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Toronados
- Thread starter cda
- Start date
pwood
Platinum Member
tj,TJacobs said:
the eggman and the walrus have left the room, koo koo ka choo!
FredK
Gold Member
Not sure about that. The Hospital there in Joplin was close to the edge and was still standing. Granted the windows were gone but the structure was still there.peach said:
I would guess the real issue is pressure differences. Wood doesn't stand up that well.
If you look at the damage in Japan what I believe you will see is total damage to houses from tsunamis but in many cases more substantial buildings survived the tsunami with damage primarily to non-structural elements. When away from the tsunami I would expect many small buildings survived often with little damage. I would expect that the buildings constructed following traditional practices performed worse than buildings that were engineered and constructed in accordance with the design. This is what we have seen in previous earthquakes.
A 9.0 earthquake does not translate into a proportionally larger acceleration that what you will see in an 7.0 earthquake. The earthquake magnitude is related to the energy in the earthquake.
I realize that it is threatening to admit that we could see significant improvement if we made modes changes to our practices.
A 9.0 earthquake does not translate into a proportionally larger acceleration that what you will see in an 7.0 earthquake. The earthquake magnitude is related to the energy in the earthquake.
I realize that it is threatening to admit that we could see significant improvement if we made modes changes to our practices.
brudgers
We are talking about buildings regulated by building codes. The reactors structure survived the shaking and the tsunami. The problems was the systems to maintain cooling did not survive undamaged. While there will be some damage to some of the systems in typical buildings the continued operation of these systems are not essential to protect the inhabitants. If the structure is intact it then becomes feasible to fix up the building.
You see a biased picture on the news because they forus on the damage. If you look at the experience in California and Chilie you will realize that many buildings survived with little to moderate damage because of local codes and practices.
We are talking about buildings regulated by building codes. The reactors structure survived the shaking and the tsunami. The problems was the systems to maintain cooling did not survive undamaged. While there will be some damage to some of the systems in typical buildings the continued operation of these systems are not essential to protect the inhabitants. If the structure is intact it then becomes feasible to fix up the building.
You see a biased picture on the news because they forus on the damage. If you look at the experience in California and Chilie you will realize that many buildings survived with little to moderate damage because of local codes and practices.
Nuclear power stations in the US are mostly built to withstand EF5 tornados, including winds up to 360 mph as well as the wind driven missiles. This protection is provided to all safety systems, especially the cooling systems, spent fuel pools, and emergency generator diesel fuel storage. It takes at least 3 ft of high quality reinforced concrete, making it impractical for wide use. Not to mention the tornado dampers, intake shields, steel doors weighing thousands of pounds, etc.
Architect1281
Gold Member
It can be done but you could be the only one standing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:100_0587.jpg
and some remind me of Bedrock http://www.jdsdomes.com/why_build_them.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:100_0587.jpg
and some remind me of Bedrock http://www.jdsdomes.com/why_build_them.html
Well... I've been doing a little research and there are specifications for storm shelters. FEMA has some and there is an ICC 500 that has some regulations.
Here is what we've decided... No permit (since it's less than 120 sq. ft.), same setbacks as a swimming pool, Based on FEMMA they say not recommended in the 500 year flood plane be we are going not in the 100 year flood plain, fresh air supply, and engineered to withstand the loads (soil, water etc).
Here is what we've decided... No permit (since it's less than 120 sq. ft.), same setbacks as a swimming pool, Based on FEMMA they say not recommended in the 500 year flood plane be we are going not in the 100 year flood plain, fresh air supply, and engineered to withstand the loads (soil, water etc).
Frank
Registered User
April 12, 2011, one of our nuclear plants in VA got hit in April by a tornado that damaged the switchgear and power lines cutting the plant off from the grid. Emergency generators came on and the plant went through emergency shutdown. Surry Unit 1 was restarted soon after the power lines were repaired, Unit 2 was kept shutdown as it was scheduled to be shutdown shortly after the tornado hit for refueling.Gordon said:
Enviromental impact was a 200 gallon oil leek from a damaged transformer and a 100 gallon diesiel fuel leak from an above ground tank.
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/event-status/event/2011/20110420en.html#en46761
Tornado speeds can exceed 500 mph; can't design to resist.. (well, I guess you can, but no one could afford to build it). IMHO, tornado prone areas should design/build to hurricane standards, but they are fairly localized, short duration, random events getting something into the code probably won't happen.
Um, not sure what you mean. Hurricanes are a swirl, but a BIG swirl, they swirl in a counter-clockwise motion (north of the equator, opposite that south of the equator) and the 'right hand side' of a hurricane is called the 'dirty side', because that's where all the debris that it's sucking up from the clean side (I guess cause it's cleaning the landscape of whatever is on the ground) gets thrown out. Hurricanes are as unpredictable regarding the path that they will take as tornadoes, but like a large cruise ship versus a speedboat, they don't change course on a dime. Typically being on the 'dirty side' is much worse, basically due to the amount of stuff that it flying through the sky at you.TJacobs said:
As for the talk about root/storm cellars. If you live in a place like Kansas, it's a good idea, but if you live in a place near water, like our coast lines or like Japan, well, the cellar might protect you from the wind storms (hurricane or tornado), it might even be okay during an earthquake, but I don't think I'd like to be in one when a tsunami hits ... just saying.