Why Did Bangkok 33-Story Building Collapse? Chinese Crime? Tofu Dreg building? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: MT
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 09, 2025, 07:50:19 pm
content: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tofu-dreg_project

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 09, 2025, 09:43:29 pm
content: This isn't really electronics related, but still interesting, if kept to technical discussions.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Bangkok_skyscraper_collapseTLDR:- Construction had started in 2020 and the building topped out in April 2024 as per the China Railway No.10 Engineering Group. The contractors were Italian-Thai Development under the supervision of China Railway Engineering Corporation.- Rebar tested from one of three suppliers after the collapse was found to not meet standards, could be the reason for collapse.- The one company supplying bad material had been shut down already in 2024.Its not clear what testing is required for rebar prior to installation, or if they just trust the testing provided by the supplier.and I'm not seeing any proof that it was a poorly constructed building on purpose? Unless someone can provide any.

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 09, 2025, 09:58:36 pm
content: In general, partially-completed modern structures are more vulnerable than when the exterior construction is completed.Much of the structural strength is in the skin.Simply put: a rectangle formed by four girders can collapse into a parallelogram, but adding a plane layer tends to prevent that collapse.(I have no information about sub-standard materials in this case.)

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 09, 2025, 10:23:17 pm
content: Quote from: TimFox on April 09, 2025, 09:58:36 pmI don't see anyone else claiming that though. It was only 30% complete but, everything else left was internal electrical/piping/etc and glass walls on the outside. I can't see glass adding much strength.https://engineering.stackexchange.com/questions/45529/do-windows-add-to-strength-or-rigidityThis is what the construction company claimed:Quotehttps://www.nationthailand.com/news/general/40048357

author: Infraviolet
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 13, 2025, 08:08:09 pm
content: "Much of the structural strength is in the skin."I thought the whole idea for skyscrapers was quite the opposite of this, the outer surfaces are effectively hanging from a structure of beams and girders, supporting only themselves. I can see how an uncompleted building would often be weaker than a finished one, but in the case of a skyscraper that would be if the internal structure wasn't finished rather than simply because the cladding wasn't yet attached (have not watched video yet, so don't know exactly how unfinished this building was at collapse time).

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 13, 2025, 08:30:01 pm
content: Quote from: TimFox on April 09, 2025, 09:58:36 pmI'm not sure about that. It is my understanding that large buildings use the elevator shaft as a super structure (core) to give strength to the building and the floors are just stacked on top of eachother with small pillars keeping the floors apart. That is why in many building collapses you see the outer parts (floors) of the building falling down while the elevator shaft remains (or goes last). However, in this case it looks like the core of the building went first (as if it was blown up using demolition charges). So if I have to guess, it looks like something in the core structure gave way pulling the building into itself. The pile of rubble is very concentrated to a single spot as well. But I don't know how earthquake resilience plays into how buildings are constructed.