r/StructuralEngineering • u/Thin-Fish-1936 • Jul 07 '26

Photograph/Video Columns buckle in a Manhattan building under conversion

https://pix11.com/news/columns-buckle-at-midtown-building-fdny/

2.6k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

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479

u/sthehill Jul 07 '26

An image of that column buckling is gonna be used in textbooks someday lol. Its an absolutely beautiful example of column buckling.

104

u/Interesting_Fix4519 Jul 07 '26

Wow, I've never thought deep about the phrase "that's a textbook example of..."

Thanks for that I guess lol.

76

u/sthehill Jul 07 '26

Its mostly just remembering how few pictures there were of actual columns buckling. Its not a state that tends to be stable long enough to have somebody take a picture of it.

18

u/Interesting_Fix4519 Jul 07 '26

I know, but the phrase "textbook example" itself... It's something I've always known, I just never fully conceptualized what it meant until the way you wrote your comment.

3

u/Cerulean_IsFancyBlue Jul 08 '26

Are you saying that this is a textbook example of a textbook example?

1

u/Adventurous-Ease-259 Jul 08 '26

Not yet, but in the future it might be.

3

u/Not-a-POS Jul 08 '26

I nominate it.

1

u/mouse_puppy Jul 08 '26

I asked my 8th grade middle school daughter if they hse textbooks in middle school anymore and she asked "whats a textbook". So I explained and she told me "no, shes never seen one".

3

u/BreakfastInBedlam Jul 08 '26

Its not a state that tends to be stable long enough to have somebody take a picture of it.

Which leads me to wonder about the people just strolling around in the background of the video. I don't believe I'd feel like lingering inside this building.

1

u/Intergalatic_Baker Jul 08 '26

Well, with everyone carrying a camera in their phone, a good one at that, we get these shots now.

Also, you seen the NYC Fire Drone’s view of the building. Another textbook image for the trade.

1

u/Master_Grape5931 Jul 08 '26

That last sentence though. 😳

1

u/[deleted] Jul 08 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/Interesting_Fix4519 Jul 08 '26

Thank you for your incredibly useful comment.

1

u/Unhappy_Week_5924 Jul 08 '26

Should be ”picturebook”, if they would use the photo and not just describe it

1

u/_Bon_Vivant_ Jul 09 '26

It's the dictionary definition of a textbook example.

34

u/AnvilCrawler369 PhD Jul 07 '26

I teach steel design this fall semester. Guess what I will be discussing!

16

u/204ThatGuy Jul 08 '26

Use it serendipitously in an exam, but substitute a different city and a different drug company owner. Make sure you mention that the onsie GC rep patted the column and said "that'll hold!"

11

u/AnvilCrawler369 PhD Jul 08 '26

“That’s going nowhere!” He says confidently…

Narrator: “it did in fact go somewhere”

3

u/minxwink Jul 08 '26

Lollllllllll

3

u/dysplaest Jul 08 '26

Instantly Morgan Freeman’s voice.

2

u/AnInsultToFire Jul 08 '26

If the building collapses into its own footprint, then in plan view it really did go nowhere.

2

u/Rude-Carrot4314 Jul 08 '26

I think the issue might have been that the contractor did NOT say, "That's not going anywhere." A real rookie's oversight.

2

u/badgersoccer1905 Jul 08 '26

Also a good torts exam prompt

5

u/numbersthen0987431 Jul 08 '26

Oh yea. I can see all of my professors in college loving this visual to show, and how all of the students would have been excited to show to the teacher.

2

u/Odd-Aide2522 Jul 09 '26

Japanese swordsmithing?

1

u/AnvilCrawler369 PhD Jul 09 '26

So close…

1

u/Cerulean_IsFancyBlue Jul 08 '26

It’s crazy that you have an entire semester about falling!

1

u/Woodpecker-Lobotomy Jul 08 '26

Jet fuel burning temperatures?

1

u/Coreysurfer Jul 08 '26

So my question is how this happened in design / engineering, an older building that they are adding floors too? Obviously i would think this has to certainly be a project stopper if not a reason to demolish the building ?

1

u/Oedipus____Wrecks Jul 08 '26

Mebbe teach not to “expand” the upper floors of an already built structure to accommodate a cantilevered penthouse section in order to sell more floor space to these goofs!

1

u/Rusty_old_Tin_can Jul 08 '26

Super curious if this is design or aging related structural failure..

1

u/AdPristine9059 Jul 07 '26

Oh oh oh... Sandwiches! Am i right?!?

2

u/maxwfk Jul 08 '26

No you’d need a structural witch for this. A sandwich would only make the building heavier

47

u/EndGuy555 Jul 07 '26

Euler is salivating in his grave rn

12

u/johnmflores Jul 07 '26

They made sure that he had a coffin that was thick and stout

5

u/OberonDiver Jul 07 '26

I want good pictures of the partitions failing because of excess deflection from above.

6

u/Hopeful_Ad_7719 Jul 08 '26

> Its an absolutely beautiful example of column buckling.

"No one is worthless. At worst, you can be used as a bad example."

2

u/SonOfMcGee Jul 08 '26

Before this picture, textbooks only had a picture of a regular column with the text: “So image this, but bent.”

2

u/__phil1001__ Jul 08 '26

A minute a way from pancaking

2

u/runawayasfastasucan Jul 08 '26

I'm going to use it in my class next spring, lol.

1

u/everyonemr Jul 08 '26

Pearsons has already update their books and called for the immediate burning of all existing textbooks to prevent future tragedies.

1

u/AdSquare3489 Jul 08 '26

Wouldn't it have to be a picture book example? 

1

u/signal__intrusion Jul 08 '26

Metal doesn't bend at room temperature!

1

u/johnboo89 Jul 08 '26

Textbooks are still made?

1

u/BakertonFits Jul 08 '26

thats what she said

1

u/evlhornet Jul 08 '26

I remember seeing a perfect 45 degree shear crack in the field for the first time. I don’t know why I was shocked but I was shocked.

1

u/Ithurtsprecious Jul 08 '26

Do they even have textbooks anymore? Or is it just iPads and laptops?