RANA PLAZA BUILDING

Savar, Bangladesh Collapsed on April 24, 2013

 On April 24, 2013, the structure of the Rana

Plaza building catastrophically collapsed,
bringing down the entire 8-story reinforced
concrete structure.
The Plaza was originally designed as a four-story
building primarily for retail store use, but was
instead occupied by garment factories.
With a death toll of 1,129 people, it is the
deadliest accidental building collapse in history.

 Multiple factors led to the inadequacy of the design of the

building's structure, including illegal construction, poor
regulation of codes and inspections, and dangerous
ignorance by the managerial staff.
The Plaza was owned by Sohel Rana, who used his
aggressive tenacity and political connections to acquire
illegal permits and bribe government officials to approve
construction
On the day prior to the collapse, warning signs of numerous
cracks throughout structure and caution expressed by local
engineers were ignored by the garment factory owner and
managers, leading to unsafe occupation of the building and
the tragic deaths of over a thousand workers.

 The structure of the

building was cast-in-place
concrete with steel
reinforcement. The design
was simple in nature with
flat slabs supported by
typical beams and
columns. Four diesel
generators located on the
roof of the building were
known to activate over a
dozen times per day in
order to restore electricity
and clothing production.

 Unsuitable land for multi-story construction

Before construction, a marshy swamp land with a small pond could
be seen at the site of the Plaza. The soil composition of the land was
unstable and had inadequate strength to support the weight of the
building. However, instead of removing the unstable soil and
replacing it with better, stronger soil with the strength needed to
support the building, rubbish and trash was used to fill in the swamp.
Use of poor quality construction materials.
The committee found that construction "used extremely poor quality
iron rods and cement".
For the Plaza, cement used to make the concrete included too much
sand, making it more brittle and weak. In addition, the sub-floors
were cast too thin and did not have the necessary depth and strength
needed to disperse and support the loads of the building. The
reinforcing steel used in the concrete also had its share of issues. Due
to unavailability and high cost, it was a difficult material to obtain. In
order to decrease the budget, less steel was embedded in the concrete
than was called for in the design.

 Loads placed on the

building were not within
design criteria.
Poor regulation and
enforcement of building
codes.
High demand within the
garment market.

Burj Dubai Building (Burj Khalifa)

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

 The Burj Dubai Project is a multiuse development tower with a

total floor area of 460,000 square
meters that includes residential,
hotel, commercial, office,
entertainment, shopping, leisure,
and parking facilities. The Burj
Dubai project is designed to be the
centerpiece of the large scale Burj
Dubai Development that rises into
the sky to an unprecedent height
that exceeds 700 meters and that
consists of more than 160 floors.

 The tower superstructure

of Burj Dubai is designed
as an all reinforced
concrete building with
high performance concrete
from the foundation level
to level 156, and is topped
with a structural steel
braced frame from level
156 to the pinnacle.

 The tower massing is also driven by wind

engineering requirements to reduce dynamic
wind excitation. As the tower spirals into the sky,
the buildings width and shape diminish, thus
reducing wind dynamic effects, movement, and
acceleration. Integrating wind engineering
principals and requirements into the
architectural design of the tower results in a
stable dynamic response, taming the powerful
wind forces.

Foundation System
The Tower is founded on a 3700mm thick high
performance reinforced concrete pile supported raft
foundation at -7.55 DMD. The reinforced concrete raft
foundation utilizes high performance Self Compacting
Concrete (SCC) and is placed over a minimum 100mm
blinding slab over waterproofing membrane, over at
least 50mm blinding slab. The raft foundation bottom
and all sides are protected with waterproofing
membrane.

 The piles are 1500mm diameter, high performance

reinforced concrete bored piles, extending approximately
45 meters below the base of the raft. All piles utilize self
compacting concrete (SCC) with w/c ratio not exceeding
0.30, placed in one continuous concrete pour using the
tremie method. The final pile elevations are founded at
-55 DMD to achieve the assumed pile capacities of
3000Tonnes.
A robust cathodic protection system for both the bored
piles and the raft foundation system protects the
foundation and the reinforced concrete raft against the
severe and corrosive environment (chloride and sulfate)
of the soil at the Burj Dubai site.