When we travel to the LEGO Stadium at UCF

[flsportsfan83]

dont sit in the uperdeck.

Jumpy fans worry UCF, but officials call stadium safe

Some frenzied football fans at the University of Central Florida are calling their new stadium "The Trampoline" -- and treating it like one.

Fans have discovered they can make the upper deck bounce by jumping up and down at once.

Their cue to go crazy: the techno-pop dance beat of Zombie Nation's Kernkraft 400.

"It's fun!" sophomore Michelle Martin says of the bouncing sensation that resulted in the trampoline nickname.

School officials say the stadium is structurally safe and ready for a capacity crowd Saturday when UCF takes on the University of Tulsa for the Conference USA championship.

University officials noticed the movement during the stadium's inaugural game in September against the University of Texas, said William Merck, vice president of administration and finance, who oversees campus construction. He said the motion caught them off guard, but that visual and electronic monitoring since the first game has revealed no damage.

Engineers say there's nothing unusual about stadiums and even skyscrapers having some wiggle room. They're designed for a certain amount of movement.

Still, the motion has unnerved some fans, and it has UCF officials wondering whether all that bouncing will eventually damage the 45,000-seat, $54 million steel structure.

"I've been to a lot of stadiums, and I've never seen one rock back and forth like that," said Tom Di Figlio of Delray Beach, a former UCF employee whose first visit to Bright House Networks Stadium was last week's game against the University of Texas at El Paso. "Maybe it's designed like that, but I think they ought to be careful."

While university officials express full confidence in their stadium, they are concerned about whether the fans' bouncing will shorten its estimated 50-year-plus life span. The university has asked civil engineers to help UCF's building experts analyze the data they're collecting and decide by mid-January whether the stadium needs to be reinforced or left as is.

Officials already have taken one step. They decided midway through the season to limit how often the Zombie Nation tune is played over the public-address system "to address the uneasiness some fans may have," said Joe Hornstein, UCF Athletics Association spokesman. The current limit is four times per game, but Merck said the university will consider banning it outright.

What's happening at UCF is "not an extraordinary condition," said Prasad Samarajiva, a civil and structural engineer with Walter P. Moore. The Houston-based engineering firm was not involved with UCF's stadium but has a large portfolio of stadiums and other buildings.

Nearly two decades ago, students at the University of South Carolina -- revved up by "Louie, Louie" -- found they could get a 15,000-seat deck of Williams-Brice Stadium to sway. The school determined the deck was safe but discussed banning the song to keep the swaying down. Instead, the school spent about $300,000 to install reinforcements to stop the motion, said Russ McKinney, university spokesman.

Students at UCF said they want bouncing to become a tradition.

"Everyone seems more than happy with the stadium with zero concerns of safety," said Adam Papageorgiu, a UCF sophomore whose phone-cam video of the stadium bouncing was posted on YouTube under the title "The Trampoline."

Papageorgiu said fans have been bouncing to the Zombie Nation song since the stadium's debut game against Texas.

"I was immediately concerned about how the stadium almost felt like it was giving out beneath my feet," he wrote in an e-mail. "My friends began to look worried. . . . I got quickly used to it though."

UCF senior Steve Adams, who was buying his game ticket at the stadium this week, said steel structures such as Bright House Networks Stadium are "designed to take lots of stress."

Added the mechanical-engineering student, "If I had no idea about this stuff, I would worry too."

Paul Jehlen, another engineering student, joked that parents are more likely than students to worry.

All major stadiums in the U.S. are designed using the same basic structural principles, said Bruce Merrick, chairman of Dant Clayton, the engineering firm for UCF's stadium.

"There's noticeable movement," he said, but tests so far show the building is "performing in accordance with Florida building codes."

The stadium's design firm, 360 Architecture, did not return phone calls.

Noticeable shaking or swaying can happen in any stadium given the right circumstances, said Charlie Carter, chief structural engineer for the Chicago-based American Institute of Steel Construction. The nonprofit institute and trade association develops the standards used in building codes for steel structures such as UCF's stadium.

Many people are unnerved when stadiums sway because the movement is unexpected and often unpredictable. Movement depends on a certain number of people moving in a certain way for a certain amount of time.

Stadiums in general are "pretty strong" structures, Carter said, and metal fatigue is not a major concern for owners of newer stadiums because "it takes a long time to manifest."

"It's not a problem that develops one day to the next," he said.

Vibrations caused by groups of people making synchronized movements have been known to damage structures, Carter said.

In London, for instance, a pedestrian bridge across the river Thames was closed not long after it opened in 2000 because the movement of so many people crossing it made the bridge sway. It was closed, modified and later reopened.

But stadiums have more in common with buildings than bridges, he said, making the effect of vibrations on them more complicated.

In the absence of safety concerns, many stadium-movement issues become "purely a human-comfort and perception-of-motion issue," he said.

Link: Link

[flsportsfan83]

good catch.... wow

[Triple B]

You need help.

[BrahmanBulliever]

So was that 2nd post supposed to be post with an alt account?

[puc86]

No, he was responding to a post that I deleted.

[Economics_Nerd82]

Am I the only one who knows who started a thread simply by knowing it's about UCF?

[BrahmanBulliever]

I assume you were pointing out he originally said USF then.

[puc86]

That would be correct ;D

[smazza]

this stadium is defective and when a portion falls and injurers people dont be surprised

i havent been in any stadium that sways ro moves unless there was an earthquake

[Brad]

"Everyone seems more than happy with the stadium with zero concerns of safety"

Until someone gets hurt.  What a bad situation to find themselves in.  Hopefully, whey won't let a bunch of drunk kids decide the need to fix it and they will do like others have and repair it before something unexpected happens.