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My husband is an architect (MIT trained), and not an engineer.
He is worried about the force of the wind lifting off the roof. He made me do a google search to see exactly what the construction of the roof was... (reinforced concrete).
He says that the shape of the roof makes it function much like an airplane wing, and that the wind will tend to "lift" it. He believes that the weak point will be the bolts holding the roof to the walls. Even if it doesn't come off, if it vibrates under the stresses, some of the panels might come loose and fall in, but without drawings of the structural details, he can't state anything definitively
Engineers, he says, try to balance very carefully the cost of the safety against the probablilies... a lot depends on where that fine line is drawn in this case. Then, he says, a lot of what the engineers have designed safety-wise will be for naught if the contractors cheat or cut costs.
There are too many factors in play to feel confident that the Superdome is safe, and we will be praying throughout the storm for the people taking shelter there.
This may be a dumb question....why the superdome?
Why could people not be bused or trucked out by the National Guard or whatever? Even if they are ok in there, they will have a very hard time Staying in that dome with ot being able to leave after the hurriciane comes through.
I dunno, I'm only a lowly mechanical designer working on my engineering degree very slowly but, the Superdome looks like a mushroom to me, I've seen mushrooms stick around through some pretty hefty storms a few small unrecorded twisters, while working on my grandparents farm during the summers.
To me, the only thing I would worry about is the vibrations. We had a bridge here in Philly shake violently and crack during a nice sunny afternoon due to the way a gust of wind cut through it's structure.
Thank you SO much for that input. It was most interesting!
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I have a Professional Engineering License (PE) in mechanical and structural engineering. Wind loads and structural uplift are fairly well known and designed for.
The wing lift phenomena he speaks of is when you have winds of different velocities on the top and bottom of the structure. As the Super Dome is enclosed this should not be a problem. As an aside, one of the most difficult uplifts I've had to design for in my career is for those service station canopies at gas stations.
Of course all engineering is fraught with cost compromises, but structural design and safety factors are fairly well stipulated in established building codes, so there are in reality not many corners that can be cut.