The Hotel New World Collapse

(March 15, 1986)

Presented by

PARVATHY SUNIL A

ROLL NO. 4

M.Tech SE1

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•A six story building located in Singapore, housed multiple

local institutions and establishments such as offices, a branch

bank, and a nightclub

• On March 15, 1986, the Hotel New World collapsed in less

than 60 seconds at approximately 11:30 am

• The result was the entrapmentt of fifty people, seventeen of

whom were eventually rescued, and thirty-three who were

killed

INTRODUCTION

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•After the Hotel New World collapsed, building codes and

standards were improved throughout Singapore as well as the

implementation of engineering ethics

INTRODUCTION

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• It had thirty six reinforced concrete columns that supported

six concrete floors, totalling a weight of 6,000 tons

•A parking lot was composed of the underground while a bank

branch took up most of the ground floor

• The next floor was a popular nightclub

• The remaining floors were occupied by a budget hotel named

The Hotel New World

HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION

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•All the mechanical equipment such as water tanks and air

conditioning units, which were used to cool off the building

in the hot climate, resided on the roof. The total height came

to be twenty four meters

• The building experienced no severe impact or structural

damage during its lifetime. In 1975 however, there was a gas

leak in the building that poisoned thirty-five people

HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION

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March 14th

At 7pm, the hostess of the nightclub hears a noise and

witnesses a crack in one of the columns while setting up for

the evening

March 15th

At 10:10 am, another crack was heard which resulted in

falling debris

DAY OF COLLAPSE

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At 10:45 am, the receptionist heard a “loud bang” from

somewhere in the building

At 11:10 am, a passerby claimed to have felt an earthquake

and the receptionist heard another loud noise

At 11:21 am, one the workers attending to the cracked

column saw debris falling from the ceiling to the ground

DAY OF COLLAPSE

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At 11:26 am, the whole building started to vibrate and shake

as it was on the verge of collapsing

In less than one minute, one of the tallest buildings in

Singapore transformed into rubble and dust

DAY OF COLLAPSE

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• First, many engineers who examined the rubble and the

speed of the collapse led to the belief that an internal

explosion caused by a bomb or terrorist attack was responsible

for the collapse

•As investigations progressed, no evidence of an explosion

was found

FORENSIC STUDY

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• Secondly, Samples were brought into labs for strength and

consistency testing

• The concrete met all of the international safety standards,

concluding that the strength of the material was not the

problem

FORENSIC STUDY

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• Third, They examined the land under the building and

realized that it was not an issue and there was no failure in

the foundation

• Then the investigators referred back to the plans and realized

that each failure corresponded to different columns; they

failed because they were stressed to their limit

• This was proven by examining the concrete on the

microscopic level

FORENSIC STUDY

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• When the concrete is stressed to the limit, tiny cracks also

known as micro-cracks invisible to the naked eye in the

particles are developed

• Such cracks reduced the weight that is supported by the piers

and initiated a progressive collapse

FORENSIC STUDY

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• The investigators found heavy equipment in the rubble that

was not in the original design plans

• During its fifteen years of life span, the owner of the building

had added extra weight

FORENSIC STUDY

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FORENSIC STUDY

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• However, all this extra weight that was added to the structure

fell under the live load category and was already accounted

for

• Found that the extra weight added to the building is not the

proper reason for failure

FORENSIC STUDY

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• Finally, the engineers returned to their blue prints and

calculations and realized that the building’s dead load was

not accounted for in the original design

FORENSIC STUDY

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•After heavy examination and study of the collapse, it was

clear that the collapse of the New World Hotel was not

caused by an explosion, nor by improper construction,

material deficiency, swamp land or by the live load added to

the building by the owner

• The building failed because the engineers did not account for

the building’s weight or dead load during the design phase

CONCLUSION

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• This monumental mistake meant that the building was on the

verge of collapse ever since it was built

• The building's columns were stressed to their limit since their

construction and the collapse was a matter of time

•Also, the substantial loads added to the building that caused

an overload to the poorly constructed structure contributed

to the collapse, as well as the lack of proper maintenance and

engineering

CONCLUSION

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