No one has ever seen the world's tallest tower collapse... until now
The 646 m (2120 ft) tall Warsaw Radio Mast was the world's tallest structure for 17 years. The Polish tower has only been surpassed in height by the Burj Khalifa and the Merdeka 118. However, it collapsed during repairs on 8 August 1991, and no footage has ever surfaced of the collapse. In this video, you will witness a world first simulation of the collapse courtesty of the Bullet Constraints Builder add-on for the Blender animation software. The structure has been meticulously modelled and the result is a realistic simulation that gives a glimpse into how the real collapse unfolded.
Chapters:
00:00 Intro Montage
00:18 Background about tower
02:14 Steel lattice structures
04:07 Features of tower
04:55 How did the tower collapse?
06:16 Collapse simulation
Credits:
Background music: GTA V Main Menu Theme
Intro music: "Epic Hollywood Trailer" by Daddy_s_Music
Spaghetti snapping footage: • Snapping Spaghetti
KVLY-TV Tower Footage: • The tallest structure ...
There are different stories about the collapse. I personally read of successfully replacing the main rope with two temporary ones, but then hours after workers left the area one of the temporary ropes slipped off of it's clamp, causing the disaster. This is why there were no killed or injuried, as everybody had left the site prior to the collapse. Also I heard that the signal wasn't getting it's way to the Antarctica, but it could have been received in the north and central Africa. The mast was never rebuilt, after years of waiting they finally replaced it with another one (actually an array of two "half-wave" masts) near the city of Solec Kujawski (/solets kooyavski/). You can still receive it at 225 kHz, AM band of course. It's not as powerful as the old one, but I believe it still covers most of Europe and maybe even larger area. Greetings from Poland.
Thank you for the information. I researched this video primarily from the English Wikipedia article, I imagine I would have missed a lot of Polish sources that have more information. Your account of the collapse definitely seems possible and would explain why no one was injured despite the scale of the collapse. I am glad to hear the replacement masts still have such impressive transmission capabilities.
225 kHz? Long waves? I will try to catch up with it on my old radio. One more reason to restore it
@@igorzherebiatev5751 Yes friend that's it. And by now, after the government changed in Poland, there soon will be no more right-wing propaganda in the public radio :)
*You have just 63 subscribers?? You have great quality content, I am sure with content like this you channel will see some good growth in the time to come* 👍
Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it!
Not if his facts are incorrect
Hi
@@AisersOUT
Underrated content. Nearly forgot Poland had the world's tallest structure before it collapsed. What physics SIM did you use for this?
Thanks for the feedback, this was made using Blender and the "Bullet Constraints Builder" add-on. There is a great tutorial on how to use it by KZheadr "EarthquakeSim".
@@Contraflex At first I thought it was Kerbal Space Program the way it fell in 1st 10secs.
Thanks to the Warsaw Antenna, the 629-meter KTHI-TV tower in Blanchard, North Dakota has the distinction of twice being the tallest structure on Earth: from its 1963 erection until the Warsaw Antenna's completion in 1974, and then from the Warsaw Antenna's 1991 collapse until Burj Khalifa "topped off" in 2008. The Blanchard tower, now KVLY-DTV, still stands sixty years later.
The Blanchard tower has an amazing legacy.
@@Contraflex Theres a wonderful TV episode on Big Machines, with a HD cameraman going to the top during an antenna replacement. Got a twinge of vertigo just watching it on 720P. I see theres a nine minute piece on TowerandTurbine channel on UTube.
@@joefish6091 Thanks for sharing the antenna replacement video. What an incredible logistics operation. Those workers definitely earn their pay!
Love the GTA5 pause music
Finally someone did it... greetings From Poland!
In Poland, we generally liked to broadcast the radio. We had several transmitters capable of transmitting signals far beyond the horizon. And every time some man had to ruin it. (babice transatlantic, several radio broadcasting centers disrupting propaganda radios from the west during the USSR)
The great pyramid held the title of tallest building far longer than the Empire building.
That's very true, perhaps I should have have clarified that I was talking about the modern era.
Wow, your sub count will skyrocket if you keep producing content like this. Nice work.
Thanks so much for the feedback!
Amazing video, thanks for making it!
Wake up. The antenna was not part of the Soviet Union's radio communications. He was in Poland. It was a Polish radio station, not a Soviet one. The antenna was not located in Warsaw, but in Konstantynów.
I apologise for mistakenly labelling it as a Soviet radio mast, for some reason I thought Poland was part of the Soviet Union... geography is not my strong suit. I will do more research next time.
@@Contraflex No, no, we were a seperate country in the Eastern Block (economic/military ties with Russia back then) Thanks for the video. Cool that you're interested in old radio towers 😂😂 Ever thought of becoming a tower technician ? ;) (I think it's a cool thing to do for a living, climb these towers) Anyhow, best wishes to you 😊
@@marcelsmith5176 I am far too scared of heights to ever climb one of these towers... I will stick to simulating them 🤣
Well Poland was still a Soviet satellite state??
@@paul_ko Not in the union of Soviet republics
That's an insane height for a radio mast. Most of them are nothing even close to that altitude.
It truly is, and maybe we'll never see a taller one built, given the decline of radio.
Excellent presentation! I love these kind of computer simulated disaster recreations. Very well done. I feel lucky to be subscriber #310. You're channel will be in the 10's of thousands (and beyond) in no time if you keep this kind of production quality!
Thank you so much for the feedback! I look forward to making more videos when I have the time.
Nicely presented and impressive simulations.
Great video! You deserve a lot more subscribers!
The guys that changed the lights on that tower had it easy with that elevator. I've met some guys who change light bulbs on towers next to where I live, and they have to climb the side of the towers by hand. After talking with them I was like, "Nope, I'm not in good enough shape to do that." The towers near me are like maybe a third, or a fifth, or an even smaller fraction of the height of that tower, but that's more than I wanna mess with. I wouldn't mind going that high, but not under my own power thanks. :P
The elevator was certainly a handy addition; even so, I wouldn't want to be stuck in that tiny thing for 90 minutes.
@@Contraflex It better have an open end and offer an emergency parachute. No way am I stuck in there for 90 minutes
I'm friends with the engineer that worked at our local TV station. He said their tower has an elevator however I believe he said it only takes you halfway up. You have to climb the rest of the way.
If you climb even a 100 foot ladder you feel it for days, or at least I do. @@johnkern7075
Good explanations and animations! Good luck!
Thank you for the kind feedback 👍
I bet that must have looked really creepy when it fall like some enormous snake falling to the earth.
Subbed just to thank you for the great work
Ciekawe i dobre przedstawienie symulacji upadku masztu.
Great stuff, just keep at it mate! You'll be one of the biggest infotainment channels on YT if you keep it up for a year or two! I remember watching first Real Engineering videos and seeing a spark of potential in the creator. I see the exact same thing here!
Note for my future self: I'm the 227th subscriber here )
Thank you so much for your words of encouragement, it means a lot! I look forward to making more videos when I have the time.
The Burj Khalifa and the Warsaw Tower share something. No restrooms.
You are half correct, apparently the Burj Khalifa isn't connected to Dubai's sewerage network, so wastewater is removed by truck.
@@Contraflex There are emergency facilities but people employed there are expected not to use them while in the building. Ewww
@@Contraflexit was just recently finally connected to the sewerage system. Keep up the good work, it’d be cool to see a video about the upcoming Southbank by Beulah which will be Australia’s tallest building and have the tallest vertical garden in the world.
@@doofer80 Thanks for the idea, I haven't heard of this building so I will definitely do some research on it
Amazing animation ! Mesmerizing
Thanks for watching!
Usually metal collapsing on itself snaps and breaks, for some reason the simulation had the "No breaks" effect on and it magically stayed in 1 whole piece. Amazing? This really did remind me of Kerbal Space program.
In this simulation, each steel member can separate from other steel members if the stress at the connection interface between the two members is sufficiently high. You can see steel members separating from each other at multiple points in the video; these locations would have experienced stresses high enough to break the connection. I do agree with you, for the most part, the structure primarily stayed in one whole piece. However, if you look at real photos of the tower post-collapse, you will see the tower is mostly intact and you can regonise the original truss structure. With regards to individual steel members snapping or breaking, this is a valid point and would definitely be possible in the simulation software, but would require each steel member to be subdivided and would thus increase simulation time; and it wouldn't necessarily give the most realistic simulation. Thanks for the feedback 👍
@@Contraflex Hey, thanks for the reply and greater understanding too. Simulation runs can lead to seeing some pretty incredible things. I removed other post about ___ . Don't want anyone else to see it and get negative ideas as you never know with some things. Peace out and great luck in life.
This is fascinating and a great video. I don't understand from an engineering perspective why there wasn't redundancy in the design. It seems like losing one guy wire should not cause an almost immediate catastrophic failure of the structure (I know there were other factors involved, but still). You would think the structure itself should be able to resist some deformation, and that the numerous guy wires are simply there for added stability. But then, I'm not an engineer so what do I know XD
I think under normal loading conditions, the failure of a single guy wire would not cause the entire tower to collapse. However, once the tower was struck by the extreme wind gust while the guy wire was missing, it resulted in the tower being displaced enough to cause progressive collapse. It likely would have been too expensive to design the tower to survive this extremely unlikely scenario; a potentially one in one thousand year wind gust happening at the same time as a guy wire being replaced (which would presumably only take a few hours to replace). Technically the structure could be designed to withstand a one in one thousand year wind gust without any guy wires, but it would require extremely large steel members and would be very expensive; at that point you are no longer designing a guyed mast, you are designing a skyscraper.
I believe that more then the wind, removing a set of guy wires on one side would cause a tremendous 'offset' to the others still attached to the tower. Their collective WEIGHT alone would pull the structure over for sure!
That's a very good point, I'm sure the unbalanced lateral forces resulting from the weight of the guy wires would have contributed to the collapse.
Amazing video
"You built your tower strong & tall, don't you know it had to fall someday." (Townes Van Zandt--Tower Song)
Looks quite realistic. How does the final wreckage position compare to images of the wreckage of the collapsed tower?
I'm not aware of any images showing the entire footprint of the collapse, but some close up photos show large sections of the tower remained intact, similar to what is seen in this video.
Wasn't there another significant collapse that year involving the Soviet Union?
Well that's too bad. I've heard of Tower collapses before and it usually involves somebody trying to do something to the guy wires.
Many thanks for this video and regards from The Netherlands.
Thanks for watching!
perfect work man keep going im supporting you 👍 its remind me of BATTLEFIELD 3 caspian border map when the antenna tower fall .... can you make a video about it please ? and thanks ❤
I definitely thought of that BF3 map as well when I made this video. Thanks for the feedback!
That tower would be scary seeing it. Collapsing 😬
Very cool content.❤ 1 ?-- why do most of the cables break like spaghetti? Seems to me that would not happen. Probably just a matter that isn’t that important. Not meant as a criticism just an observation.
I agree with you 100%, I don't think the cables would snap like that in reality. There isn't an easy way to model the cables in the simulation software, they are basically just a series of straight tubes connected end to end, and once the stress between each tube exceeds the tensile strength of steel, they break apart. I think in future I would make the cables have infinite strength so they don't snap. Thanks for the feedback!
The cables are so delicate that several people have been killed...the one tower was in nebraska it allegedly 6 miles tall...but i misread it
Am i able to add the music to my songs playlist or is it something that you made please tell me
The song is from the GTA V Pause Menu, feel free to use it.
@@Contraflex thanks
This is triggering an internal megalophobia and acrophobia that was also triggered watching the trailer for Fall.
I'm sorry to hear that, but thanks for teaching me two new words!
Just proves that length isn't everything 😜
Did they replace it or call quits
It was planned to be rebuilt, but the people living there protested against it and it was instead replaced by two smaller masts somewhere else in Poland
so the best place for someone to be standing when that happened was right at or in the base of that tower
I believe the concrete foundation of the mast survived and is still at the site, so the base was definitely built to last.
GTA5 background music....nice
Is this a physics simulation or just an artists rendering?
It is a rigid body physics simulation created with Blender and the Bullet Constraints Builder add-on.
If i could prevent one thing in history from happening, i would have prevented the mast from collapsing
subbed
I remember years ago reading an article in Guinness book of world records and this tower was mentioned, its a shame it collected
Ty
WHAT? It wasn't a part of soviet communication network. It was just radio mast for Poles living abroad. There were 10 mln Poles living abroad and Polish goverment wanted them to have abiblity to listen Polish radio. That's all - no soviets were involved in the project.
You are definitely correct. Apologies for the mistake. I foolishly assumed it was Soviet related due to it's proximity to the USSR.
Can you do the tinsley towers please because it’s my favorite cooling tower
Insanity.
Meters?
This thing probably would've collapse anyways even if the catastrophic maintenance failure didn't happen.
Poor Tower....
At least it (probably) fell within it's own footprint + guy wires.
Yes, the collapse appeared to be localised in a small radius near the base of the tower. If anyone was in the vicinity during the collapse, I'm sure they would have had sufficient time to run away from the base and avoid being struck.
It's not the power, it's the size of the tower.
That's what she said.
I must admit you do pick some awful camera angles for this. particularly at 6:18 and 2:04 They seemed very clumsily framed
I appreciate the detailed feedback from a channel of your size. I will endeavour to improve the framing in future videos. Thanks for watching!
What’s the song called
GTA V Menu Music by Tangerine Dream.
Ok thank you
Keep that reply on there so I can remember
In the start of this video are you using GTA V loading music?
The entire video uses the GTA V main menu music. I find it nice and ambient, and as a bonus KZhead doesn't flag it for copyright.
It's called RCN Konstantynów, not Warsaw radio tower...
Thank you for clarifying. For international viewers I think Warsaw Radio Mast is clearer.
Still haven't seen it.
your telling me that the poles made a big pole
Girls: I can't believe he didn't cry at the Titanic! Do men even have feelings? Me: ...
🤣🤣🤣
Is that gta loading music I hear?
If this collapsed because of one wire out of place. It shows how precarious and unsafe such as structure is.
Such a structure is definitely not as stable as a skyscraper, for example, but it is orders of magnitude cheaper and will rarely have any humans near it who could be harmed if it collapses.
And they say Space Engineers Clang physics isn't realistic
Simulating the tower on a 100% reflective surface makes perception of the tower's height and configuration nearly impossible. It's very distracting.
Thank you for the feedback, I agree. Will keep this in mind for future videos.
Hey man. Love your video. Nitpicker mode: the elevator wasn't powered by a diesel engine. It was a petrol engine from the polish supermini Fiat 126p (communist "people's car"). Cheers 😘
Thanks for the feedback. That is very interesting that it was powered by an automobile engine, out of interest where did you learn about that?
@@Contraflex This was mentioned by a man named Marian Siedlarek, who was a manager of the entire object (sorry, English isn't my first language and manager is not the exact word I'm looking for, more like a master technician, something like that). Basically they swapped the original engine for the automobile one because servicing the original one and having to import parts from Switzerland soon proved too costly. I remember reading about it years ago, it's probably still somewhere on the internet, just needs some digging. Starting with the end of the 70s polish economy was going to shit and this went on well into the 90s, so in view of that makeshift repairs like this totally made sense.
wonder if they listened to WOWO Little Red Barn Program👍🏼
You made a huge flaw with your simulation, you stated the guy lines were anchored to cylindrical anchors you used rectangular anchors in the demo.
You have very good attention to detail!
@@Contraflex not hating, still a great video thanks for the content
@@narutofanz4 Don't worry, I didn't take it the wrong way, thanks for watching 👍
if nobody dies i don't think it was a problem...
Suddenly i want to play gta 5
Give it a year or two and you'll be able to play GTA 6 instead...
1. Maszt przewalił się z powodu błędów człowieka 2. Maszt spadł na 2 części a nie na wiele
"global radio broadcasts"? how is that possible ?
The rumor that the broadcasts could be heard in Antarctica might be exaggerated, but broadcasts could certainly be heard throughout Europe.
@@Contraflex i saw an old goverment film about a radio mast, guessing 1950s said it could transmit anywhere in the world ---- prolly because it's flat
@@tOxIc_TrEaSuRe as far as i know you can create radio waves that somehow get reflected by athmosphere, and therefore can travel arround the globe.
We should be building down not up, just like the government.
Subterranean structures definitely have their benefits, but they probably aren't appropriate for radio transmission.
Hes using the gta loading music
Its giving my insane ammounts of nostaligia
So,, it mostly fell downward from an upward Direction?😂😂
Poland not rebuild Warsaw radio tower
She was never in Warsaw. The antenna was located in Konstantynów. It was rebuilt in a different place and form (330 i 289 m). Radio Broadcasting Center in Solec Kujawski.
413th Subscriber
With 5 guy wires at 72 deg apart you can lose a wire and survive. 3 at 120 is "engineering powered by vodka".
Clearly the engineers of this mast decided the extra stability and redunandancy was not worth the 66% increase in wire costs.
No need to indicate feet!!
Trust me, I wish I didn't have to, but I don't want to ostracize any American viewers.
Fantastic vid. Rather enjoyed it But isn't that the gtav loading screen I heard?!?
Thanks for the feedback! Yes, it's the song that plays in the pause menu.
Whoopsie
Clickbait title. Showing an animated simulation is NOT seeing it happen. 👎
Valid point, however, there is no video footage of it happening, so this simulation is the closest thing. The thumbnail also clearly states that it is a simulation.
@@Contraflex However, your title is still false.
@@BL-jt3qt Thank you for the feedback and engaging with the video!
Didn’t collapse like that obviously, kurwa.
Looks pretty accurate and realtime to me 🤷♀️
If you manage to find footage of the real collapse, please share it! I haven't seen any other attempts to recreate it.
Can be heard from anywhere in the world. What does that tell you people. The earth is flat! Lol😊
What?