Engineering:Building implosion

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Short description: Method of demolition involving explosives

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Implosion of the Athlone Power Station cooling towers

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Explosives demolition, also referred to as implosion, is a demolition method that involves the strategic placing of explosives and timing of its detonation so that a structure collapses on itself in a matter of seconds. It is used to safely destroy tall buildings, bridges, smokestacks, towers and tunnels. This is typically done to save time and money of what would otherwise be an extensive demolition process with conventional construction equipment, as well as to protect construction workers from infrastructure that is in severe disrepair.

The actual use of the term "implosion" to refer to the destruction of a building is a misnomer,[1] as an actual implosion involves a structure being subjected to extreme external pressure, pushing it inwards in itself.[2]

Terminology

File:Radio Network House implosion.ogv

The term "implosion" was coined by my grandmother back in, I guess, the '60s. It's a more descriptive way to explain what we do than "explosion". There are a series of small explosions, but the building itself isn't erupting outward. It's actually being pulled in on top of itself. What we're really doing is removing specific support columns within the structure and then cajoling the building in one direction or another, or straight down.

— Stacey Loizeaux, NOVA, December 1996[3]

The term building implosion can be misleading to a layperson: The technique is not a true implosion phenomenon. A true implosion usually involves a difference between internal (lower) and external (higher) pressure, or inward and outward forces, that is so large that the structure collapses inward into itself.[2]



Historical overview

Demolition by controlled explosion in Buffalo, New York
The demolition of the New Haven Coliseum in New Haven, Connecticut

One of the earliest documented attempts at building implosion was the 1773 razing of Holy Trinity Cathedral in Waterford, Ireland with 150 lb (68.04 kg; 10.71 st) of gunpowder, a huge amount of explosive material at the time. The use of low velocity explosives produced a deafening explosion that instantly reduced the building to rubble.[4]


Following World War II, European demolition experts, faced with huge reconstruction projects in dense urban areas, gathered practical knowledge and experience for bringing down large structures without harming adjacent properties.[5] This led to the emergence of a demolition industry that grew and matured during the latter half of the twentieth century. At the same time, the development of more efficient high-velocity explosives, such as RDX, and non-electrical firing systems combined to make this a period of time in which the building implosion technique was extensively used. Popular Science Magazine, in 1959, published a series of photos of a building demolition by Jack Loizeaux—about a year before he incorporated his Maryland firm Controlled Demolition, Inc. In Washington DC, an 8-story apartment building was being removed from the site of the new State Department Building: "He laced the structure with 200 pounds of dynamite, set in half-pound charges to go off at split-second intervals....The building was down in 15 seconds flat....and all the rubble was in one neat pile."[6]

Meanwhile, public interest in the spectacle of controlled building implosion also grew. In 1993, MTV held a live broadcast of the demolition of two warehouses in Louisville, Kentucky, to promote the movie Demolition Man.[7] On 30 October 1994, Philadelphia's Sears Eastern Regional Catalogue Headquarters was demolished, with onlookers numbering an estimated 50,000.[8] Thomas Mazza, vice president of Mercer Wrecking, estimated the building's size as 25 million cubic feet, exceeding the size of the previous "largest implosion" record cited by Guinness, the Traymore Hotel in Atlantic City.[8] The Las Vegas Strip has become well-known for making spectacles out of hotel implosions, of which around a dozen have taken place there since 1993.[9]

Evolution in the mastery of controlled demolition led to the world record[5] demolition of the Seattle Kingdome on March 26, 2000.[10]

In 1997, the Royal Canberra Hospital in Canberra, Australia, was demolished. The main building did not fully disintegrate and had to be manually demolished. The explosion during the initial demolition attempt was not contained on the site and large pieces of debris were projected towards spectators 500 m (1,600 ft) away, in a location considered safe for viewing. A twelve-year-old girl was killed instantly, and nine others were injured. Large fragments of masonry and metal were found 650 m (2,100 ft) from the demolition site.[11]

On October 24, 1998, the J. L. Hudson Department Store and Addition in Detroit, Michigan became the tallest, and the largest, building ever imploded.

On February 23, 2007 an unfinished Intel building known as the Intel Shell was imploded in Austin, Texas, which was halted in April 2001.[12]

The 2008 movie The Dark Knight features the demolition of the former Brach's candy factory in Chicago, disguised as a building complex in Gotham City being attacked.[13]

On December 13, 2009, an unfinished 31-story condominium tower, known as the Ocean Tower (The Leaning Tower of South Padre Island), was imploded in South Padre Island, Texas. Construction on the new tower had begun in 2006, but it had been sinking unevenly during construction, which halted in 2008, and could not be saved. It is believed to be one of the tallest reinforced concrete structures ever imploded.[14][15]

Building implosion has been successfully used at Department of Energy sites such as the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina and the Hanford Site in Washington. The SRS 185-3K or "K" Area Cooling Tower, built in 1992 to cool the water from the K Reactor, was no longer needed when the Cold War ended and was safely demolished by explosives demolition on May 25, 2010.[16]

The Hanford Site Buildings 337, 337B, and the 309 Exhaust Stack, built in the early 1970s and vacated in the mid-2000s due to deteriorating physical condition, were safely razed by explosives on October 9, 2010.[17]

  • Demolition of a chimney at the former "Henninger Brewery" in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, on 2 December 2006
    Demolition of a chimney at the former "Henninger Brewery" in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, on 2 December 2006
  • June 2006 demolition of the 12-story Tencza Apartment building in Arlington, Virginia. (See video)
    June 2006 demolition of the 12-story Tencza Apartment building in Arlington, Virginia. (See video)
  • Tappan Zee Bridge explosives demolition in slow motion
    Tappan Zee Bridge explosives demolition in slow motion
  • The core of an office building in Dallas, Texas, still standing after explosives failed to take it down in 2020.
    The core of an office building in Dallas, Texas, still standing after explosives failed to take it down in 2020.

See also

  • Controlled Demolition, Inc.
  • List of tallest voluntarily demolished buildings

References

  1. ↑ "Taking down 1515 Tower: No implosion, not quite explosion". http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/taking-down-1515-tower-no-implosion-not-quite-223838.html. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Smore Science (2023-12-10). "What Causes Implosion?" (in en-US). https://www.smorescience.com/what-causes-implosion/. 
  3. ↑ "NOVA Online/Kaboom!/Loizeaux Interview". https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/kaboom/loizeaux.html. 
  4. ↑ Grogan, Dick (1997-06-11). "Pillars of the church may save the nave". The Irish Times: p. 2. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Blanchard, Brent (February 2002). "A History of Explosive Demolition in America". International Society of Explosives Engineers. pp. 27–44. 
  6. ↑ "Picture News: Artist at Work." Popular Science 174:2 (February 1959), 122-23.
  7. ↑ Bertucci, Leo. "Retro Louisville: MTV promotes 'Demolition Man' with destruction of Belknap warehouses" (in en-US). https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/history/river-city-retro/2025/10/11/mtv-promotes-1993s-demolition-man-in-louisville-with-live-special/86188004007/. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Record Blast" (Associated Press story). Indiana (PA) Gazette, 31 October 1994, 3.
  9. ↑ Chouinard, Kyle (2024-10-06). "A look back at implosions of Las Vegas resorts" (in en). https://lasvegassun.com/news/2024/oct/06/a-look-back-at-implosions-of-las-vegas-resorts/. 
  10. ↑ "Seattle Kingdome demolition". http://www.controlled-demolition.com/sites/default/files/kingdome.mpg. 
  11. ↑ Madden, Shane G. (1999). "General Chronology and Overview". The Bender Coronial Decision. ACT Magistrates Court and Tribunals (Coroner's Court). http://www.courts.act.gov.au/magistrates/dec/bender/Sect01.htm. 
  12. ↑ Gregor, Katherine (2007-02-23). "Farewell, Intel Shell" (in en-US). Austin Chronicle. https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2007-02-23/449480/. 
  13. ↑ LaTrace, A. J. (2014-07-09). "Witness the Demolition of the Old Brach's Candy Factory" (in en). https://chicago.curbed.com/2014/7/9/10077790/witness-the-demolition-of-the-old-brachs-candy-factory. 
  14. ↑ "Ocean Tower implodes into pile of rubble". The Brownsville Herald. December 14, 2009. http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/articles/rubble-106263-family-span.html. 
  15. ↑ "History and Implosion of Ocean Tower SPI". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKNl9RFwvC4. 
  16. ↑ Austin, Bill (2012-01-31). "The Use of Explosives to Demolish the 185-3K Cooling Tower" (PDF). D&D KM (Interview). Interviewed by L. Brady.
  17. ↑ Smith, Bob; Beckworth, Daniel; Kisenwether, Thomas (2010-11-11). "Explosive Demolition of Buildings 337, 337B and the 309 Stack at the Hanford's 300 Area" (PDF). D&D KM (Interview). Interviewed by Leonel Lagos; Peggy Shoffner; Lee Brady.



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