Building collapse in Miami Beach

[letusbuyyourcar]

This reminds me of the Oklahoma City bombing.

I was thinking the same thing. Just the " looks like" part though . No Alex Jones theories . Not yet anyway. It was built in 81. Just heard on the news the whole thing has to come down. No surprise there though. I mean how would you save half a collapsed building?

 

[hikingthehills]

If not structurally sound and it was sinking all it would take is for a couple of columns to fail and the weight of everything else falling could just pull it down on itself. Sad for the families still missing someone in there. It’s not pretty.

 

[Hayata]

I was wondering if it could have been a sink hole.

 

[palmettomoon]

I was wondering if it could have been a sink hole.

Story says it was sinking. If the project on the next lot used caps to break through the Miami Limestone (ubiquitous layer 3-4 ft down) maybe that contributed. The investigation and reports (if released) will be very interesting reading.

 

[Lionheart]

Definitely a subgrade problem. Probably a shelf of rock with a cavity underneath. When pouring the foundation the foundation piling are driven down with a hammer until they achieve “bearing”...meaning the steel piling only goes down like a fraction after repeated hammer blows of a specific force.
This is called “bearing”.
I personally saw a piling like this that achieved bearing...in a bridge end bent over I-20 in the Douglasville area in the 70’s.
The State DOT observed and approve the bearing and the h-pile was cut off leaving over 3 feet exposed above grade.
When we came to work the next morning...it was gone. It had disappeared into the ground.
Engineers determined that it been driven into an underground rock shelf with an empty cavity underneath...and overnight the weight of the pile fractured the shelf.
The blasting next door likely fractured a similar shelf under the this building.
Today, sophisticated underground sonars can detect these underground cavities...not so 40 years ago.

 

[crippen]

The building was in the midst undergoing its 40 year review. Engineers have been inspecting the building over the past weeks. It’s wild timing. Another week, maybe days and they may have been able to find a warning sign.

 

[OttoMan]

Sadly, 99 folks still missing, including children….

 

[palmettomoon]

Sadly, 99 folks still missing, including children….

Damn. I was kind of hoping it was empty mostly. How awful to think you're in a safe place (home or on vacation) only to get crushed in your sleep. God have mercy on those people.

 

[hikingthehills]

Definitely a subgrade problem. Probably a shelf of rock with a cavity underneath. When pouring the foundation the foundation piling are driven down with a hammer until they achieve “bearing”...meaning the steel piling only goes down like a fraction after repeated hammer blows of a specific force.
This is called “bearing”.
I personally saw a piling like this that achieved bearing...in a bridge end bent over I-20 in the Douglasville area in the 70’s.
The State DOT observed and approve the bearing and the h-pile was cut off leaving over 3 feet exposed above grade.
When we came to work the next morning...it was gone. It had disappeared into the ground.
Engineers determined that it been driven into an underground rock shelf with an empty cavity underneath...and overnight the weight of the pile fractured the shelf.
The blasting next door likely fractured a similar shelf under the this building.
Today, sophisticated underground sonars can detect these underground cavities...not so 40 years ago.

Even now with the high rises that we build around Atlanta they usually only do boring to find out where true rock depth is. When installing the foundations they run the drill down to what they call refusal which is usually 2-3 feet into rock to create a rock socket and then we pour caissons or auger cast piles. At the depth's that rock is at usually it's impossible to see what's below it. On average we'll drill between 50-80 feet.
I'm sure means and method's are different down there. That's wild about the H Pile disappearing, I've heard similar stories over the years. It's hard to know what's below your feet.

 

[RiverBend]

4 dead now, 99 still msg