Hi-Tech Gadgets, Drones With Thermal Cameras Placed Inside Noida Towers For Research

Hi-tech seismographs and black boxes, an electronic device to record sound in aircraft, were among the equipment placed inside the Supertech twin towers during their demolition while drones with thermal image cameras were also deployed to capture pictures and videos that would help in future research, a senior CBRI scientist said Monday.

The Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) was appointed by the Supreme Court as a technical expert for the demolition of Supertech's nearly 100-metre tall illegal structures in Noida's Sector 93A.

It was the CBRI which had selected Mumbai-based Edifice Engineering for the implosion that safely brought down the structures by 'waterfall implosion' in an eye-popping event that caused no structural damage to nearby buildings as close as nine metres.

The CBRI had roped in the Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CIMFR) for ground vibrations.

CIMFR teams from Dhanbad (Jharkhand) and Bilaspur (Chattisgarh) were present during the demolition. "There has been no structural damage in the nearby residential towers of ATS Village and Emerald Court societies. Besides a compound wall of ATS Village, some windowpanes have broken. We had asked for a post-demolition structural audit, which is to be done by Supertech. Once that is done, its findings will help us analyse the demolition," CBRI's senior principal scientist Dr Debi Prasanna Kanungo told PTI.

The CBRI has signed a research collaboration and non-disclosure agreement with Jet Demolitions and Edifice Engineering, wherein both groups will share their data with each other for study and research purposes in the field. Dr Kanungo, who led the twin tower demolition monitoring team, said several high-technology equipment and instruments were placed inside the twin towers and their findings will be very useful for future studies.

"We had 19 seismographs. These are high-end and highly technical seismographs which were installed in a 150-metre range from the twin towers. Some equipment were placed in the basements of the twin towers while others were placed on different floors so that we could get the magnitude of the vibration of the two buildings," the senior scientist told PTI.

"We had also placed 10 black boxes - five in each tower. This was CBRI's idea. We also used drones and thermal imaging cameras, which will help us get pictures that can be processed for further research studies. All the information gathered from these equipment and instruments will help us in future for material studies, demolition and construction-related research. We also had instruments like several geophones to record and study the movement of vibrations within buildings," Dr Kanungo said.

The thermal imaging cameras form images using infrared radiations and are largely used in fires and other disaster management activities to detect people engulfed in thick smoke and dust.

On the ground vibration report during the demolition, the CBRI official said, "It will take time. Recordings have been done by our devices and also those placed by them (Edifice and Jet Demolitions). Once that will be analysed it will help us in future research related to ground vibrations, building constructions, etc." The Noida twin towers are the tallest illegal structures to have been demolished by implosion technique in India yet. Prior to that, four residential complexes of 18-20 storeys in Maradu municipal area of Kochi, Kerala were razed in a matter of few seconds by implosion in 2020.

Both demolitions had come in compliance with the Supreme Court orders, which found the structures built in violation of building norms.

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