Miami Condo Collapse: Engineers Baffled By Mystery Column

Comments · 2K

• RU

  @russlehman2070 · 4 years ago

  The more I learn about Champlain Towers South, the more I think that the true mystery is not why it collapsed, but how it managed to stay standing for 40 years.

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• MI

  @mikedean4236 · 4 years ago

  The rebar sticking up out of the ground in the mystery location could have come from the column that sat atop the h-bar, which separated from it and then was "pile driven" into the concrete floor.  There is no concrete visible, which could be because it was pulverized as the column was driven through the concrete slab.

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• FR

  @fraidykat · 4 years ago

  We know it came from somewhere, and we know this column lines up with where the column above the H used to reside. This is now in the basement floor right where we would expect it to be if the H shifted towards the collapse area. <br> <br>When M11.1 fell, it created a void in the center of the structure that then pulled the H beam towards Mll.1&apos;s main pillar victim. &nbsp;You can see the columns that remain under the H show the H has shifted towards the initial collapse point. <br> <br>That &quot;mystery column&quot; is the ground floor column that when all the way up to the penthouse suite. &nbsp;Instead of staying connected to the H, at some poin tin the collapse sequence the column unhinged itself form the H and instead drove into the basement floor, with the weight above the column and the force of gravity together acting as a hammer to drive that column into the basement floor. &nbsp;Yes, there&apos;s a very good reason why it is now leacking - it&apos;s punched through the ground floor. <br> <br>That&apos;s it.

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• SI

  @siamsurf · 4 years ago

  My theory: That mystery column was actually the one that started on top of the H-beam, and it impaled the ground, when it slid off the H-beam. It would also explain the water which pools around the mystery column.

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• RA

  @raouliii · 4 years ago (edited)

  My guess is that column started on the 1st floor and punctured the floor of the garage during the collapse. &nbsp;When the H beam shifted during the initial collapse, the mystery column had zero support and helped initiate the collapse of the eastern section of the building. &nbsp;Two observations to support the puncture: &nbsp;There doesn&apos;t appear to be any residual concrete in between the rebar of the mystery column at the floor level like the other columns and a puncture would be the reason water seems to be rising through the floor at that location.

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• JA

  @jaysonpida5379 · 4 years ago

  Tend to agree with the &apos;punch-thru&apos; explanation &gt; There&apos;s no concrete cladding around it&apos;s base as all the other parking garage &apos;pillars&apos; exhibit and there does appear to be a &apos;punch-through&apos; hole that has just been filled with all the muck from the clean-up and is still leaking the ground-water. The reason all those re-bar make it appear to be a larger column then what&apos;s in the plans is that it&apos;s all that vertical column rebar coming down trying to ram itself through the hole -a true pile driver. Wouldn&apos;t be surprised if that rebar goes down 20+ feet.

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• LA

  @LakeNipissing · 4 years ago

  Jeff, &nbsp;your tool review / sale videos are nice, &nbsp;but this is the technical stuff I have been waiting for (and I am sure others too).

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• JE

  @jenniferbeyer6412 · 4 years ago

  The theory about the column pile driving itself into the basement floor makes sense and answers the questions of the collapse. Also why there is water in that area. It punched through to the water table.

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• GE

  @getx1951 · 4 years ago

  Thanks Jeff for the additional, continuing info regarding the collapse.

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• EV

  @EvonneLindiwe · 4 years ago

  Happy and unhappy columns.. SUBSCRIBED 👏🏿🤘🏿

• EL

  @ellenkass9410 · 4 years ago

  Thanks Jeff. This gets curiouser and curiouser. &nbsp;🏜👩‍🦳🌻🌞

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• AN

  @andrewostrelczuk406 · 4 years ago

  Just discovered your channel, and I’m gonna say I’m impressed! So I’m going to Identify as an Arm Chair engineer, 20 years of Army Service, seen some amazing Sheet in my life. <br>I know that you have mentioned that the Mystery Column was not saposed to be into the basement, my idea is that the possible way that a column should have been connected with the H-beam is/Was a Pocket that it would have set in. Like a upside down dragons tooth. A little bit like a pyramid with the top cut off. It was at the bottom of the 12 floors above it and IMO, it would have significant pressure to the side loading to the East with your description. As well as the down pressure from the weight of the building above. Hey I’m not a school trained engineer just got this as an idea. And I’ve seen nothing on the build structure of the H-beam. But in the pictures that you have shown with the water filled in around the mystery column it would have been a fantastic failure to the outside of the East abutment (might be the wrong word to describe it) where the tooth was lodged into the “H” and if it’s the beginning end of the column then it could have a lot of re-bar starting there and then at the Flange it would flare to widen to (did you say 14”) in that case the rebar guessing it to be 10-12 inches deeper in the tooth and that the flange was the point at which it stopped in the floor of the garage. Subsequent removal procedures would have stopped at the end of the flange and making it seem more like a column was there. The only thing that I do not have a scale to measure the amount depth, and inclusion of the leaves of water indicating that it is a low spot in the garage floor IMO support the impact into the floor and cracking should also radiate from the surface of garage floor. Hey I’m just going to leave it at that. Maybe I got it right, maybe I’m totally off it’s purely speculation... on my part.

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