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Showing posts from February, 2011

National Geographic Megastructures

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Sears Tower Megastructure Documentary Download Willis Tower (formerly named, but still commonly referred to as, Sears Tower ) is a 108-story, 1451-foot (442 m) skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois. At the time of its compl etion in 1974, it was the tallest building in the world, surpassing the World Trade Center towers in New York, and it held this rank for nearly 25 years. The Willis Tower is the tallest building in the United States and the fifth-tallest freestanding structure in the world, as well as the fifth tallest building in the world to the roof. For 20 years, the Sears Tower held the record for the world�s tallest building. Completed in 1974, the 108 stories high building is almost half a kilometer tall. And it still holds the record for having the world�s highest antenna. John Zils, structural engineer and designer of this mega-structure shares some of the secrets about the tower. And get a behind-the-scenes look at some of the various systems and controls that are vital t

Channel Tunnel

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The Channel Tunnel ( is a 50.5-kilometre (31.4 mi) undersea rail t unnel linking Folkestone , Kent in the United Kingdom with Coquelles, Pas-de-Calais near Calais in northern France beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. At its lowest point, it is 75 metres (250 ft) deep. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] At 37.9 kilometres (23.5 mi), the Channel Tunnel posses ses th e longest undersea portion of any tunnel in the world, although the Seikan Tunnel in Japan is both longer overall at 53.85 kilometres (33.46 mi), and deeper at 240 metres (790 ft) below sea level. A tunnel connecting Britain and France has been an engineering holy grail since the early 19th century. The first attempt at a tunnel excavation began in 1880, but the project was abandoned soon after and workings lay dormant for a hundred years. In 1988, international treaties were signed and once more excavation work began in earnest. At 50km from Kent to Normandy, with a full 39km passing 40m under the English Chann

HEC RAS

To create a river hydraulics application with HEC-RAS,you work with projects. A project is a collection files that are used to build a model.This chapter describes projects and how you build and manage them. Contents Understanding Projects Elements of a Project Creating,Opening,Saving,Renaming and Deleting Projects Project Options To read more download "Working with Project in HEC-RAS http://www.docstoc.com/docs/70199819/Working-with-projects-in-HEC-RAS

Steady Flow

Performing Steady Flow Analysis in HEC RAS This post includes the procedure of calculating steady flow water surface profile. This chapter is divided into two parts.The first part discusses how to enter steady fow data and boundary conditions.The second part discusses how to develop a plan and perform the calculations. Entering and Editing Steady Flow Data Performing Steady Flow Calculations Entering and Editing Steady Flow Data Once all of the geometric data are entered,the modeler can then enter any steady flow data that are required.To bring up the steady flow data editor,select Steady Flow Data from Edit menu on the HEC-RAS main window.The steady flow data editor should appear. Steady Flow Data The user is required to enter the following information: the number of profiles to be calculated;the peak flow data(at least one flow for every river reach and every profile); and any required boundary conditions. To read more download this ebook http://www.docstoc.com/docs/70199877/Perfor

Fluid Mechanics

Dimensional Analysis In engineering the application of fluid mechanics in designs make much of the use of empirical results from a lot of experiments. This data is often difficult to present in a readable form. Even from graphs it may be difficult to interpret. Dimensional analysis provides a strategy for choosing relevant data and how it should be presented. This is a useful technique in all experimentally based areas of engineering. If it is possible to identify the factors involved in a physical situation, dimensional analysis can form a relationship between them. The resulting expressions may not at first sight appear rigorous but these qualitative results converted to quantitative forms can be used to obtain any unknown factors from experimental analysis. Dimensions and units Any physical situation can be described by certain familiar properties e.g. length, velocity, area, volume, acceleration etc. These are all known as dimensions. Of course dimensions are of no use without a ma

Hydraulics Modeling

A physical model is a scaled representation of a hydraulic flow situation. Both the boundary conditions (e.g. channel bed, sidewalls), the upstream flow conditions and the flow field must be scaled in an appropriate manner. Physical hydraulic models are commonly used during design stages to optimize a structure and to ensure a safe operation of the structure. They have an important further role to assist non-engineering people during the `decision-making' process. A hydraulic model may help the decision-makers to visualize and to picture the flow field, before selecting a `suitable' design. In civil engineering applications, a physical hydraulic model is usually a smaller- size representation of the prototype (i.e. the full-scale structure) (e.g. Fig. 14.2). Other applications of model studies (e.g. water treatment plant, flotation column) may require the use of models larger than the prototype. In any case the model is investigated in a laboratory under controlled conditions.