Investigation of the condominium building collapse in Surfside, Florida: A video feature tracking approach. (September 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kong, Xiangxiong; Smyl, Danny
• Is Part Of: Structures. Volume 43(2022)
• Page Start: 533
• Page End: 545
• Publication Date: 2022-09
• Subjects: Building collapse -- Hazard mitigation -- Feature tracking -- Social network -- Video processing -- Computer vision; Structural engineering -- Periodicals; 624.1
• DOI: 10.1016/j.istruc.2022.06.009
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2352-0124

Abstract

Abstract: On June 24, 2021, a 12-story condominium building (Champlain Towers South) in Surfside, Florida partially collapsed, resulting in one of the deadliest building collapses in United States history with 98 people confirmed deceased. In this work, we analyze the collapse event using a video clip that is publicly available on social media. In our analysis, we apply computer vision algorithms to corroborate new information from the video clip that may not be readily interpreted by human eyes. By comparing the differential features against different video frames, our proposed method is used to quantify the falling structural components by mapping the directions and magnitudes of their movements. We demonstrate the potential of this video processing methodology in investigations of catastrophic structural failures and hope our approach may serve as a basis for further investigations into structure collapse events.