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Miami Beach, Champlain Towers South apartment building collapse 151

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Some of the residents observed cracking at the pool and maybe other locations during/after the adjacent building's construction. I've read other's thoughts about soil subsidence from a possibly higher water table coupled with construction vibration could have been an issue, but I wonder if there were any subsurface structures/other construction nearby that required the water level to be dropped via well points.
 
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wonder if the neighboring construction included dewatering?

f-d

ípapß gordo ainÆt no madre flaca!
 
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First of all my prayers to the victims and family of this disaster.
a disaster of this magnitude. where does the investigation begins to resolve the cause?
since this is a high rise building were to start.
what test would be required.
 
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Wonder what the lead agency would be for the investigation? With a transportation failure, including bridges, it would be the NTSB. Even the FIU pedestrian bridge investigation was led by the NTSB. I'm not aware of an established process for a building failure investigation or even what government level - local, state or federal - has authority.
 
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NovaEngr, it looks like NIST will at least play a role.
Washington Post said:
A team of six National Institute of Standards and Technology scientists and engineers will be sent to the collapsed portions of the condo to determine whether an investigation or study will be conducted.

Jennifer Huergo, a spokeswoman for the government agency, told The Washington Post in a statement that the experts will work with federal, state and local authorities to identify and preserve materials that could be helpful in understanding why the collapse happened.

“If a full investigation or study is conducted, its ultimate goal would be to determine the technical cause of the collapse and, if indicated, to recommend changes to building codes, standards and practices, or other appropriate actions to improve the structural safety of buildings,” she said.

The team will not interfere with search-and-rescue efforts and it will enter the site only after it is determined it is safe to do so, Huergo said.

The agency has conducted four previous investigations, including final reports about the World Trade Center, under the National Construction Safety Team Act, which President George W. Bush signed into law in October 2002.
Click to expand...
 
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Monitoring building for settlement, tilting & vibration is a must for multistory and high-rise buildings. Routinely inspecting structure for signs (cracks, deflections, etc) of distress needs to be enforced.
This type of catastrophe appears to be from overall stability failure. Buildings just don't collapse suddenly like this even with some local structural failure.
 
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If Miami wasn't enforcing this requirement, I can see the lawyers lining up at their door... criminal negligence, anyone?

Rather than think climate change and the corona virus as science, think of it as the wrath of God. Feel any better?

-Dik
 
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On the early news this morning, a woman spoke of her phone conversation with an acquaintance who lived in and was speaking from her condo that faced over the pool. She said something to the effect that "The pool is sinking, the sidewalk is sinking". Then the phone went dead and she's pretty obviously missing. Don't know whether she was in the first or second collapse. It would indicate though that the pool area (underground parking) collapse happened very soon or even before the first collapse. Horrible.
 
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There's definite spalling on the underside of the concrete on the roof and some balconies in Google street view. Rebar exposed. Image taken in January 2021. The March 2018 images don't show nearly the same level of damage, just a small amount on the corner of the roof. Even that isn't present in the 2015 photos.

 
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@Eufalconimorph

I played with the street view you linked to, and you can definitely see that several of the lower balconies were in poor repair on their undersides:
41FAAF95-37FE-4284-A963-E788926787BE_xru9zo.png
 
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To littleInch's question, cars have been getting smaller and lighter, it's the pick-ups and SUV's that have replaced them which are getting heavier, although that's not a hard and fast issue either. For example, my new 2021 GMC Terrain is about 400 lbs lighter than the 2013 GMC Terrain that I traded-in. And my wife's Mercedes C300 is lighter than the Honda Accord that it replaced, primarily due to about 70% of the external sheet metal being Aluminum.

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-'Product Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without
 
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2018: not much visible concrete damage
2019: construction of building on adjacent lot
2021: noticeable damage at roof and balconies

2016_mfu3lx.png
2019_od80hx.png
 
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I am hesitant to speculate, but that building did not collapse due to overloading. Design defects, construction defects, settlement, corrosion, sinkholes, are all issues for investigation.
 
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