Fábio Bruno Construções Ltda successfully imploded the South wing of the Rio de Janeiro University Hospital with the help of ASI’s advanced demolition analysis services.
The hospital, considered to be the first reinforced concrete structure in Rio consisted of 16 floors with an area of 11,266m2 and a total of 55,000m3 of concrete. This was a particularly interesting project because the project owner wanted to retain the North wing of the structure and continue operating it as a hospital.
The demolition plan called for a 20m section of the structure to be demolished manually and the remaining South wing to be imploded. ASI modeled the South wing with all of its structural details in 3D including columns, beams, girders, slabs, masonry walls, expansion joints and reinforcement. The model also included weakened material models in corroded areas of the structure, making it as accurate to real-world conditions as possible.
Through ASI’s analysis the demolition plan was optimized to ensure that the structure collapsed completely and did not collide with the North wing. ASI also performed a seismic analysis of the impacting debris on the soil to ensure sensitive medical equipment in the North wind and surrounding medical buildings was not adversely affected.
After the successful implosion, Fabio Bruno, Director Operacional of Fábio Bruno Construções Ltd said, “The implosion went exactly the way as planned and the client was very pleased with the accuracy. We feel that simulation is one tool that helps predict mistakes that otherwise could happen, and although some are against use of the technology, we feel that the more information we have the less chance that mistakes can happen.”