How do they demolish buildings in densely populated and built up areas without destroying things nearby?
In: Engineering
They start from the outside in when blowing it up so the building falls straight down and collapses inward on itself and doesn’t tip over into surrounding buildings.
Depends on the height of the building. For shorter buildings they’ll use a simple crane and wrecking ball. Most debris will fall withing the building’s footprint. However as you get taller that technique would take forever and the higher the debris breaks off the less control you have of where it falls
So at heights they will use explosives. They will target the central structural supports of the building the whole way up. like pulling the center card out of a house of cards, the whole thing will collapse inwards into its own footprint. Now the actual math and planning behind it is very complex and changes from job to job but that’s the basic idea behind it
Strategically place explosives the the building collapses straight down. The explosives are usually placed around central support beams and after the explosion the structure of building is weakened to the point that it can’t hold up it’s own weight. It pretty much accordions down.
Contrary to the other responses you have received so far, generally buildings in densely populated areas are not demolished using explosives.
Usually they just pull the building down piece-by-piece. They’ll start with removing interior finishes (flooring, ceilings), partition walls, mechanical and electrical systems, etc. so that the only thing left is the structure itself. They’ll strategically demolish the structure starting from the top and working their way down.
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