On Friday, November 2, 2012, Fabio Bruno Construcoes, with the help of Applied Science International (ASI), performed the implosion of 3 reinforced concrete buildings that were formerly an old hospital.
The triple demolition of the former Santa Monica hospital buildings in Niterói, Brazil was challenging for a number of reasons:
- To the right there was a road with houses along its entire length at a maximum distance of 10m(32.8 ft) from the edge of the buildings.
- To the front was the busiest street in Niterói. The street was 7 m (30 ft) away from one of the three buildings and there was a substantial risk that debris would fall into this street after the implosion.
- Finally, a flower shop bordered the wall of the building.
To perform the implosion, the sequence and delays between the column blasts were 300 milliseconds. The buildings’ central columns were the first to be detonated and the columns on the perimeter were the last. Some of the columns on the perimeter were not detonated to ensure that all debris remained within the footprint of the building itself.
Ultimately, the implosion occurred without incident. No power cables were damaged, no cracks in any of the adjacent buildings were observed and all the debris was contained inside the building footprint, as predicted by ASI Engineers. Sources:
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