356m skyscraper 4th shaking, academicians entered, suspicions abound, monitoring data released

According to the mainland official media news reports, on May 24th, the 356-meter skyscraper shook once again. A store owner on the 9th floor, Ms. Chen, said the degree of shaking was a lot less than previous days. She said, if you place a cup on the table, you can see the water's surface rippling, but it's relatively slight, and sometimes you can't really feel it. This is the fourth time that Sag Plaza has shook. The incident of Sag Plaza shaking has aroused widespread attention and concern, while also causing many people to think. Why were the experts' reasoning to the cause of the shaking continuously proven wrong by facts? Why didn't the experts mention the problems in the design and construction of the building? Why didn't any of the leaders and officials of Guangdong Province and Shenzhen City show their faces after the shaking? Before we begin, we'd like to welcome everyone to like and subscribe to our channel, and turn on your notification bell so you won't miss any of our new exciting videos in the future. Now let's take a look at the most recent updates. On May 25th, the official real-time monitoring data of Sag Plaza for that day was released. On that day, experts continued real-time monitoring of the settlement, tilting, acceleration, and other elements of Sag Plaza. The expert group said that as of noon, the monitoring data was normal and did not exceed the corresponding limitations. At present, the group is carrying out design review checks, calculation analysis, and identification. Since the shaking started on May 18th, monitoring data have been released every day, and the results were always within the allowable range. On May 23rd, mainline media reported that a group of experts and professionals led by academicians are performing relevant monitoring, testing, and analysis work as fast as they can. On May 22nd, Guangdong Provincial Party Secretary Li Xi, Governor Ma Xinrui, and Shenzhen Municipal Party Secretary Wang Weizhong arrived at Futian District in Shenzhen to investigate the response and handling of Sag Plaza's shaking incident and how they're doing. The group will hold a special Provincial Party Secretary meeting to listen to the reports of Shenzhen City and other experts, and decide on next steps. Since the shaking of Sag Plaza started on May 18th, there has been a lot of discussion amongst netizens, and six main points of suspicion have been compiled. Suspicion 1. On May 19th, the staff of Guangdong Emergency Department has confirmed the authenticity of an online document titled, Shenzhen Futian District Huaqiangbei Street Sag Plaza Shaking Status Report, Report 2. The report shows that experts initially believed that the cause of shaking was due to a combination of a variety of factors. The report said, according to provincial and municipal expert research and judgment, the initial conclusion was, first, Sag Plaza was trembling up and down rather than swing from side to side. Second, the cause of trembling is a variety of factors combined, mainly the impact of wind, subway operation underground, and temperature differences. Over the last two days, the temperature rose, causing a temperature difference of 8 degrees Celsius that significantly impacted the steel structure. Third, from site survey and inspection by the expert group, the main structure of Sag Plaza is safe, the internal structure is sturdy, and various facilities are intact. However, many netizens question that Sag Plaza has been operating for 20 years, conditions similar to May 18th, with the same 10 meter per second wind speed, subways passing through, and temperature difference of 8 degrees Celsius, has probably happened countless times. So, why didn't it shake before? The subsequent shaking on the 19th and 20th further refused the experts' claims. In addition, there are many skyscrapers in Shenzhen, why didn't any other buildings shake? Suspicion 2. Experts say that the shaking of Sag Plaza was mainly due to the wind. Then, was the wind factor even considered in the design? Some industry analysts say that it's not uncommon at all for tall buildings to be shaken by the wind. Even if it is built with steel and concrete, the tall building is still a long, thin pole-like structure that is easily affected by the wind. Therefore, tall buildings are designed with full consideration of wind impact, and the impact of its disturbed airflow on other buildings. Not only do they require theoretical mechanical design, many also use wind tunnels for testing. When Sag Plaza was designed, was a model of the building tested in the wind tunnel? Experts suggest that, given that Sag Plaza is not equipped with dampers, the next step will be to consider installing dampers to improve the wind and earthquake resistance and overall comfort. If that's the case, then were dampers even considered during the building's initial design? Suspicion 3. Recently, a 20-year-old master's thesis written by Jin Tianqi, titled Shenzhen Sag Plaza Construction Project Review, was widely circulated on the internet. The article pointed out many problems, such as modifying the design while construction was underway, designing after construction, and starting construction before the design drawings were done. The paper also reveals that after the general contractor was hired, the construction often had to stop and wait for drawings, or redo construction after drawing modifications. This led to many unnecessary disputes and increased the overall cost of the project. The simultaneous design and construction of the project persisted until the completion of Sag Plaza. Why did those experts turn a blind eye to this paper? Jin Tianqi stated in her thesis that she was involved in the entire construction process of Sag Plaza. Jin is now the Director of Operations at the Shenzhen Institute of Urban Public Safety Technology, yet as someone who knows the truth, she flatly refused to be interviewed by the media. Suspicion 4. The official monitoring data shows that the three indicators of settlement, maximum tilt, and maximum acceleration of the building are all above the national standard. The expert also said that the shaking of Sag Plaza is mainly up and down. If that's the case, are there regulations on this type of movement? If the amplitude of up and down vibrations are large enough, the building will still collapse. So why didn't officials release this data? Suspicion 5. From site survey and inspection by the expert group, the main structure of Sag Plaza is safe, the internal structure is sturdy, and various facilities are intact. If the internal structure is so strong, why are there construction materials on site? Sag Plaza is the tallest building in the world with a steel tube concrete structure. Are there any other problems with this type of structure itself? Steel tube concrete is different from traditional reinforced concrete. Steel tube concrete is a steel tube with concrete filled inside, while traditional reinforced concrete has a steel cage frame inside and concrete poured outside using formwork. Steel and concrete have a relatively close coefficient of linear expansion. However, the coefficient of heat transfer of steel is much higher than that of concrete. Therefore, when the external temperature changes, the steel tube expands and contracts faster than concrete. For example, when the temperature rises quickly, the external steel tube will elongate, while the internal concrete lags due to the slow heat transfer. Therefore, the steel tube will bear more of the building's load, and the concrete will bear less. The modulus of elasticity of steel is large, and under lateral forces, it is easy to induce up and down movement. Suspicion 6. Where did all the officials go? Generally speaking, when a large-scale mass security incident like this happens, the provincial or municipal leaders and those in charge of security should rush to the scene as early as possible to investigate the situation in order to respond. According to media reports on the 23rd, the party secretary of Guangdong, the governor, and the party secretary of Shenzhen City arrived at Futian District on the 22nd, and did not go to Tseg Plaza itself, or were there any pictures taken? Most people who understand the Chinese political circle understand this routine. First, the safety of Tseg Plaza concerns the safety of more than 20,000 people, but the officials don't really care about this. Second, if they go, they will have to lead the efforts, and if they make any mistakes, their political future is over. Third, the leaders do not want to get involved in this kind of incident, as they may end up having to take responsibility and lose their positions. So even the local secretary of Shenzhen was not willing to step into Tseg Plaza. The preliminary reason for the shaking of Tseg Plaza was given by an expert group of three people, who are from the China Academy of Building Research, Shenzhen Institute of Building Research, and Shenzhen Institute of Architectural Design, respectively. At the same time that netizens question the experts' reasoning, they are also questioning the group itself. It is a common practice in China to consult expert groups when there are major safety or technical problems. Expert groups are typically professionals gathered by the owner from relevant fields of knowledge. The number of people in the group varies depending on the situation, but is usually not less than three. After the consultation is completed, the expert group gives its expert opinion, then sign and receive payment. The group is then disbanded and may be formed again next time if something else happens. Since expert groups are employed to help with making decisions if something were to go wrong, the responsibility of the officials is greatly reduced, since they have the expert group as protection. The experts, on the other hand, can earn consulting fees, so both parties get what they want. Experts in the various industries in China are made up of intellectual elites. To be in their circle, you have to act according to the rules of that circle. Their slogan is, forget people when you can, don't strike the vitals. It means that when you can excuse other experts from responsibility, you should leave a way out for others and not point out the key issues of projects led by other experts. This is often the case with experts in the same professional circle. Perhaps this time you're reviewing a project led by another expert, next time it may be the other way around. If you expose the problems of other people's projects, then next time don't expect others to go easy on you. In this type of circle, everyone takes care of each other. This is an unspoken rule, but in order to stay in the circle, you have to follow it. If anyone violates this rule, they will be kicked out from the circle of experts. This is why a graduate student like Jin Dianqi, who doesn't even study construction, can identify the problems in design and construction, while those experts and professionals can't. It's not because these experts are incompetent, rather they are in that circle, so they need to act according to the rules of that circle. Back then, Jin Dianqi was not an expert in construction, so she could not enter that circle of experts. Even though she only had introductory knowledge of construction, she was able to find problems and dare to write them in her paper. Now that Jin is in the circle of safety experts, she obviously needs to act according to the rules of that circle, which is why she refused to speak on this issue further. The experts say the shaking was mainly caused by wind, although the wind speed was only about 10 meters per second that day, because they dare not tell the truth. If they mention anything about the design and construction problems, it would offend too many of their peers. The SEG Plaza Project won the second prize in the National Science and Technology Progress Awards and the first prize of Excellent Survey and Design Project in 2003. If they really bring up the problems with the design and construction of SEG Plaza, then they will have made enemies with many colleagues in the industry, including those who participated in the design, construction, management, and inspection of the project, as well as those at the top of the circle who presented the awards to the project. More importantly, it will blemish the brilliance of the leaders. Therefore, people in the circle will usually never question the conclusions reached by other experts. The biggest issue with this is that the experts cannot play the role they need to play because experts are afraid to speak the truth. If they don't speak the truth, the owners will not be able to identify the real problem and respond accordingly. Therefore, whether SEG Plaza's shaking will be resolved remains uncertain. On the contrary, there are many netizens who, although they are not experts, can offer some very insightful opinions because they are not in that circle of experts and are not limited by the unspoken rules of the circle. Some netizens suggested to invite foreign experts to analyze the cause of the shaking. This might be a good idea since foreign experts are not in that circle and can speak the truth. Wen Zhao, a famous current affairs commentator, said China's so-called intellectual elites, the closer they are to the top, the more useless they are. This is obviously not a matter of becoming stupid once you enter the circle, but a systemic problem. Academic discourse becomes a kind of power and therefore a target of corruption.