Lessons from the Sampoong department store collapse

This paper summarises the report of the committee of inquiry into the collapse, by punching shear, of the Sampoong department store in Seoul, Korea in 1995. It examines the adequacy of the design and calculates, using AC1 318-89, BS 8110-85 and Gardner 96, the contribution of the various deficiencies to the probability of failure. ACI 318 does not predict the collapse but BS 8110 and Gardner 96 predict a large probability of collapse. Both BS 8110 and Gardner 96 include size effect and reinforcement ratio. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.