasany

Date: 28-11-2019 Due Date: 6-1-2020
Max. Marks: 100
Assignment: Complex Engineering Problem Class: BE-ME-3A/B
Student 1 Name: Reg. No:
Student 2 Name: Reg. No:
Student 3 Name: Reg. No:
Student 4 Name: Reg. No:

On July 17th, 1981, 114 people were killed and another 216 injured when two walkways
collapsed within the Hyatt Regency Kansas City Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri. At the time, a
Tea Dance was being held in the hotel's lobby when the walkways fell. This was the deadliest
structural collapse in U.S. history until the tragic events of the World Trade Centre some 20
years later. The lobby was one of the hotel's defining features and included a multi-story
atrium spanned by elevated walkways suspended from the ceiling. The steel, glass and
concrete construction walkways connected the second, third and fourth floors from north to
south. Such was the design that the fourth level walkway was directly above the second level
walkway, as shown in the figure below.
During investigation, it was revealed that a last minute change in the design of an important
feature of the walkway led to the disaster.
 4th floor walkway

2nd floor walkway

You can watch the video at the following link for better understanding of the event:
Hyatt Regency Skywalk Collapse - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWOYoG7HzNQ

Your task is to determine, using your knowledge of Mechanics of Materials, the reason for
the failure of the Skywalk design?
In addition, you are required to suggest an alternate design or make improvements to the
existing design to prevent it from failing.
Your report should include all your calculations. For design improvement, use your
engineering knowledge and judgement to come up with a better design. In case of
unavailability of certain parameters, make reasonable assumptions with proper
justifications.
The parameters such as dead weight, live weight, number of tie rods, material used,
elastic/plastic limit, weight distribution along the walkway, elongation, bending, factor of
safety etc should be part of your analysis.
Bonus marks would be awarded to the groups who also use MDSolids for analysis.