Leaning San Francisco tower seen sinking from space

[RandySF]

SAN FRANCISCO — Engineers in San Francisco have tunneled underground to try and understand the sinking of the 58-story Millennium Tower. Now comes an analysis from space.

The European Space Agency has released detailed data from satellite imagery that shows the skyscraper in San Francisco's financial district is continuing to sink at a steady rate — and perhaps faster than previously known.

The luxury high-rise that opened its doors in 2009 has been dubbed the Leaning Tower of San Francisco. It has sunk about 16 inches into landfill and is tilting several inches to the northwest.

A dispute over the building's construction in the seismically active city has spurred numerous lawsuits involving the developer, the city and owners of its multimillion dollar apartments.

Engineers have estimated the building is sinking at a rate of about 1-inch per year. The Sentinel-1 twin satellites show almost double that rate based on data collected from April 2015 to September 2016.

The satellite data shows the Millennium Tower sunk 40 to 45 millimeters — or 1.6 to 1.8 inches — over a recent one-year period and almost double that amount — 70 to 75 mm (2.6 to 2.9 inches) — over its 17-month observation period, said Petar Marinkovic, founder and chief scientist of PPO Labs which analyzed the satellite's radar imagery for the ESA along with Norway-based research institute Norut.


http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/leaning-san-francisco-tower-seen-sinking-from-space/ar-AAkS38H?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=mailsignout

[msongs]

1. one great shaker and over it goes nt

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. One unit recently sold

[longship]

3. I don't think it can topple over.

It won't have the lateral strength to topple. But it could collapse if it became unstable enough and the lateral forces get too high.

I am pretty sure that it could take significant lean before that happens. Regardless, I wouldn't want to rent in that building.

[Ford_Prefect]

4. ...Never mind the neighborhood nearby.

[longship]

5. The pilings in the building do not go into bedrock.

They work by friction, apparently not good enough. And apparently this type have been used for many years reliably in many other locations. Somebody might have fucked up here.



(I don't really think the building is any danger... at least not yet.)

[yuiyoshida]

6. Sinking Rapidly ...kinda like

the 49ers.

[Mendocino]

7. Most of SoMa

is built on landfill. Soil liquefaction during seismic activities is common to these areas. This will likely not end well.

[jpak]

8. Taxpayers will bail them out

Not to worry

[Javaman]

9. I'd hate to be the company that did the geo-study on that one.

massive lawsuit coming.

[Mendocino]

10. In Manhattan

there is a reason the skyscrapers are clustered in Downtown and Midtown. The bedrock is closest to the surface in those areas.