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Pat Shingleton: "Floods, Dams and Concrete"

6 years 10 months 3 weeks ago Saturday, April 22 2017 Apr 22, 2017 April 22, 2017 4:10 AM April 22, 2017 in Pat Shingleton Column
By: Pat Shingleton:

April is noted for showers and also represents the foggiest month for South Louisiana. On April 19, 1952, the tankers Esso Suez and Esso Greensboro collided in dense fog, 200 miles south of Morgan City. The Suez incurred a 20-foot bow gash with both ships bursting into flames. River pilots are trained to navigate during episodes of dense fog not only on the rivers but within simulators that replicate a variety of rough weather scenarios. Included within the scenarios are river levels and snow melt that increases those levels. Fog was the reason for a horrible disaster recognized as the worst aviation accident in history.  Two Boeing 747s collided on the runway in the Canary Islands in 1977, killing 582. On July 25, 1956, the Andrea Doria sank after colliding with the Stockholm in dense fog, 45 miles south of Nantucket Light taking 51 lives. On this date, 89 years ago the Great Flood of Louisiana implemented the existing levee system. Imperfect engineering and shoddy construction caused the collapse of dams, such as the Johnstown Flood of 1889.  On May 16, 1874, 138 people died as a result of poor construction and a dam break in Williamsburg, MA.  On March 12, 1928, the St. Francis Dam, in service less than two years, collapsed near Santa Paula, CA, killing 450. February 26, 1972, two coal slag dams along Buffalo Creek in southern West Virginia broke, unloading two miles of backed-up water into a lower dam that exploded, 4,000 homes were washed away with 125 deaths.  June 5, 1976, the 305-foot Teton Dam in Idaho collapsed, released 80 billion gallons of water into adjoining farmland. It takes concrete to build levees and dams. Water is the most widely used material and second on the list is concrete and next to steel, concrete is the strongest material ever manufactured. Concrete cannot be fully recycled however a resurrected solution includes the use of lightning.  Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics in Holzkirchen, Germany revived a method, developed by Russian scientists in the 1940s, called electrodynamic fragmentation.  The problem with recycling concrete is breaking down cement, water, and aggregate or the mixture of stone particles that consist of gravel and limestone grit.  The process includes placing concrete in water then blasting it with a 150-nanosecond bolt of lightning.  The bolt runs through solid material, creating a small explosion then tearing apart and breaking down its components. The fragmentation plant processes one ton of concrete waste per hour with larger volumes expected in the future. 

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