Thread: 13-Story Tower Topples Over In Shanghai

Recently a 32-story condo tower on South Padre Island in Texas had to be imploded after being topped out because of a foundation failure. Now get a load of this 13-story condo tower in Shanghai that fell over on its side - relatively intact!. This incident occurred about six months ago.

Nine under probe for building collapse

SHANGHAI: Police are investigating nine people in connection with the collapse of an under-construction residential building, the local government said yesterday.

The nine people, whose names were not released, either work for the property developer, contractor, quality supervisor or the construction company involved with the project, the Minhang district government said in a statement.

They have been placed under "control", which means they haven't been detained but their movements have been restricted, the officials said, adding that the government also controlled the capital flow of the developer of the building.

On Saturday morning, one of 11 unoccupied apartment blocks of the Lotus Riverside residential complex in east Shanghai's Minhang district fell on its side, almost intact, killing a construction worker.

. . .

Of the 629 apartments in the residential complex 489 had already been bought before the structure collapsed.

. . .

Hundreds of angry homeowners who had bought the apartments stormed the reception office of the local government on Sunday demanding a refund and compensation.

. . .

A district government official, who would not be named, said the remaining 10 buildings in the residential complex "were found safe after an inspection" following the collapse.

Xu Jianping, who owns a flat in the block next to the collapsed structure, said he yesterday received a letter from the property developer, which read that they were sorry for the accident and the inconvenience caused and that they will ensure homeowners get their due.

According to reports, after the tower was constructed and nearly complete construction of an underground parking structure was begun on one side of the tower. The excavated soil was stockpiled on the opposite side of the tower. Heavy rains caused unforseen lateral loads on the foundation causing the pilings to snap off and the tower to fall toward the excavation.










The other towers in this photo are not leaning. They appear to be leaning because the photo was taken with a wide angle lens.



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Below are a few diagrams that explain how the Shanghai tower toppled over:


(1) An underground garage was being dug on the south side, to a depth of 4.6 meters
(2) The excavated dirt was being piled up on the north side, to a height of 10 meters
(3) The building experienced uneven lateral pressure from south and north
(4) This resulted in a lateral pressure of 3,000 tonnes, which was greater than what the pilings could tolerate. Thus the building toppled over in the southerly direction.


First, the apartment building was constructed


Then the plan called for an underground garage to be dug out.
The excavated soil was piled up on the other side of the building.


Heavy rains resulted in water seeping into the ground.


The building began to shift and the concrete pilings were snapped
due to the uneven lateral pressures.

The building began to tilt.



The tower continued to topple over until it was lying on its side - relatively intact.

I think someone may have posted this before, or is this a different building?

Originally Posted by chris mcintyre

I think someone may have posted this before, or is this a different building?

Same building I believe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pktM__i-8IQ
This is it I think.
and then

LiveLeak.com - Failed building demolition creates the "Leaning Tower of Liuzhou"
There is this one that refused to fall.