What were the causes of the building collapse in Miami: more and more experts continue to join the investigation

Engineers and architects who worked hard to determine the causes of the building collapse in Florida said that it might take a long time to rebuild the tracks to find out why a crash occurred Partial Miami condo.

However, the experts assured that there is some data that they worked on to come to a conclusion: corroded components, an undercut foundation or defects in the building, both in construction and design.

“When a building falls on itself, there is more likely a loss of support somewhere”said Abieyuwa Aghayere, professor of civil, architectural and environmental engineering at Drexel University.

The Champlain Towers were about to undergo a series of repairs for damage such as corrosion, deterioration of paint on walls, among others. All this within the framework of a structural rectification that is customary to carry out when buildings are 40 years old.

Due to its location so close to the sea, sea salts can penetrate structures and start rusting steel components, especially rebar which may be poorly protected.

But there are other factors that could make a building vulnerable to collapse. Charlie Danger, who retired as Miami-Dade County construction chief seven years ago, said unauthorized remodeling could result in the removal of a structural support column.

In addition, some experts like Aghayere have stated that a sinkhole or other foundation problems could cause great instability under a building.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava on Friday vowed that a full investigation would be carried out to determine the causes of the collapse.

“We need a definitive explanation of how this could have happened”, DeSantis said.

Federal investigators are already hard at work on the site. The National Institute of Standards and Technology, which investigated the World Trade Center fall on September 11, sent a team of experts to Florida on Friday afternoon to meet with local construction officials and engineers.

Sissy Nikolaou, a geotechnical expert who is part of the federal team, will study the design of the building, to determine if it has undergone any changes over time and to be able to find out what happened before the building. collapse. He assured that the group’s first visit could last about a week.

“You have to understand the landscape of a disaster”said Nikolaou.

Algunos investigadores han encontrado, gracias a la utilización de radares especiales que sirven para determinar potenciales inundaciones en el área de Miami Beach, que mucho antes de que ocurriera el colapso la torre ya se estaba hundiendo, lo cual no pasaba con las edificaciones que estaban a Area.

“I was surprised,” said Shimon Wdowinski, professor of environment at Florida International University. “I didn’t expect to see movement there. It is a stable part of the city. “

Additionally, Wdowinski said there are other areas that are seeing even greater subsidence and yet no collapsed buildings have been reported as happened with the Champlain Towers.

In the past, some tenants of the building had already lodged complaints attributed to the lack of maintenance of the facilities such as flooding, strong vibrations from neighboring buildings, etc.

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