in football mad Brazil a demolition team
takes on a massive stadium to make way
for the 2014 World Cup with a city too
close for comfort
untested explosives and a dangerous
worksite everything is just falling
apart here I'm inexperienced crew will
attempt to pull this job on and oh boy
an explosive disaster
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salvador brazil a local company faces a
groundbreaking challenge
use explosives to take down a sports
stadium
[Applause]
it will be a Brazilian first you open it
now follow capital P tomato Carlos who
cheated I stood up for edge the man in
charge
Morgan walk-ins he's a mining engineer
for our koenji Ltd a he's worked with
explosives for 18 years we've done a lot
of things like buildings bridges
chimneys and and so on and so forth but
this is our first Stadium so he's never
tackled anything like this the font
Innova designed to hold 100,000 fans
he hosted epic football matches for more
than 50 years until a deadly collapse
shut it down
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now the 2014 World Cup
he's on brazil's doorstep and the
greatest football stars need a new place
to play it's women in soccer this is all
what Brazil is about so here everything
that has to do with soccer including the
stadiums is very very important the font
Innova must be demolished Morgan and his
team faced an unprecedented matchup
Stadium implosion is complex they are
made up of sections which must be
carefully loaded in time
and that's not the only thing Morgan's
up against the stadium is a very very
bad shape we have a lot of rebar exposed
a lot of places where the concrete's has
actually fallen out at times I can even
hear something falling here there it's a
very delicate one that we've got to be
very careful of and make sure that
nothing happens this dangerous worksite
will be an ongoing problem the crews
first mission demolished the lower tier
an army of excavators hits the site
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they must rip more than half of the
stadium apart
they claw debris and feed it into a
crusher
these materials are destined for a
second life 78% of the concrete will be
recycled
this machine separates rebar and crushes
the concrete fed into it
it can generate 90 cubic meters of
processed concrete per hour 28 thousand
cubic meters will be spit out before the
job's done that's more than 2,000
truckloads
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once the lower tier has been torn to
pieces our co n j--
will have finished 60% of this massive
job
now comes the hard part taking down the
final 40 with explosives it's time to
bring in some experienced backup
controlled demolition incorporated where
is the portion that failed this
explosive demolition company from
Phoenix Maryland has been in business
for more than 60 years they've imploded
nine sports arenas but this job is
different CDI has been brought in as a
consultant and they can't handle a
single stick of explosives with what
they got that's a big chunk of concrete
and it's gonna it's gonna come down hit
that column arco engine will implement
the explosives plan CDI designs for the
Brazilian crew this challenge is off the
charts for CDI I call it a 3 or a 4 out
of 10 it's a 12 or a 15 for the group
that is working on it here mark has to
make CD eyes design complex enough to
take the stadium down successfully but
straightforward enough for Morgan and
his team to execute Bottineau the
stadium is a big oval around a
rectangular football pitch and the
structure itself is really made up of 18
major structures these are all separated
by expansion joints to go around the
structure the Brazilians plan to load
all of these sections the same way
mark suspects this would be a serious
mistake
Stadium columns are reinforced based on
the loads they bear this means they may
react differently to explosives how many
layers of rebar we have on the inside
this mark needs to get the Brazilians on
board to see what the rebar
configurations look like but we have the
the machine break a corner of the column
to expose the rebar
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mark was right down there further you
have three so you can't load all these
holes the same way
these columns might look the same on the
outside but inside the rebar
configurations very now we're gonna get
back to the same discussion we had on
this column I want to know how you plan
on loading this column when you got
three let three facial layers or rebar
here I want to get them out of the
thought process that all these columns
are the same all the holes are the same
they aren't because the reinforcement
changes for example here I see one - I
still see three yeah this is where the
tall columns are getting taller let's
see if we could look up here it's only
two the team will have to come up with
an explosives load for each column
configuration that means there's a load
ratio on this column here from here all
the way around that side is going to be
different from that point on we've got
to have a heavier load there and that
cd-i needs to take a closer look at the
rebar in more columns
this demolition faces a tight playing
field
to the southeast a main road
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to the west a telecommunications complex
and 2,500 people live within a 250 meter
radius of the stadium normally this
wouldn't be an issue
mark has successfully imploded stadiums
with just meters to spare
but every job is different he's not on
his home turf and it's throwing an
unexpected wrench into his plan I was a
little disappointed to find what
explosives were available in Brazil the
last time we worked here in 1976 they
had it all
now slowly they've moved away from
nitroglycerin materials this makes our
life difficult I just hope it doesn't
make it impossible
normally CBI uses dynamite a solid
substance soaked in nitroglycerin the
Brazilian explosives are a paste held
together by a plastic sheath inside
micro cells containing ammonium nitrate
surrounded by a fuel source when
detonated they mix and release explosive
energy they are called emulsion
explosives they are considered less
dangerous to manufacture transport and
handle because the explosive elements
are separated but on a job this tricky
safety first comes at a cost
the product we have available in Brazil
only detonates at about 4200 or 4,300
meters per second now that sounds pretty
fast but in my world it's slow I'm used
to things that are detonating it at six
or seven or eight or nine thousand
meters per second it could be a deal
breaker these lower velocity explosives
shatter concrete less effectively the
longer Marc is on site the more he
realizes what they're up against and
you've got to keep it right up
where this Boris he's identified several
different rebar configurations here's
his major concern the significant
difference between the stadium's outer
and inner columns mark has to confirm
the Brazilian explosives can cope with
both types of columns
or the implosion is doom before it
starts
November 25th 2007 a football match is
about to turn dead
the Fontan ova stadium is packed when a
section of the upper tier collapses
seven people fall nearly fifteen meters
to their deaths
after the accident it's revealed that
the entire structure is in dangerously
poor condition the controversy shuts it
down for good
nearly three years later tom dowd it's
the site
he's one of seedy eyes blasting experts
let's go up and look at that and we'll
figure out what the loads gonna be jewel
mark talk about loads yes what's he
thinking we talked about low there there
several for each hole there's a there's
a game plan on that and we have a
complete column broken down he mentioned
you know a half at the start of the
whole half at the end and then in some
points to in the middle
Tom's mission come up with an explosives
loading plan that will take this stadium
down safety regulations in Brazil ban
the high-velocity dynamite CDI prefers
Tom's trying to work with what's legal
here but it's getting messy the problem
with the product we're using here this
emulsion is it kind of has a consistency
of toothpaste and it comes in a plastic
grasp so when you cut that it becomes a
bit of a gooey mess workers cut the
explosives in half but then realize they
can't seal the ends time to improvise a
whole new use for zip ties
but tom has another worry these lower
velocity explosives may not be effective
against the stadium's two main types of
supports the a columns and the B columns
54 is the same way double inside double
inside so Tom's got to try the
explosives up it's a live fire exercise
demolition style what we're gonna do for
our test blast is we have four columns
two in the a row two in the B row that
gives us the flexibility to use varying
load ratios and once we shoot all four
of those columns using the different
load ratios we can interpolate for the
rest of the structure what's the best
load ratio to use it's called a test
shot it's standard operating procedure
on jobs like this
but jobs like this have never happened
in Brazil
Morgan worries that blasting before the
implosion will upset the neighbors he
wants to mask the sound of the test shot
ironically he comes up with an explosive
solution we've got a like some
firecrackers going off it's not normal
huh huh
but firecrackers are firecrackers are
okay and they do it themselves over here
in all the houses up up here so we just
let off some firecrackers and during
that we will you'll blast them all right
well let's head up there
Morgan's crew drops geotextile material
over the columns
this is meant to contain any flying
debris
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yes osg someday segundos no me oh Jesus
it's that one it's test shot time
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Martha Jemma
I like it I think it was very close to
the stronger ones of those then can we
go peek under you should wait for a
while before we gather around that I
won't go out in the open I promise it's
just I can't see the 53 a looks like 53
a film doesn't it well we can have a
look from here
I guess it didn't fall no it's there all
for the killing me curiosity yes
it's frustrating tom has to wait until
morning to check their work for whatever
reason the powers that be have decided
not to take the cover off until tomorrow
morning so I get to sleep all night and
wonder what happens
are we in a good place middle the road
place or bad place so I mean this is
like Christmas morning and there's my
Christmas present I can't touch it on
the west side of the state
the crews facing a unique demolition
challenge they've got to keep this
grandstand section undamaged as the rest
of the stadium comes down around it it's
78 meters long and it's acting like a
retaining wall what the wall is holding
is a whole large stump of soil and
everything that's built on top of it so
this region here is is a region which we
cannot touch we've got to keep it very
very intact at stake a
telecommunications hub and several other
buildings even if the crew doesn't
implode this section ground vibrations
from the blowdown could still dislodge
the soil
and caused a landslide the team must
find a way to stabilize the hillside to
protect it from ground vibrations Tom
made it through an anxious night now he
can see how the four columns reacted to
Brazil's lower velocity explosives
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lovely absolutely lovely see the bulge
on this side I can tell her hole was a
little off-center that happens but
wouldn't be able to hold a compressive
load this is exactly what we're looking
for in a test shot success emulsion
explosives work on the a columns but
when it comes to the B columns their
loads didn't get the job done get two
loads comparable loads of two half
sticks and three third sticks the thirds
gave better distribution of the powder
throughout the length of the hole but
the half health displace the rebar a
little bit better I think definitely at
the bottom we need at least another load
yeah well that's what I had on my sheet
I had four okay I had understood half
half half so they need to adjust the
amount of explosives to guarantee the B
columns will fail
at the top of the stadium crews get
ready to drill the light stands these
four super structures reach 17 metres
above the rest of the stadium if the two
columns supporting each light standard
aren't taken up they could tilt
backwards and harm the neighbors so they
must be directed inward with explosives
on demo day but dense rebar makes it
tough to drill a deep enough hole
they bring a cutting torch to melt the
rebar it's awkward and slow but it pays
off
they can now drill the hole
this light stand is ready for explosives
on the west side of the site the team
engineers a landslide prevention plan
it's called soil anchoring as they drill
a hole they will put a rut into the hole
they inject concrete's and once the
concrete has got a reasonable resistance
they will tighten some plates against
the rocks and this will hold the wall in
position although you have forces and
strains trying to bring it over this way
this should make the grandstand section
immune to the ground vibrations caused
by the implosion elsewhere
it's the stadium's poor condition that
slows down the Brazilian crews this
College is so fragile that vibrations
from a pneumatic drill could cause it to
fail prematurely crushing the crew
it is a nightmare scenario but there is
a way to prevent it
it's called core drilling unlike a
pneumatic drill this machine can create
a hole without causing any vibration its
secret weapon one of the hardest
materials on earth diamond the diamond
core drill goes into the concrete with a
hollow diamond tip to slowly penetrating
into the concrete cutting everything
including rebar then we can just break
off the inner part of the concrete
extract it out without causing any
impact to the brittle columns this
technique is safer but it's a huge
hassle
they have 1,200 holes to drill every
column they're forced to core drill
takes more than five times longer
back on the west side of the stadium
work has ground to a halt the grandstand
is causing Morgan another headache there
was a plan to demolish this neighboring
section with excavators because
demolishing it with explosives could
cause damage to the grandstand that sits
just eight meters away due to the very
bad quality of the concrete and the
rebar we found that it was very very
dangerous for our workers debris from
the crumbling bench could crush the crew
so Morgan
pulls out his troops if he cannot find a
way to remove the section without
damaging the grandstand the landslide it
may trigger means this demolition will
end in disaster
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a test shot has shown Tom and Morgan how
much explosives to load into most of the
font Innovas columns the ones up there
will be longer but then they're little
thinner but columns on the south side of
the stadium are a head-scratcher they're
up to 20 meters tall and they're an
explosive demolition challenge
if these v-shaped columns are tested
with live explosives before the
implosion the walkway could collapse we
have point eight so Tom and Morgan must
rely on theory and number crunching
alone in the absence of structural plans
it's an inexact science so Morgan wants
to go over the talk but it gets skinnier
longer as we go huh yeah you know that
can Brazil we load that higher yep
see I'm at five you're at five okay so
that's good it puts me a little over if
you're a comfortable five that put me at
three forty pound to the yard
and that'll thumping Tom's on board
they'll load 25% more explosives into
these columns than the calculations call
for how you say it gives us a good load
ratio it's a little high we've got good
cover
and without a test shot I'd rather be
high I'm glad that we've got a good
cover this should guarantee that the
walkway fails on the west side of the
site crews rigged a cabling system their
goal pulled this section away from the
grandstand during the implosion they
fight some 70 meters of heavy cable
it could protect the grandstand that
reinforces this densely developed hill
here's the idea the cables will run from
one seating bent to the next as the
explosives go off these cables will pull
this section away from the grandstand
this game of demolition dominoes should
keep the building intact
it's time to load the explosives for CDI
this is a hands off demolition so Tom
can't be a part of this loading crew it
is critical that the explosives are
spread evenly through the college
Tom's concerned that just loading 270
kilos of explosives will be a problem
repetitive motion people can become lazy
one of the things we've done here to
alleviate that is we've pre-cut PVC
spacers we'll put in the the base charge
will slide in our spacer then the next
charge a spacer next charge spacer then
we finished the whole hole out using an
expanding foam as our stemming material
this should make the plan foolproof as
Morgan's crew gets to work Tom takes on
a different challenge I'm used to being
up there and doing it myself here just
let me do it you know that kind of
frustration gotta learn to just sit back
relax watch these guys keep an eye on
them and be here if they've got a
question yeah
Tom and Morgan have one last problem to
solve they must come up with a loading
plan to handle the stadium's light
stance like the v-shaped collars these
super structures can't be tested with
live explosives so a game Tom and Morgan
have to determine the load based on
theory and calculations and actually
it's almost a little shallow you know
since we've got a long column I don't
want to point load and point load I want
to draw out the load you know that's why
I'm on the way up here if we didn't have
all that bar in the front in the back I
was almost thinking about just doing it
with cord det-cord yeah I understand so
we need a half there so I definitely go
yeah after third after third maiya
oh there's some things this explosive
load should direct these super
structures inward away from the
neighbors
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the final countdown to the stadium's
implosion has begun and CBI's top gun is
back on site with him his daughter Stacy
my initial impression of the structure
and its condition is that it's not great
there's clearly very little cover
concrete it's not surprising to me that
they had a partial collapse here she's
seedy eyes wiring expertise her mission
come up with a wiring plan it is complex
enough to take this stadium down and
easy enough to teach the Brazilians fast
but this job is going to be tougher than
she thought
it turns out that these inner columns
aren't connected to the seating vents
above them the way that the seating
ramps come down and they just sit like
on a plate there's no actual physical
connection there I just look at it go
out what's scary it just scares me
this means the seating bent could topple
backwards during the blow down as the
stadium shifts there's one area where
this just can't happen this is the
highway that we're concerned about right
on the southeast side of the stadium a
major Road sits just six meters away
from the site
Morgan's team has already installed
cables to connect the seating vents to
the B columns in this section
normally the cables would pull the
section inward and away from the highway
during the implosion
[Applause]
but the font ANOVA's crumbling concrete
has CDI worried that the cables just
won't be enough
the original plan that we had for
secuence in the stadium is out the
window because the concrete's in very
bad condition if this section Falls
problems it will land in the road
damaging a vital traffic artery and the
team's reputation mark and Stacey need
to come up with a wiring plan that will
work with the cables to keep the stadium
in bounds I'm not convinced that you're
gonna have any more control by starting
on this close and versus working to that
closed end you know what I mean I think
you need you've gotta bring this way
what we're trying to determine right now
is the precise sequence in which we're
gonna fill a stadium we're thinking
about a lot of different things are
close exposures for instance we have the
highway here they come through with a
possible solution we have a diagonal
seating bent we have an inside column
and we have an outside column when we
take out the bottom of the inside column
with explosives the structure is going
to begin to rotate that's a structure
rolls in it'll finally fail an explosive
delays well segmented in pieces until
the seating vent hits grade hopefully
inside the site there hold that hold
that end the demolition plan is complete
mark and Stacey hit the concourse
oh my god
all right so he's alone and then it's
that there is more than seven kilometers
of det-cord till a CDI gets more
hands-on to teach the brazilian crew
what we're doing right now is creating
an example that the laborers can emulate
so we're completing one section and
we're gonna say see this is what they
all should look like
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but on the southeast side the detonation
sequence has become extremely complex
Stacy takes on the wiring herself her
weapon of choice micro delays this is
one of the anon electric detonators
we're using this particular one has an
internal delay of 500 milliseconds or
half a second there's a bit of material
on the base here that burns for that
predetermined amount of time and at the
very tip is just a little bit of
explosive that goes bang at the right
time but it's enough of a bang to set
off the detonating cord to the rest of
the system Stacey and Mark hope these
fraction of a second delays will add to
the momentum created by the earlier
blasts it's on a four I got to pull it
up to one to get two seconds
one two it's the last addition to an
intricate plan to bring this stadium
down we're starting at four sections at
the Northwest we're to start at the
Northeast which start at the southeast
and we're going to start over here at
the Southwest and we're going to
sequence all of our Domino collapses
from those four points using the
expansion joints to our advantage to
maintain a controlled implosion the font
Innova is ready for its final match
shot day attracts a crowd look at all
those people out there holy cow
picture that
962 homes have been evacuated
the team takes position
they're ready to rumble this is the
five-minute siren sorry five all right
but there's an unexpected problem they
can't get the warning siren turned off
that's awful we've hit about five
minutes in total mayhem can't get the
siren turned off organ it's hard to hear
with that siren going for five minutes
what do they turn it off
Arco Ange tries to take control this
explosive job is about to go down a
brazilian crew anchored the grandstand
to the hill behind him if the anchors
fail there could be a massive landslide
Tom and Morgan calculated the amount of
explosives to use on the light stance it
has to be enough to keep them from
damaging the neighbors
stacy rigged a complex micro delay
system to try and protect the highway
the stadium's poor condition means it
could still crash our lives
the sirens been turned off Brazil's
first Stadium implosion is ago
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
this massive Brazilian Stadium is on its
way down
[Applause]
wait for the dog they want to get close
to see if this demolition is a success
mark we're working our way up there
right now it's on the ground the font
Innova stadium is a pile of rubble
here's how it happened
the Northside goes first it supports
literally taken out beneath
the Southside follows
the V columns are completely destroyed
bring the walkway to the ground the
light stand charge is detonated
they fall inward
cables pole sections away from the
grandstand
it stays intact
but we're CD eyes last minute wiring
changes enough to protect the highway
I think the wall is good I mean the
plywood's down we got one or two pieces
of splash yeah mark this just came
straight down this is all air blast like
you see five pieces of concrete the road
is undamaged but a few columns defied
the implosion plan this one section
behind me though has two columns that
fail compressively they started to roll
in the right way fail compressively and
let the floor flip backward given the
concrete I shouldn't be surprised no
debris in the street is still inside the
site we knocked over a little bit of
hoarding some of the paneling here but
everyone's very happy for Morgan it's a
huge win this is the start of everything
right now at this moment we've just
started the World Cup the Fontan Nova's
legacy has come to an end but a new
stadium will rise in its place
and this Brazilian city will be ready to
host duel
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you
