ANALYSIS OF THE ACCIDENT OF ‘EL PÉNDULO’ IN THE AMUSEMENT PARK OF TIBIDABO IN BARCELONA

Abstract

An analysis of the possible causes of the collapse of an attraction (El Péndulo) located in the amusement park of Tibidabo (Barcelona) has been performed. This analysis corroborates some hypotheses asserted by Professional association of Industrial Engineers of Catalonia (COEIC) by numerical computations. The accident caused a fatality and additional injured people. This attraction was opened in August of 2006, that indeed, it lasted for 4 years. In the analysis carried out, it is analyzed in detail the most probable hypothesis that could have happened focusing the causes of the collapse on the preloaded screws provided to the lower base of el Péndulo and the presence of corrosion on the screws. Publicly known data have been used for an accurate reconstruction of the geometry of el Péndulo. This is used for kinematical and dynamical computations in detail. These suggest to discard some possible failure causes, and they point to corrosion and tightening torque as factors involved in the collapse.