Diagnostics of the structural failure of sports hall external wall layers

Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geodesy, Military University of Technology, 2 Urbanowicza St., 00-908 Warsaw, Poland.

^* Corresponding author: leopold.kruszka@wat.edu.pl

Abstract

The paper presents the diagnostics of the technical condition of the external layers of the sports hall walls. Structural failures related to construction defects themselves constitute a relatively small percentage (4.1% in 2017, 5.05% in 2014-2017 [1]), although the main reason for them is the lack of maintaining technological rigors (76.9% in 2017, 68.4% in 2014-2017 [1]). The presented and described case study of the technical condition of the newly built sports hall does not refer to structural failure, but to the reduction of the risk of that failure as a result of non-compliance with construction technology, in particular, in relation to the external walls. Contrary to the design, the walls of the sports hall were made of aerated concrete. According to the declaration of a designer, the contractor neither consulted the changes with the designer nor gain the acceptance of the designer for using aerated concrete instead of the primary proposed and designed brick structure. In addition, aerated concrete curtain walls with a height of about 4.5 m were made without any wall connectors. This resulted in a risk of a structure failure involving the collapse of its curtain walls. The technological requirements for the repairing of the elements of supporting walls as well as the diagnostic process of the other damaged finishing cladding of external walls are also provided in this paper.