SIAP 7.7 Magnitude Earthquake in Myanmar/ Thailand

Grant Green

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Jan 21, 2004
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That's a big one. Disconcerting that a new building being constructed collapsed. You would hope that new structures are designed to resist seismic shaking. I wonder if it was a liquefaction issue affecting the soil supporting the foundation (still should have been designed for).
 

LionJim

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That's a big one. Disconcerting that a new building being constructed collapsed. You would hope that new structures are designed to resist seismic shaking. I wonder if it was a liquefaction issue affecting the soil supporting the foundation (still should have been designed for).
Apparently liquefaction was an issue. Would you say you consider the fact that the building was under construction to be irrelevant?
 

PSU87

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Jun 8, 2001
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That's a big one. Disconcerting that a new building being constructed collapsed. You would hope that new structures are designed to resist seismic shaking. I wonder if it was a liquefaction issue affecting the soil supporting the foundation (still should have been designed for).
Developing countries may not be able to afford those types of mitigations. Even in the US we would see some damage from a quake of that magnitude on structures that pre-dated the latest codes.

Same here in hurricane country. My 2002 built home did much better than the 1991 pre-Hurricane Andrew code update homes.
 
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LionJim

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Developing countries may not be able to afford those types of mitigations. Even in the US we would see some damage from a quake of that magnitude on structures that pre-dated the latest codes.

Same here in hurricane country. My 2002 built home did much better than the 1991 pre-Hurricane Andrew code update homes.
The collapsed building was in Bangkok, a fair distance from the epicenter, 600 miles. (I just checked.)
 

Grant Green

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Apparently liquefaction was an issue. Would you say you consider the fact that the building was under construction to be irrelevant?
It's relevant because the design is in accordance most recent current building codes (and seismic considerations). Older building are more prone to collapse since they were likely not built to resist seismic forces or liquefaction issues.
 

LionJim

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It's relevant because the design is in accordance most recent current building codes (and seismic considerations). Older building are more prone to collapse since they were likely not built to resist seismic forces or liquefaction issues.
I guess my question is did the building collapse only because it was still under construction? If it had been completed would it still be standing?
 

Grant Green

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Developing countries may not be able to afford those types of mitigations. Even in the US we would see some damage from a quake of that magnitude on structures that pre-dated the latest codes.

Same here in hurricane country. My 2002 built home did much better than the 1991 pre-Hurricane Andrew code update homes.
I won't pretend to know the building codes in Thailand, but I would be very surprised if new buildings in Bangkok were being designed with no seismic considerations at all. They may not be as stringent as codes in other countries, so they may suffer more EQ damage, but they should absolutely be designed to resist collapse. This is a new building so it should be under the current building code.
 

Grant Green

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I guess my question is did the building collapse only because it was still under construction? If it had been completed would it still be standing?
Ah, got you. I'm not a structural engineer so can't say for sure, but I can't think of a reason that it would be more vulnerable to collapse because it's under construction. Any eq resistant structural features should already be in place (moment frames, bracing, shear walls). Maybe some shear walls hadn't been constructed yet? @step.eng69 may have thoughts.
 

step.eng69

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Ah, got you. I'm not a structural engineer so can't say for sure, but I can't think of a reason that it would be more vulnerable to collapse because it's under construction. Any eq resistant structural features should already be in place (moment frames, bracing, shear walls). Maybe some shear walls hadn't been constructed yet? @step.eng69 may have thoughts.
Thank you for thinking of me, Grant...
Sitting and having a few slices of pizza, when I was informed you mentioned me in a post.
This is the first I heard of the building collapse. I don't now any information about the building design, construction or the codes in that particular area.
Should information out of the ordinary pass my eyes, I'll be sure to forward to you.

Haven't been spending much time here since the `new administration' exiled the US from our allies, staying in tune to the nimrod's polices on an hourly basis.
 

LionJim

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Ah, got you. I'm not a structural engineer so can't say for sure, but I can't think of a reason that it would be more vulnerable to collapse because it's under construction. Any eq resistant structural features should already be in place (moment frames, bracing, shear walls). Maybe some shear walls hadn't been constructed yet? @step.eng69 may have thoughts.
โ€œProblematic constructionโ€ seems to have been a factor in the Bangkok collapse.
 
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Tgar

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We landed in Hanoi last night. They could apparently feel it here and all the way in the south in Ho Chi Min City as well. That is a lot of miles for the tremors to travel.
 

step.eng69

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โ€œProblematic constructionโ€ seems to have been a factor in the Bangkok collapse.

Yikes. I guess better now than when the building was completed and full.
Not really Grant,
There have been many issues of faulty construction practices in the Asian countries for the past decades.
attached a video that explains construction in China.


 
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Grant Green

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Not really Grant,
There have been many issues of faulty construction practices in the Asian countries for the past decades.
attached a video that explains construction in China.



Wow, frightening. Crap materials, bribery/corruption, poor inspection. This was all in China. I don't want to assume it's consistent with other Asian countries, but this sure would make sense for the building that collapsed in Thailand.
 

throw2oj

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There was a documentary on the Nepal earthquake a few years ago that had something fascinating, the buildings that survived were certain ages, not all old or all new but at certain specific times. They found the surviving buildings were built a certain way (some sort of wood frames if I remember) and then over the course of the next 80 or 100 years folks 'forgot' how to build in this earthquake safe way and those interim buildings didn't survive. An interesting comment on human nature, I would think.

edit: and a lack of wood resulted in the change as well, forgot that part!
 
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LionJim

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There was a documentary on the Nepal earthquake a few years ago that had something fascinating, the buildings that survived were certain ages, not all old or all new but at certain specific times. They found the surviving buildings were built a certain way (some sort of wood frames if I remember) and then over the course of the next 80 or 100 years folks 'forgot' how to build in this earthquake safe way and those interim buildings didn't survive. An interesting comment on human nature, I would think.

edit: and a lack of wood resulted in the change as well, forgot that part!
You would think that the ancient temples in Thailand would have been at risk during an earthquake but I have not read of any damage along these lines.
 
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Catch1lion

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WSJ had two articles on the collapse . Crappy construction and codes that are no where near what Japan or California require were the biggest contributors .
Think Al Czervik and Wang did a few of these projects .
 
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step.eng69

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Wow, frightening. Crap materials, bribery/corruption, poor inspection. This was all in China. I don't want to assume it's consistent with other Asian countries, but this sure would make sense for the building that collapsed in Thailand.

I've watched Josh Porter perform structural analysis on many building failures over the past 4 yrs starting w/the series on the Surfside Side. Josh does an excellent job explaining the retrofit to correct the Millennium Tower's foundations' subsidence & tilt. I have to agree w/Josh on the proposed remedy.....the steel resistance plate is not sized correctly and will possibly fail in the future.

  1. Should read the comments following the video they are very interesting and informative

toothlessseer3153

So far, the building has tilted about 30 inches. (Another 6 inches, the plumbing and elevators will stop working). These are Hail Mary moves to delay that day by a few years (so that the chief engineer & city officials are retired when this happens).
Gwacckk
"I've completed a few pull out tests on piles and grouted anchors over the years. I've seen 40mm (1 3/4 inch) steel bar fail in tension at 70% (~900kN) of its "ultimate" load (~ 1250 kN). Very similar loads to the bars in this design. I've also seen the nut on a 40mm bar pull through a 25mm (1 inch) plate at similar loads. When you are dealing with loads this extreme, things deform in ways you don't expect and sometimes attract additional loads greater than design. I would also question the concrete's ability to take the load as well as the plate. When steel fails at these loads, it's like a bomb going off!"

dimvoly 1 year ago

"Very good explanation. Did you happen to ask these guys if they've picked this stuff up during construction? The "bearing" plate would look mighty small when compared to the giant rod on site, even if it was ungrouted. Even a non-engineer looking at it would raise questions (the steel fabricator or the site foreman). Of course, small plate or big plate, the rest of this project is a complete shambles."



๐™ˆ๐™ž๐™ก๐™ก๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฃ๐™ž๐™ช๐™ข ๐™๐™ค๐™ฌ๐™š๐™ง ๐™ฅ๐™ก๐™–๐™ฎ๐™ก๐™ž๐™จ๐™ฉ: โ€ข Millennium Tower
 
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