At an LCBO store that was being renovated by TBS. A roofing contractor hired by the store owners had caused damage to the roof structure. They placed their tools and equipment neatly in one spot, which, of course looks good, but the problem was that this caused uneven loading on the roof structure. As a result, the roof bent underneath this pile of equipment. We were hired by the owners to analyse and repair the structure. We had to remove all of the equipment, provide shoring with heavy duty mechanical jacks, introduce a steel I-beam to reinforce the existing roof elements and repair the bend.
Had our roofing colleagues learned about influence lines, they would have realized that loading a structure in one point will impact the loaded area much more than the areas taking normal loads. A plastic example is why high heels are not allowed on some platforms. If a person wearing regular shoes and a person of the same weight wearing high heels start jumping on a thin platform, who is more likely to puncture the platform?!
In other words, sometimes it’s not important how big a load is, but how it’s distributed.
Had our roofing colleagues learned about influence lines, they would have realized that loading a structure in one point will impact the loaded area much more than the areas taking normal loads. A plastic example is why high heels are not allowed on some platforms. If a person wearing regular shoes and a person of the same weight wearing high heels start jumping on a thin platform, who is more likely to puncture the platform?!
In other words, sometimes it’s not important how big a load is, but how it’s distributed.