CME.12 – Surfside Condominium Collapse: Geotechnical Investigation
Team Members Heading link
- John David
- Pratyush Mehrotra
- Parth Patel
- Dhiren Rajmohan
- Zak Spica
- Ethan Waratuke
Project Description Heading link
Surfside Condominium Collapse: Geotechnical Investigation The Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida collapsed on June 24, 2021. Investigations have not yet provided the conclusive cause of the collapse. This project provides crucial information on the potential root causes of the collapse and exposes possible geotechnical and structural failures in the design of the condominium. A handful of investigations are already being conducted on the incident from a structural perspective. Contrary to that, this project will be focusing on the geotechnical side. The information was found by performing a feasibility study, based on the Army Corps of Engineers’ approach, on each possible failure mode by investigating Surfside’s geology and the design history of the condominium. This study was conducted with a modified semi-quantitative risk assessment (SQRA), which is a common method used to evaluate and categorize potential failure modes from a risk perspective. Some of the causes examined include erosion, settlement, sinkholes, corrosion of concrete reinforcement, construction vibrations, and lack of maintenance of the condominium. The results of the study show that settlement, sinkholes, and the general design of the foundation are unlikely causes of this failure, but that corrosion of concrete reinforcement has the highest probability of failure at 99%, followed by the lack of maintenance at 95%, construction vibrations at 91.5%, and lastly, 43% for erosion. This suggests that the collapse of the building was caused by multiple factors that contributed to the main cause of the failure: corrosion of concrete reinforcement. Based on these results, recommendations on how to properly design to avoid these failures in Surfside, Florida were suggested. This information will help aid engineers in properly designing foundations and implementing preventive measures in coastal areas.