Performance of El Nogal Building during the Bomb Attack of 2/7/03

Purdue University, West Lafayette IN

Investigators

Abstract

On the evening of 7 February 2003, at 8:05 PM, in the city of Bogota Colombia a car bomb attack caused 33 deaths and 155 injuries when it impacted the El Nogal Building, a recently constructed, modern multi-story structure. The damage to the reinforced concrete structural system was extensive. Funding is requested to conduct a 12-month effort focused on the collection of data related to this event and to conduct a preliminary evaluation of these data. Since the Murrah Federal Building attack, a central question has been whether routine seismic details required by US building codes would result in adequate performance of structures subjected to blast loading from car bombs and similar devices. The El Nogal experience is ideally suited for testing that concept because the structure was detailed in accordance with the Colombian Building Code, which is very similar to building codes used in the US. The El Nogal Building in Bogota was designed with seismic considerations equivalent to those required in a building under Seismic Design Category 2 in the United States. This event provides a unique opportunity to test this premise. It is believed that the observed containment of damage was due to the use of "seismic details" in the design and construction. To confirm this belief explicitly will aide in improving security of structures in the United States and those owned by the United States in other parts of the world. The El Nogal Building structural engineer of record, Prof. Luis Garcia, is currently on the research staff at Purdue University. Moreover, the owner of the structure has made the decision to rebuild and has retained the company of Mr. Garcia to conduct the damage assessment and to work on the structural aspects related to the rebuilding process. Thus, convenient access to all aspects of the structures is guaranteed, including access to the structural drawings and design process of the original structure, to the damage assessment operation, and finally, to the rebuilding work. Funding in the amount of $26,719 is requested to conduct a 12-month effort focused on the collection of data related to this event and to conduct a preliminary evaluation of these data. The monies would be used to cover personnel and travel expenses related to the tasks of data collection and preliminary analysis.