Tower crane collapse onto occupied apartment building in Sydney, Australia

[Ingenuity]

Link

No apartment occupants injured, but many displaced.

 

[waross]

OUCH!

Bill
--------------------
"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter

 

[dbill74]

Gotta link to the article?

 

[dik]

Glad no one was injured... no code requirements for crane loading?

Dik

 

[MacGyverS2000]

db, it's in the original post...

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[LittleInch]

Never seen one like that before. The video at about 14 seconds in seems to show the crane being fixed to two cantilevered and knee braced beams sticking out the side of the building that is being built.

so it appears as if the beams have failed.

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[hokie66]

I hadn't noticed what LittleInch has pointed out. Looks like the structure of the building wasn't strong enough to support the crane. Maybe the right hand didn't know what the left hand was doing?

 

[Ingenuity]

Here is a photo of the post-collapse cantilever platform: Source

The crane - owned by Morrow tower cranes - was being erected on a cantilever base mounted to the side of the building when the cantilever structure pulled away from the wall.

 

[itsmoked]

I'm amazed anyone would attempt this folly! How is an optimized skyscraper expected to support a crazy moment-arm dynamic load like a tower crane?

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[hokie66]

Keith,
The key word in your comment is "optimized". There is no reason a crane cannot be supported off the superstructure of a building, provided the superstructure is designed for the forces imposed. The other issue is connections to the structure, and that may be the problem here.

 

[itsmoked]

Hi hokie.

I realize they could build any building to do this but why? I'd think you might have to do fairly odd things to a building to get it to safely support a crane like that. I'd expect the building to be made to support vertical loading (weight of the building) not large lateral forces applied essentially at a point.

Looks to me the building failed more than the connection to the building, since the building shape appears to have been affected in the accident. I'd sure like to see a picture of the inside.



Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[hokie66]

I assume they did it that way to avoid supporting it at ground level. Must be something important down there.

We can't really see much of the building from those pictures. The scaffolding is in the way. But you may be right, the structure may have failed. Whichever, coordination between the crane design and the building design/construction was faulty.

 

[LittleInch]

Gien that the building itself is only a few stories above the connection maybe it hadn't got to its 28 day curing time?

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[oldestguy]

Apparently no higher elevation connection to the building was planned since the operator was in his seat at the time and apparently thinking all is OK to go to work. That's still one heck of a moment arm on the base with any lean of the tower or jib load.

 

[davidbeach]

Most of them that I've seen go into an elevator shaft and the building gets built around the crane until it's time to pull it out.

 

[dik]

and sometimes even a hole in the floor slab. It's wedged in place at floor levels to take any moment... and has timbers to support it vertically.

Dik