Demolition by implosions videos are obviously fun to watch, but the actual process creates an insane amount of dust. The challenge becomes hoe do you douse an enormous structure that falls within seconds with enough water to control dust effectively? The answer might be more explosives…
When the 15-story Pentagone Plaza tower located in Clamart, France was imploded last week, the demolition team didn’t just set up some hoses, they surrounded the structure in a bunch of small, inflatable swimming pools lined with explosives. The intent is to send a vertical pillar of water into the air right before the explosives inside the building go off in order to create a wall of water that the dust has to fight through.
According to Demolitionnews.com, the system, created by Delair CFD, also includes having a bunch of water bags located throughout the inside of the building to help reduce dust internally, as well.
It’s a cool idea – and certainly adds an additional level of interest to the video – but, as you’ll see in the video below, there’s still a significant amount of dust that escapes. It’s difficult to quantify, but I’m sure the extra effort still helped to reduce the amount of dust spread off site.
Check out the video of the demolition below, by Eiffage, which also shows some of the prep work completed prior to the implosion.
In November of last year, the 546 foot tall Mina Plaza in Abu Dhabi officially broke the world record for tallest demolition by explosion, supplanting Hudson Department Store in Detroit, Michigan, which held the record for 22 years.