Structural Engineering Association Reveals Causes of Trang Municipal Gym Floor Collapse

The Structural Engineering Association revealed the causes of the Trang Municipal Gym floor collapse, where a boom lift fell, killing 2 workers. On February 9, 2024, Prof. Dr. Amorn Pimanmas, president of the Structural Engineering Association of Thailand and a professor at Kasetsart University's Faculty of Engineering, analyzed the incident. He explained that the collapsed floor was made of precast concrete panels laid on beams, with steel mesh and concrete overlay. The failure occurred in the middle section of the floor, causing the boom lift to collapse. Two initial hypotheses were proposed: 1) The floor's load-bearing capacity depends on span length, floor thickness, and prestressing wire reinforcement, which directly impacts weight resistance. 2) The load from the boom lift may have exceeded the floor's design load capacity, potentially causing an overload situation that led to the collapse. Prof. Dr. Amorn noted that further investigation with construction plans could definitively determine whether the failure was due to structural weakness, overloading, or a combination of both factors.