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Originally Posted by Amanita
Is 35 mph (As in the One Penn Plaza case) considered a large wind load? Doesn't sound like it to me, but I'm not an engineer.
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No. The maximum design wind for NYC is 100-110 mph. It's quite conceivable that NYC gets hit by a hurricane, as we nearly saw with Irene this summer.
http://www.windspeedbyzip.com/
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And if it turned out that One Penn Plaza had something worse than a few defective windows, surely there would be something on public record? After all, the structural problems with the John Hancock building became common knowledge, and even the problems with Citicorp of Manhattan eventually became known.
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Yes. That is not something that engineers would allow to be kept secret.
Incidentally, Robert Byrne wrote
Skyscraper, a novel about this kind of thing. A brand new office tower starts shedding windows, and an engineer is brought in to investigate. During the course of his investigation, the engineer discovers severe structural flaws in the building and its foundations. He fights with the building owner to release the information because it is his professional duty as an engineer. I realize that it's an idealized, fictional case, but that is what is supposed to happen.