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Foundation Failure

Rare Foundation Failure


of a Building in Shanghai, China

Dr. N. Subramanian, Consulting Engineer, Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA

Introduction often unpredictable natural hazards that there is an increasing literature


provides several uncertainties and on failures, the study of which will
The nature of civil engineering
difficulties. These factors present result in better and safer
construction differs from that of
several challenges to those involved structures 1-13. It is important to
almost all other manufacturing
in the design, construction, and consider failures as important
processes in that, most often, the
operation of constructed facilities. lessons and engineers should
product that is produced is unique.
In this scenario, it is beneficial ensure that they do not happen
Very rarely a building that is identical
for the civil/structural engineer to again.
to the one that is already built is
learn from past failures. Although Foundation failures are rare,
constructed. Even if an identical
failures are not frequent, the impact unless the building is located on
building is again constructed, the
is often devastating especially for expansive soils. It is because the
environment may change; for
those involved in the project. An factor of safety adopted in
example, the soil on which it is
awareness of the past mistakes foundation is often more than that
located, the wind or seismic load
and the lessons learnt will make adopted for structural components.
acting on the structure, etc. may
engineers better equipped to adopt The well–known foundation failure
change. Hence the opportunity to
safe and successful procedures and is the tilting of the tower at Pisa,
build a series of mock-ups and to
to avoid mistakes of the past. Italy5,12. This failure is unique for a
improve progressively till a perfect
It is unfortunate that many number of reasons, as the unequal
solution is obtained is not available
failures in India are neither reported settlement of its foundation is
to a civil/structural engineer.
nor analyzed and are often buried occurring continuously for the past
Moreover, the nature of the
under bureaucratic procedures. 800 years! Even though extensive
exposure of constructed facilities to
However, it is heartening to note investigations and analyses have

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Foundation Failure

been carried out in the past 70 Initially, it was thought that a There were also reports saying
years, there is no consensus on 70 m section of the flood prevention that cracks on the flood-prevention
the cause of this failure! However, wall in the nearby Dianpu River wall near the building, as well as
several remedial measures have might have triggered this building the special geological condition in
been undertaken in the past to keep collapse. the water bank area, may be part of
the tower serviceable till now. China’s official news agency, the reason for the collapse.
This article is concerned with Xinhua, reported that officials were However, these factors were not
another unique foundation failure of taking appropriate control measures found to be the basic reason of
a building in China and the lessons against nine people, including the this accident. An official investigation
learnt from this rare failure. developer, construction contractor has said that the accident was due
and supervisor of the project after it to the construction company’s
Rare Foundation was found that the company’s ignorance, rather than flaws in the
construction license had expired in design or building materials.
Failure in Shanghai, 2004. However, the report stopped short
China of apportioning blame, and has
At around 5:30am on June 27, Cause of Failure been criticized for failing to address
2009, an unoccupied 13-storey The cause of the building collapse key issues.
block of flat building, still under in Shanghai was due to a pressure The report said the collapse
construction, at Lianhuanan Road difference on two sides of the was caused by earth, excavated
in the Minhang district of Shanghai structure, according to an along the building on one side with
city toppled over and ended up lying investigation report released at a a depth of 4.6 m, for an underground
on its side in a muddy construction government press conference. car park, and piled up to depths of
field (see Fig.1). One worker was Improper construction methods are up to 10 m on the other side of the
killed. The official Xinhua News believed to be the reason of the structure (see Fig. 2). The weight of
Agency said that a 28-year-old building collapse in Shanghai, overburden earth created a pressure
worker, surnamed Xiao, had gone according to a report from the differential, which led to a shift in
into the building to get his tools investigation team. The investigation the soil structure, eventually
and tried to jump out the window team’s report said that workers dug weakening the foundations and
when the building fell. He was from an underground garage on one side causing them to fail. This situation
Anhui province in eastern China. of the building while on the other might have been aggravated by
Construction work on the block side earth was heaped up to 10m several days of heavy rain leading
appeared to have been nearly high, which was apparently an error up to the collapse, but investigators
completed, with windows fitted and in construction, according to a did not site this as a crucial factor.
a tiled facade. Other identical blocks report on eastday.com, Shanghai’s The report said the construction
in the same property development official news website. company - Shanghai Zhongxin
were still standing nearby (see Construction did not anticipate that
Fig.1).

Figure 1: Two views of a toppled 13-storey apartment building that buried one worker in Shanghai on 27th June 09. Photo: Reuters

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Foundation Failure

the overburden created by the greater than the capacity of


earth could have such a the concrete piles. Thus the
devastating effect. building toppled over in the
Investigations did not point southerly direction.
out whether the company’s The sequence of failure
errors were negligent or easily of the building is shown in
avoidable. However, they Fig. 3 and some more views
stressed that the building’s of the failure in Fig. 4.
foundations and construction Concern on constructed
materials all complied with the facilities in China14,15
city’s building regulations. China Daily, the state-run
The Shanghai Urban newspaper, penned an angry
Construction and editorial decrying the often
Communications Council, corrupt nexus between
conducted inspections on the Chinese property developers
remaining 10 apartment and local government officials
blocks and found that there is who depend on property taxes
no immediate danger to them. and land sales for a
However, it may conduct safety significant proportion of their
inspection of the surrounding income. Some construction
buildings again to ascertain industry insiders in China
their safety and stability. have expressed their fear that
Another interesting many buildings designed to
revelation of the investigation have a 70-year lifespan would
is that the construction not stand firm beyond 30 to
company did not provide any 40 years- because of corner-
structure to support the walls cutting during China’s
of the car park pit, and this rampant construction boom.
had been a key factor The collapse shocked
contributing to the accident. many in China where
From these investigations, Figure 2: Cause of failure, showing the condition at site construction failures are
it may be concluded that the relatively common in inland
failure was due to the following ♦ The building experienced uneven areas, but not expected in
causes (see Fig.2): lateral pressure from south and showcase cities such as Shanghai
♦ An excavation for underground north. This was due to the which will host the 2010 World Expo.
garage was made on the south overburden pressure and erosion On Monday, 29th June 09, just two
side, to a depth of 4.6 m, without of soil in the pit adjacent to the days after the Shanghai collapse,
any support for the earth walls. building, as a result of heavy rain. rescuers were searching a river in
♦ The excavated earth was piled ♦ This resulted in a lateral pressure northeast China after a section of a
up on the north side, to a height of 3,000 tonnes, which was road bridge gave way, sending
of 10 m.

(a) First, the apartment building was (b) Then the plan called for an underground (c) Heavy rains resulted in water seeping
constructed garage to be dug out. The excavated into the ground
soil was piled up on the other side
of the building

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Foundation Failure

(d) The building began to shift and the (e) The building started to tilt (f) Final failure of the building
concrete piles snapped due to the
uneven lateral pressures Figure 3: Sequence of the failure of the building

seven vehicles into the water below. new railway bridge, which killed at was caused by excavated earth on
Local sources said the bridge in least seven, and a crane which fell one side and piled up earth and
Tieli, a city in Heilongjiang province, on a kindergarten, killing five. The water table on the other side,
had been built in 1973 but repaired collapse of dozens of schools exerting differential pressure on the
as recently as 1997. during last year’s Sichuan piles. When the pile capacity
Substandard workmanship has earthquake also led to a wave of exceeded, the piles failed and the
been a major concern in China’s public outrage about corrupt officials building toppled en mass, resulting
building sector, as the country rolls and construction firms. in a rare foundation failure. It was
out enormous city expansions and mainly due to the result of careless
finishes off vast infrastructure Summary and excavation very near to the building,
projects to keep pace with fast for the purpose of providing
economic growth. Construction
Conclusions underground car park. Engineers
The rare foundation failure and
related accidents last year included should take a note of the lessons
collapse of the building in China
the collapse of a steel arch on a learnt from this failure and avoid
such mistakes in future.

Acknowledgment
The author wishes to acknowledge
the newspaper reports available in
the Net, based on which the
material of this paper has been
prepared.

References
♦ Feld, J., and Carper, K.L.,
Construction Failure, 2nd Edition,
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McGraw Hill, New York, 1991,
600pp.
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Buildings Fall Down: How
Structures Fail, W.W. Norton & Co.,
New York, 2002, 336pp.
♦ Ransom, W.H., Building Failures:
Diagnosis and avoidance, 2nd

Figure 4: A few more views of the failure and close up views of failed piles

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Foundation Failure

edition, Taylor & Francis, 1987, 192pp.


♦ Shepherd, R., and Frost, J.D., (ed.), Failures in Civil
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collapse.html
♦ Hou Lei, Pressure difference cause of Shanghai
building collapse, China Daily, 10th July 09. http://
w w w . c h i n a d a i l y. c o m . c n / c h i n a / 2 0 0 9 - 0 7 / 0 3 /
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