In retrospect, the collapse of the cooling tower of the power plant has occurred numerous times, large and small. The most serious is the collapse of the cooling tower of the Willow Island Power Plant in the United States. Thirty eight years ago, the worst disaster in the history of architecture occurred in the United States, resulting in the innocent death of 51 workers. How did this tragedy happen?

Time goes back to 1978. On the construction site of Liushudao Power Plant, the second cooling tower of the power station is under construction, and most construction workers are busy on the scaffolding. At this time, the workers transporting concrete had already transported the first barrel of concrete to the No. 4 wall mounted crane. After pouring the concrete into the trolley, the collapse accident began to occur.

A loud sound of crushing suddenly came from the sky, and at the same time, a lot of concrete fell to the ground. Workers at the ground center of the cooling tower found that it fell from the 28th floor, which was poured only yesterday. They immediately informed the workers on the scaffold to take measures, but the workers on the scaffold had not had time to respond. The second bucket of concrete has been transported to the position two thirds from the top, and the lifting cable can not bear the weight and starts to loosen.

In a short period of time, the concrete of the 28th floor has developed from falling off to collapse and diffused in a circular manner. All scaffolds and formworks have also fallen towards the interior of the cooling tower with the collapse. The workers on the ground were lucky enough to take refuge under the concrete truck. The 51 workers on the scaffold had no time to escape and were buried in the falling debris, tragically losing their lives.

The construction project of this power station is huge and has always been concerned by the outside world. Now such a tragic safety accident has naturally aroused great attention from all parties.

The reasons for the collapse of the cooling tower have also been discussed in succession, among which the most common one is that the cooling tower has cut corners in construction. However, after detailed investigation, this reason is not tenable. All materials used in the construction of the cooling tower, including construction equipment and building structures, are strictly in accordance with the regulations. In this regard, the investigation team is also very confused. There are no problems. Can it be true?

Later, they investigated from the beginning, repeated the investigation process, and finally found the reason. The problem is that the concrete is not completely dry.

Most people should not know that the construction method of the cooling tower is somewhat different from the general building. During the construction of the cooling tower, the poured reinforced concrete tower wall is usually used as the support, and then the scaffold, hanging cable, formwork and other operating platforms are built on it. When the concrete poured in the lower layer is fully solidified and has sufficient strength, the formwork will be removed and installed in the upper layer, and then the next round of pouring will be carried out. However, when placing the 28th floor of the cooling tower in Liushu Island, it may be because of the low temperature at that time. The next day, the concrete was not completely dry and solidified, so the construction team asked to remove the formwork. Finally, the pouring layer was not strong enough to bear the weight of the entire operating platform, so it collapsed, causing this tragedy.

Who would have thought that it was this little cement that caused the biggest safety accident in American architectural history. In fact, no matter in the construction industry or in any other aspect, a seemingly unimportant error may cause tragedy. We should learn a lesson from every accident and avoid the tragedy from happening again.