In demolition, the minimum quantities of explosives are used to remove structural members to initiate a collapse. The way we control the direction of the collapse is with delay detonators.
With steel structures we use a combination of specialist cutting and kicking charges to remove pre-determined sections of steelwork.
A cutting charge physically cuts the steelwork – the kicking charge kicks out the cut section effectively removing the support and allowing the structure above to drop.
The steel cutting charges are very powerful and have been known to create high velocity “fly” which can travel long distances if not adequately protected. This means a large exclusion zone will be implemented for this blowdown operation.
The delay detonators determine when the charges initiate and so allow us to control the direction of collapse.
Once these works have been completed, the explosives are placed in position ready for demolition.
