Why were designers, building officials and contractors alarmed?
It appears the design of the structural components was sound while the welds which means weld consumables were the primary cause. After the Northridge earthquake, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provided funding to the SAC Joint Venture, which was formed by the Structural Engineers of California, the Applied Technology Council and California Universities for Research in Earthquake Engineering to provide research and testing to solve the welded moment frame fracture problems. If you read the first section you will know what a joke this last paragraph is. New beam-to-column connections were developed and tested. Procedures for welding, testing and inspection were extensively reviewed. Welding and steel products were analyzed and tested. ALL THE WELDING QUALIFICATIONS TESTS AND PROCEDURES HAVE BEEN DONE SUCCESSFULLY WITH EXISTING STANDARDS AND CODES THAT HAVE PREVAILED SINCE THE SECOND WORLD WAR. Now we have new structural steel weld recommendations driven from an inept pol
