224 The Masterbu||der - May 2013 www.masterbu||der.co.

|n
Bu||d|ng Fa||ures
60 The Masterbu||der - May 2013 www.masterbu||der.co.|n
1^! C^u3|3
8ILDING8 IO FALL?
3ooogopom 3esmoo||
Cm|et - Comleml eve|op~eml. C| - |mt|osl|uclu|e - |mv||om~eml
|story has repeated t|me and aga|n w|th devastat|ng co||apse o
huge bu||d|ngs, h|gh||ght|ng to mank|nd to rev|s|t conceptua||za-
Ht|on, des|gn, procurement & construct|on o bu||d|ngs rom the
standpo|nt o sound, sae and eth|ca| eng|neer|ng pract|ce.
Apparent|y, mass|ve so||d structures wor|d over have cracked, sp||t,
and crumb|ed to go crash|ng down |n seconds, and a|| thats |et |s debr|s
and a |ot o agony.
Bu||d|ngs, ||ke a|| structures, are des|gned to support certa|n |oads
sae|y. The |oads compr|se o we|ghts o peop|e and ob|ects, the we|ght o
ra|n and snow and w|nd pressure-ca||ed ||ve |oads wh||e the dead |oad |s
the bu||d|ng |tse|. n||ke |owr|se bu||d|ngs, |n ta|| bu||d|ngs o many |oors,
the support o the we|ght o the bu||d|ng |tse| |s the ma|n cons|derat|on,
wh||e the roo |s a |esser cons|derat|on. Ta|| bu||d|ngs a||ure cou|d be cata-
stroph|c.
The causes o bu||d|ng co||apse can be
c|ass||ed under certa|nheads as:
- Bad Des|gn
- Fau|ty Construct|on
- Foundat|onFa||ure
- Extraord|nary Loads
- nexpected Fa||ure Modes
- Comb|nat|ono Causes
Bad design |nc|udes not on|y errors
o computat|on, but a||ure to take |nto
account a|| the |oads the structure
shou|d be ab|e to carry or the bu||d|ngs
|ntended use. Prudent des|gn |s based
on estab||shed theor|es, re||ance on
accurate data, cogn|zance o the
eects o repeated or |mpu|s|ve
stresses, and proper cho|ce o mater|-
a|s based on |n-depth understand|ng
o the|r propert|es. Fa||ures many a t|me
enters a bu||d|ng pro|ect at the draw|ng
board |tse| due to |ack o due d|||gence
by the eng|neer. A case |n po|nt |s the
S|ngapore New Wor|d Hote| co||apse
c|ted where the structura| eng|neer
b|undered by orgett|ng to cons|der
the dead |oad o bu||d|ng |tse| |n the
des|gn|oads!
Faulty construction perhaps |s the
most |mportant cause o structura| a||-
ure. The |ack o proper construct|on
superv|s|on and t|me|y |nspect|on by
eng|neer & arch|tect |s a key contr|bu-
tor. Some au|ty pract|ces to be |rm|y
checked and stopped are the use o
sa|ty sand to make concrete, the sub-
st|tut|on o |ner|or stee| or that spec|-
|ed, bad r|vet|ng, |mproper t|ghten|ng
torque on nuts, excess|ve use o the dr|t
p|n to make ho|es ||ne up, bad we|ds,
and a|| such pract|ces we|| known as
taboo |nconstruct|on|e|d.
A foundation r|ght|y des|gned |s a
pre requ|s|te or every structure to
stand on, w|th ab|||ty to bear |oads that
the structure |s carry|ng. The earth
beneath the bu||d|ng shou|d be (or
made such) that structura| |oads can
be susta|ned.
Extraordinary loads can be caused
by natura| events, such as repeated
heavy snowa||s, or the shak|ng o an
earthquake, or the w|nds o a hurr|-
cane, wh|ch the structure shou|d be
capab|e o w|thstand|ng.
Unexpected failure modes turn out
to be the most comp|ex o the reasons
or co||apse. Such a||ure events are
great educators that goad the
des|gner, eng|neer & constructor to
|ook beyond the convent|ona|. Thus
each new type o structure can exh|b|t
unexpected a||ure, unt|| |ts propert|es
are we|| understood.
The r|ght m|x o comp||ance to
bu||d|ng codes comp|emented w|th
best eng|neer|ng des|gn pract|ce and
exper|ence, are the mantra or |ong
|ast|ng unct|ona||y competent bu||t
structures and sae bu||t env|ronment.
A c|ose |ook at h|gh r|ses a|ong the
t|me||ne, throws ||ght on the due d|||-
gence thats essent|a| r|ght through
the|r conceptua||z|ng, des|gn evo|u-
t|on, mater|a| |nputs, construct|on and
eventua| ma|ntenance dur|ng occupa-
t|on. Trag|c happen|ngs show how
th|ngs cou|d m|s|re |n the event o con-
sc|ous or unconsc|ous |etdowns
caused by promoters, des|gners or
managers o these estates that su-
ered a||ures. Brought out here are
some o the worst h|gh-r|se bu||d|ng
co||apses that h|gh||ght the |nadequa-
c|es that |ed to the m|shaps.
Ronan Point, London, EngIand
ln East London, on May 16, 1968, a
s|ng|e match tr|ggered the co||apse o
an ent|re corner o th|s mass|ve 22-
story bu||d|ng when 56-year-o|d lvy
Hodge, on the 18th |oor, ||t |t to make
herse| a cup o tea. The spark rom the
match was enough or a b|ast o gas
exp|os|on to tear apart the |o|nts con-
nect|ng the wa||s to the |oor and she
61 www.masterbu||der.co.|n The Masterbu||der - May 2013
Bu||d|ng Fa||ures
Ponan Po|nt, London, Eng|and
62 The Masterbu||der - May www.masterbu||der.co.|n 2013
ound herse| on the ground |n a not so
pretty state.
The |oad-bear|ng wa||s had come
apart, |eav|ng the our apartments
above her w|thout any k|nd o structura|
support. What next? We||, one by one,
they came tumb||ng down, tear|ng
through the |oors be|ow ||ke a|||ng
dom|noes. At the end an ent|re corner
o the new|y constructed bu||d|ng |ay |n
shamb|es.
When Ponan Po|nt crashed, 260
peop|e were |n res|dence, o whom our
were k|||ed |n the d|saster, wh||e 17 were
|n|ured. lvy Hodge surv|ved!
Pub||c con|dence |n h|gh-r|se tower
bu||d|ngs was bad|y shaken.
Failure Cause: What caused th|s huge
a|| andthattoobyanotsob|ggas|gn|t|on?
The tower was constructed o pre-
cast concrete. Fa||ure o the s|ng|e
pane| caused one ent|re corner o the
bu||d|ng to co||apse. The pane| was
ab|e to be b|own out because there
was |nsu|c|ent re|norcement stee|
pass|ng between the pane|s. Th|s a|so
meant that the |oads carr|ed by the
pane| cou|d not be red|str|buted to
other ad|acent pane|s, s|nce there was
no route or the orces to o||ow. Co|-
|apse was |mm|nent.
Aftermath & Lessons Learnt: T|e them
we|| |s the |esson |earnt. Pe|norcements
re|norce! sethemasmuchasneeded.
As a resu|t o the co||apse, bu||d|ng
regu|at|ons were overhau|ed to prevent
d|sproport|onate co||apse. The under-
stand|ng o precast concrete deta|||ng
was great|y advanced.
Based on th|s many s|m||ar bu||d-
|ngs were a|tered or demo||shed.
HighIand Towers,
SeIangor, MaIaysia
December 11, 1993, the t|me 1:35
pm, a |ands||de w|th the orce o 200
|umbo |ets s|ams |nto the oundat|ons
o B|ock One o the H|gh|and Towers
apartment comp|ex. Eyew|tnesses
descr|be watch|ng the bu||d|ng a|| |n
"s|ow mot|on," o||owed by an eer|e
"deaen|ng s||ence."
Failure Cause: The H|gh|and Towers
comp|ex w|th three 12-story res|dent|a|
bu||d|ngs bu||t at the base o steep h|||
|ust outs|de o Ma|ays|as cap|ta| c|ty,
Kua|a Lumpur, had ser|ous prob|ems:
- The reta|n|ng wa||s and dra|nage
system had been poor|y des|gned
and bad|y ma|nta|ned.
- The s|tuat|on aggravated when
another deve|opment company
began construct|on on a r|dge |ust
above H|gh|and Towers. The |and
was str|pped and exposed to ero-
s|on, and some o the dra|nage
p|pes were b|ocked w|thbranches.
- Ten days o non-stop ra|n exerted
enormous pressure on the p|pes
caus|ng the p|pes to burst a|ong
var|ous po|nts on the h|||. The water
content o the so|| rose to danger-
ous |eve|s.
- Eventua||y, a |ands||p took down a
|arge reta|n|ng wa||.
Onehundredthousandsquaremeters
o mud s||d |nto B|ock One, carry|ng |t
Bu||d|ng Fa||ures
H|gh|and Towers apartment comp|ex, Ma|ays|a
Bu||d|ng |n East De|h|
66 The Masterbu||der - 2013 May www.masterbu||der.co.|n
orward and eventua||y snapp|ng |t.
Three peop|e were pu||ed out a||ve
onthe |rst day. lnthe atermath, 48 bod-
|es were recovered.
B|ock two and b|ock three were
evacuated and stand empty to th|s day,
||ke gr|m, overgrowntombstones.
Lesson Learnt: Peta|n|ng wa||s take a
|ot o orce and need to be adequate|y
des|gned. Peta|n|ng wa||s bad|y
des|gned coup|ed w|th eventua| so||
eros|on were enough to |n|t|ate the
|ands||p w|th water on|y compound|ng
the m|shap.
DeIhi BuiIding CoIIapse,
New DeIhi, India
On November 15, 2010, monsoon
ra|ns br|ng down a poor|y constructed
tenement mu|t|-story bu||d|ng |n De|h|
w|th |||ega||y bu||t apartment b|ocks.
The structure crashed to the ground
w|thout warn|ng at 8:00 pm. Trag|ca||y
67 peop|e d|ed |n the co||apse and a
urther 150 were |n|ured.
Failure Cause: Structura| |nadequacy
&poor construct|onpract|ces.
Lessons Learnt: l||ega| construct|on |s
a s|ckness and demonstrat|on o poor
governance. D|||gent observat|on &
|nspect|on o||owed by upr|ght act|on
by c|v|| agenc|es a|one can check such
k|nds o m|shaps that are on the r|se
across the country.
SkyIine PIaza, Virginia, USA
On March 2, 1973, one o the Sky-
||ne P|aza comp|exs tower|ng apart-
ment bu||d|ngs co||apsed, |eav|ng
where |t once stood, a huge c|oud o
dust and debr|s.
Construct|onhadnt evenbeencom-
p|eted |n the comp|ex |n Ba||eys Cross-
roads, v|rg|n|a at the t|me o the d|sas-
ter and the bu||d|ng was not due to
openunt|| s|x months.
FailureCause: There was no |aw|nthe
des|gn.
lnvest|gat|onshowed that:
- Dur|ng construct|on the orms sup-
port|ng the concrete co|umns on
the 22nd |oor were premature|y
removed. The cement had not set
u||y by then. As a resu|t the co|-
umns cou|dnt bear the we|ght o
the 24th|oor and a||ed.
- The a||ure put an |ncreased
amount o pressure on the rest o
the co|umns on the 23rd |oor unt||
the ent|re |oor buck|ed and
s|ammed downonthe |oor be|ow.
- The bu||d|ng had not been eng|-
neered to w|thstand such a huge
|ncreased |oad, and the tremen-
dous we|ght proved catastroph|c.
Each |oor gradua||y succumbed
and p|ummeted onto the story
be|ow|na devastat|ng r|pp|e eect.
Fourteen construct|on workers d|ed
and 34 were |n|ured.
Lesson Learnt: Though des|gn
may be sound but so shou|d be the exe-
cut|on per des|gn and observ|ng r|ght
construct|on wh|ch pract|ce, |n th|s
case has been ound want|ng. lnspec-
t|on & test|ng coup|ed w|th regu|ar
superv|s|on are not mere orma||t|es
but act|v|t|es that can make or mar a
pro|ect, or sha|| we say, make or break
a bu||d|ng!
RoyaI PIaza HoteI, Nakhon
Ratchasima, ThaiIand
On August 13, 1993, at around
10:00 am, the sp|end|d s|x-story Poya|
P|aza Hote| |n Nakhon Patchas|ma,
Tha||and took a|| but |ess than 10 sec-
onds to come crash|ng down, c|ock|ng
|ust 1.6 seconds per |oor!
137 peop|e were k|||ed and 227
more were |n|ured |nthe co||apse.
The tragedy a|so c|a|med the ||e o
.S. A|r Force sergeant Pamon Canda,
whowas|ntown|nsta|||ngte|ephone||nes
at the Korat Poya| Tha| A|r Force Base.
"...When a docIor ma|es a m|sIa|e, he ||||s one;
When an eng|neer ma|es a m|sIa|e, he ||||s many."
oya|
P|ata
hoIe|
0o||apse
|n 1993
||||ed 137
Sky||ne P|aza, v|rg|n|a, SA
Poya| P|aza Hote|, Nakhon Patchas|ma, Tha||and Saety |rst s|ogan: Peop|es saety |s paramount
Bu||d|ng Fa||ures
67 www.masterbu||der.co.|n The Masterbu||der - May 2013
Failure Cause: A||egat|ons were that
three stor|es had been added to the
bu||d|ng |n 1990 w|thout proper arch|-
tectura| rev|ew. A|so, a huge amount o
water was be|ng stored on the roo o
the hote| ahead o an expected water
shortage. Added to |ncrementa| |oad
over and above the a|ready extra |oad
o three extra stor|es.
Aftermath: Po||ce deta|ned the owner
o the Poya| P|aza Hote|, the arch|tect,
and an eng|neer. Court ordered |ve to
pay Bt152 m||||on compensat|on or
Hote| co||apse. Th|s case shou|d serve
as a rem|nder to every |oca| adm|n|stra-
t|ve organ|sat|on to never approve an
|nappropr|ate construct|on p|an, the
|awyer Weerasak Boonperng sa|d Peo-
p|es saety must come |rst.
Lotus Riverside Compound,
Shanghai, China
On June 27, 2009, B|ock 7, one o
e|even 13-story apartment bu||d|ngs
mak|ng up the Lotus P|vers|de com-
pound |n Shangha|, topp|ed over, com-
p|ete|y |ntact. The mass|ve structure e||
and was |y|ng |at w|th |ts oundat|on
p|||ars uprooted.
The h|gh-r|se was st||| under con-
struct|on, but |uck||y, most workers
were ab|e to evacuate when they e|t |t
start to a|| over.
Failure Cause: B|ock 7 e|| |ust one day
ater 272 eet o a nearby r|verbank co|-
|apsed, thus prov|ng the area to be
unstab|e and that the so|| was |oose. lt
was a case o the deve|opment com-
pany work|ng |||ega||y or |ve years on
s|te. Th|s ra|sed ser|ous concerns over
bu||d|ng pract|ces across Ch|na.
HoteI New WorId, Singapore
On March 15, 1986, a|| s|x stor|es o
Hote| NewWor|d co||apsed |n |ess than
60 seconds. The bu||d|ng housed a
hote|, a bank and a n|ghtc|ub, a|| o
wh|ch d|s|ntegrated |nto p||es o rock
and tw|sted meta|, bury|ng 50 peop|e
|ns|de.
lt was the worst d|saster S|ngapore
had exper|enced s|nce Wor|d War ll,
and |t shocked the nat|on.
Failure Cause: Ater |ntens|ve research,
|nvest|gators d|scovered a terr|b|e error
|n the or|g|na| des|gn o the bu||d|ng.
The structura| eng|neer had comp|ete|y
|et out the bu||d|ngs "dead |oad," |n
other words, the we|ght o the bu||d|ng
|tse|, dur|ng the des|gn process. As a
resu|t, |t wasnt strong enough to ho|d
|tse| up.
Trag|ca||y, Hote| New Wor|d was
doomed rom the beg|nn|ng.
Lesson Learnt: Th|s serves as a c|as-
s|c case o unpardonab|e proess|ona|
neg||gence. Leg|s|at|on to enorce
ma|ntenance checks every |ve years.
Three High-Rise Office BuiIdings,
Rio, BraziI
On January 26, 2012, a 20-story
bu||d|ng |n P|o de Jane|ro, Braz|| spon-
taneous|y co||apsed. The g|gant|c
h|gh-r|se crashed |nto another ten-
story bu||d|ng and a sma||er "three or
our" story bu||d|ng, reduc|ng a|| three
structures to one huge p||e o rubb|e.
The |mpact sent an enormous wave o
dust and detr|tus through the streets o
C|ne|and|a square, k||||ng at |east 17
peop|e. l the d|saster had occurred
|ust a ew hours ear||er, |t wou|d have
resu|ted |n mass casua|t|es. Fortu-
nate|y, the d|str|ct, home to many o|ce
bu||d|ngs and Braz||'s pr|zed Mun|c|pa|
Theater, was pretty deso|ate due to the
|ate hour o the co||apse.
Failure Cause: Author|t|es attr|buted
|||ega| construct|on work to have weak-
Lotus P|vers|de Compound, Shangha| Hote| New Wor|d, S|ngapore
Three H|gh-P|se O|ce Bu||d|ngs, P|o, Braz||
Bu||d|ng Fa||ures
ened the 20-story bu||d|ng caused |t to
ragment, wh|ch |n turn tr|ggered a
cha|n react|on, br|ng|ng down the two
sma||er bu||d|ngs.
Aftermath: Th|s catastrophe has |ed
Braz|||an author|t|es to ca|| or reorms
and str|cter bu||d|ng and renovat|on
regu|at|ons, espec|a||y ahead o the
2014 Wor|d Cup.
Sampoong Department Store,
SeouI, South Korea
On June 29, 1995, |n the space o
20 seconds, the Sampoong Depart-
ment Store |n Seou|, South Korea e|| to
the ground, k||||ng 502 peop|e and
|n|ur|ng 937 mak|ng |t the |argest
peacet|me d|saster |n South Korean
h|story
FailureCause: The co||apse was ma|n|y
due to a structura| a||ure. Cr|m|na| neg-
||gence, d|sregard or eth|ca| eng|neer-
|ng pract|ces, and shoddy construct|on
|ed to structura| a||ure. Many a |esson
needs to be |earnt rom th|s d|saster:
1. Change o bu||d|ng use: The bu||d-
|ng, wh|ch was or|g|na||y des|gned to
be an o|ce bu||d|ng, was redes|gned
to be a department store. Change |n
use rom 'an o|ce bu||d|ng' to a 'de-
partment store' dec|ded when |t was
ha|way through|ts construct|on.
2. F|out|ng Des|gnNorms:
Desp|te the bu||d|ng not meant
to support a |th story, a |th
|oor added
The redes|gn |nvo|ved cutt|ng
away a severa| key support co|-
umns to accommodate the
esca|ators |nsta||at|on. Pedes|gn
dec|a-red unsae by contractors
& were term|nated. Construc-
t|on cont|nued w|th |n-house
company.
Th|s extra |eve| proved to be a
super-heavy, heated |oor (hea-
ted concrete base w|th hot water
p|pes go|ngthrough|t, as patrons
s|t on the |oor o trad|t|ona|
Korean restaurants). A|r cond|-
t|on|ng un|ts added to the roo
quadrup|ed the |oad the struc-
ture was des|gned to susta|n.
3. SubstandardMater|a|s&Construct|on:
Substandard concrete used
and had on|y ha| the 16 stee|
re|norc|ng bars |t needed.
A|so, the concrete co|umns
were th|nner than necessary
and were reduced even more
when |re sh|e|ds were |nsta||ed
around the esca|ators.
4. D|sregard to Ma|ntenance:
ln Apr|| 1995, extens|ve cracks
were spotted, revea||ng h|gh
r|sk o co||apse. These ractures
grew exponent|a||y, but man-
agement to not |ose the day's
revenue, reused to evacuate
the bu||d|ng.
Seven m|nutes beore the co|-
|apse, the bu||d|ng began to pop
andcrack, andemp|oyees soun-
ded the a|arm, but |t was too |ate
to avert d|saster, and 1,500 peo-
p|e were trapped |ns|de.
Aftermath & Lesson Learnt: Th|s trag|c
event |s a sad examp|e o uneth|ca|
dec|s|ons. Many aced |mpr|sonment
or neg||gence and br|bery ater the |nc|-
dent
Sampoong Department Store, Seou|, South Korea
68 The Masterbu||der - 2013 May www.masterbu||der.co.|n
Bu||d|ng Fa||ures
The Sampoong co||apse on|y made
the pub||c aware o a dead|y prob|em
that p|agued the|r structures. Out o the
|nvest|gat|on, 14% o SouthKoreansky-
scrapers were unsae, 84% needed
repa|r, and on|y 2% met codes and gov-
ernment standards.
The d|saster |ater put a quest|on-
mark regard|ng saety standards on
other eng|neer|ng pro|ects be|ng
undertaken as South Korea |n 1980s &
90s was exper|enc|ng an econom|c
boom. A deta||ed rev|ew o South
Koreansaety regu|at|ons resu|ted
Twin Towers, New York City, USA
W|thout a doubt, the most devastat-
|ng bu||d|ng co||apse |n h|story was that
o the Wor|d Trade Center, on Septem-
ber 11, 2001.
The Tw|n Towers were masteru||y
eng|neeredus|ng||ghtwe|ght stee|, acen-
tra| core, and an egg-crate des|gn cre-
at|ng a "redundant" structure. ln other
words, | one co|umn or support were to
a||, another wou|d take |ts p|ace.
Each bu||d|ng cou|d hand|e 5,000
tons o |atera| w|nd-|oad. The
we|ght o the |ets were not enough
to overcome the strength o these
per|meter co|umns.
Though 90,000 ga||ons o burn|ng
|et ue| d|dn't me|t the stee| co|umns
ho|d|ng up the bu||d|ng, |t de|n|te|y
weakened them.
W|th 50 percent o the|r prev|ous
strength the co|umns st||| cou|d
ho|d upthe bu||d|ng.
The uneven temperature o the |re,
d|stortedthestee| onones|deo sky-
scraper caus|nga stress that proved
too much, |ead|ng to eventua| buck-
||ng o the |oors. And then began a
dom|no co||apse, pancak|ng down
one ontopo the other.
Each tower we|gh|ng 500,000 tons,
|n |ust ten seconds, had the bu||d|ngs
co||aps|ng, to h|t the ground at 124
mph.
LessonLearnt
Desp|te the act that there were no
spec||c eng|neer|ng |aws |nvo|ved |n
the des|gn o the Tw|n Towers, eng|neers
re||g|ous|y cont|nue study|ng the bu||d-
|ngs to |earn more about redundant
des|gn and progress|ve co||apse, and
most |mportant|y, w|th the a|mo ormu-
|at|ng ||e-sav|ng saety and evacuat|on
procedures |nthe uture.
PartingWords of Wisdom:
Tota| progress|ve co||apse, |s an
eng|neer|ng phenomenon, |rst recog-
n|zed |n Ponan Po|nt, where TPC tr|g-
gered the part|a| co||apse that brought
an ent|re corner o the comp|ex buck-
||ng to the ground.
Any bu||d|ngs bear|ng severe, con-
centrated b|ows that cr|pp|e s|gn||cant
structura| components (support beams,
co|umns, etc.) can crumb|e | the dam-
ages aren't conta|ned and | compo-
nents e|sewhere b|owout.
Accord|ng to Mechan|cs o Pro-
gress|ve Co||apse, when upper |oors
crash down on those be|ow, sand
w|ch|ng |ayers o rubb|e and debr|s, the
|n|t|a| he|ght o a story reduces to ,
where ex-presses the compact|on
rat|o. (ln |n|te-stra|n theory, |s ca||ed
"stretch."). From here, "the |oad can
|ncreasew|thout bounds."
TPCis a two-phase process: Crush-
down, whereby grav|ty and the |mmense
downward k|net|c thrust o |oors upon
mashed |oors success|ve|y crushes
everyth|ng be|ow, g|ves way to Crush-
up, the ree-a|||ng top|oors now p|||ng
on top o the wreckage.
The 9/11 destruct|on o the Wor|d
TradeCentre(WTC) wasab|gsurpr|seor
the structura| eng|neer|ng proess|on.
No exper|enced structura| eng|neer
expected the WTC towers to co||apse.
The act that |t d|d, co||apse compe||ed
|ndepthexam|nat|on.
The WTC |s test|mony to the danger o
progress|ve co||apse, as do,
- The co||apse o Ponan Po|nt apart-
ments |nthe n|ted K|ngdom |n
- The NewWor|d Hote| |nS|ngapore,
- The 2000 Commonwea|th Ave.
tower |n Boston |n 1971, tr|ggered
by punch|ng o |nsu|c|ent|y hard-
ened s|ab,
- among the ones d|scussed here
and many others.
Progress|ve co||apse |s poss|b|e
even or the mass|ve |oad-bear|ng con-
crete cores o the ta||est recent sky-
scrapers, though |t wou|d be much
harder to |n|t|ate. However, once a |oca|
damage causes a su|c|ent downward
d|sp|acement o the super|or part o
structure, co||apse |s unstoppab|e.
Tota| progress|ve co||apse |s a poten-
t|a| "a||uremode"o extremeconcern!
70 The Masterbu||der - 2013 May www.masterbu||der.co.|n
Bu||d|ng Fa||ures
Tw|n Towers co||apse on 11 September 2001