THEORETICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OFTHE COLLAPSE OF TOWERS BUILT FROM SMALL ELEMENTS

Abstract

Determining the safety distance within which it
is dangerous to stay due to falling elements is
an important engineering problem during the demolition of tall buildings. In our research, we conducted experiments by knocking down towers composed of wooden elements and recorded the location of the furthest one. We also developed a generally applicable physical model for predicting the aforementioned distance, taking into account a general observation that the ratio of the kinetic energy absorbed in a collision depends on impact velocity. Our model successfully explains why the safety distance is not directly proportional to the height of the tower. The method proposed in our work can be used to develop a model applicable to large- scale building demolition in the future.