On the 24th of June 2021 at night the Champlain Towers South, a 12-story beachfront condominium in the Miami suburb of Surfside, Florida collapsed partially. This collapse simulation was made based on the presently available data, eyewitness, and video accounts.

The authors are independent researchers and impartial hoping to constructively contribute to the fact-finding. This study demonstrates the collapse mechanism assuming the following plausible hypothesis:

According to the data, the basement deck showed signs of extended soaking for many years. The problem was locally insufficiently patched and not rectified in its entirety. The wetting caused the deck ceiling to be weakened to such an extent that basement pillars punched through the deck where additional load had peaked at the planter area.

The authors hope to not distress relatives of victims with the application of dummy dolls in this simulation that have the sole purpose of tracking victims in potential cavities within the debris.

Air pockets visualization followup: https://youtu.be/XkwHxVGKQKU

The Bullet-Constraints-Builder simulation software is open-source, it was developed within the EU FP7 funded INACHUS framework.

Kostack Studio was supported by Architect Oliver Walter with the data analysis.

Main sources:

8777-collins-avenue—preliminary-review-plans-for-40-year-re-certification.pdf
8777-collins-ave-1979-plans.pdf
8777-collins-ave—unverified-inspection-report.pdf

Credits:

Simulation & video by Kai Kostack
http://kostackstudio.de

Consultant: Dipl. Arch. ETH Oliver Walter

Music:
Sergey Cheremisinov – Fog (CC BY)
Kevin Hartnell – Aurora (CC BY)

Made with Blender + BCB + Fracture Modifier

Homepage


https://inachuslaurea.wordpress.com
https://github.com/KaiKostack/bullet-constraints-builder
https://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?343637-Custom-Build-Blender-Fracture-Modifier

The “BCB” structural simulation software has been developed at the Laurea University of Applied Sciences, Finland. Written within the scope of EU Inachus FP7 Project (607522): Technological and Methodological Solutions for Integrated Wide Area Situation Awareness and Survivor Localisation to Support Search and Rescue (USaR) Teams