Uploaded April 2018 | Updated September 2026, 8 minutes ago
We are currently researching brick and mortar behavior and if we can simulate this properly using the Bullet rigid body solver in Blender. First we need to find out how the constraint solver behaves with such small elements as it introduces a deformation by nature. You can easily see how the wall segments resonate differently with the ground frequency depending on orientation and solver iterations.
The connections are set to be indestructible for the test and all four simulations have a fixed simulation step count per second of 500. Per each simulation step a number of constraint solver iterations is performed which was changed between cases within a range from 50 to 500 leading to the different deformation results. The ground frequency is progressively increasing from 0.5 Hz at start to 1.5 Hz near the end.
Paper about rigid body and constraint solvers:
kostackstudio.de/dl/docs/2012-EG-STAR_Rigid_Body_Dynamics.pdf
We are currently researching brick and mortar behavior and if we can simulate this properly using the Bullet rigid body solver in Blender. First we need to find out how the constraint solver behaves with such small elements as it introduces a deformation by nature. You can easily see how the wall segments resonate differently with the ground frequency depending on orientation and solver iterations.
The connections are set to be indestructible for the test and all four simulations have a fixed simulation step count per second of 500. Per each simulation step a number of constraint solver iterations is performed which was changed between cases within a range from 50 to 500 leading to the different deformation results. The ground frequency is progressively increasing from 0.5 Hz at start to 1.5 Hz near the end.
Paper about rigid body and constraint solvers:
kostackstudio.de/dl/docs/2012-EG-STAR_Rigid_Body_Dynamics.pdf
![Condo Collapse Simulation | Champlain Towers South Surfside, Florida, Miami [8K]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/HPwJ0JvTcg8/mqdefault.jpg "Condo Collapse Simulation | Champlain Towers South Surfside, Florida, Miami [8K]
On the 24th of June 2021 at night the Champlain Towers South, a 12-story beachfront condominium in the Miami suburb of Surfside, Florida collapsed partially. This collapse simulation was made based on the presently available data, eyewitness, and video accounts.
The authors are independent researchers and impartial hoping to constructively contribute to the fact-finding. This study demonstrates the collapse mechanism assuming the following plausible hypothesis:
According to the data, the basement deck showed signs of extended soaking for many years. The problem was locally insufficiently patched and not rectified in its entirety. The wetting caused the deck ceiling to be weakened to such an extent that basement pillars punched through the deck where additional load had peaked at the planter area.
The authors hope to not distress relatives of victims with the application of dummy dolls in this simulation that have the sole purpose of tracking victims in potential cavities within the debris.
Air pockets visualization followup: https://youtu.be/XkwHxVGKQKU
The Bullet-Constraints-Builder simulation software is open-source, it was developed within the EU FP7 funded INACHUS framework.
Kostack Studio was supported by Architect Oliver Walter with the data analysis.
Main sources:
https://youtu.be/KR29pLccutY
8777-collins-avenue preliminary-review-plans-for-40-year-re-certification.pdf
8777-collins-ave-1979-plans.pdf
8777-collins-ave unverified-inspection-report.pdf
Credits:
Simulation & video by Kai Kostack
http://kostackstudio.de
Consultant: Dipl. Arch. ETH Oliver Walter
Music:
Sergey Cheremisinov - Fog (CC BY)
Kevin Hartnell - Aurora (CC BY)
Made with Blender + BCB + Fracture Modifier
https://blender.org
https://inachuslaurea.wordpress.com
https://github.com/KaiKostack/bullet-constraints-builder
https://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?343637-Custom-Build-Blender-Fracture-Modifier
The BCB structural simulation software has been developed at the Laurea University of Applied Sciences, Finland. Written within the scope of EU Inachus FP7 Project (607522): Technological and Methodological Solutions for Integrated Wide Area Situation Awareness and Survivor Localisation to Support Search and Rescue (USaR) Teams")
