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Post by granty on Oct 18, 2017 18:51:53 GMT
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Post by sherri on Oct 18, 2017 20:13:44 GMT
Interesting views though.
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Post by joethenuts on Oct 18, 2017 20:45:48 GMT
I could not do it
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Post by DADDY O on Oct 19, 2017 17:59:35 GMT
Great pics Granty.
Even at my age I sometimes climb to the top of an elevated water tank....usually around 200 + feet. It's fairly safe with all the fall proof harnessing you must wear, although it can be tiring, which is why we put a platform ever 40 feet or so in order to take a break and catch your breath. When you get to the top and step out on the surface of the tank, it is like no other experience in the world.
It takes a lot of cojones to not only get to where you are, but to be platting up there at the same time. Beats the hell out of sitting at a desk all day long.
Are the feet of those rigs somewhat hollow to allow them to "float" to the drop point? And when they get there, do they open them up to flood them and sink the rig? I'd love to see how they put those in place.
I am also guessing they place the wind turbines on after the rig is secure and in place?
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Post by granty on Oct 19, 2017 19:35:47 GMT
It must be harder for you's to climb up because of the heat. We very rarely have that problem. sigh
Those big tubular cans on the bottom of the jackets are called 'suction buckets' there's nothing in them, I think they just sink in the mud, and work off gravity, or the lack of it, or something.
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Post by DADDY O on Oct 19, 2017 19:52:15 GMT
I'm always amazed at how contractors put things together, and this is why I insist that engineers who design something also go to the field to see how it is constructed. You learn a lot from that.....usually, how not to design a certain item.
In 1987 I designed a 34 million gallon water tank for the city of Austin. It was a ground storage tank, not an elevated tank, but it was the largest potable water tank in the US at that time. If I remember correctly it was about 250 feet in diameter and 120 feet high. Chicago Bridge & Iron won the bid to construct it. Here's what the tank looked like.
worldplacebox.com/275933/Martin-Hill-Reservoir-Tank
You can scroll around to look at different views of it.
The first thing they did was the earthwork followed by constructing the 10" concrete slab to support the tank. Then they constructed the bottom steel plate, then the bottom support ring and tied the bottom plate to the ring. The next thing they did, which surprised me was to construct the top of the tank inside the support ring. The top was curved slightly. Then came the vertical "ribs" and then the plates on the sides. All this time, the top of the tank set inside the tank. I assumed that when they got to the point of bringing the top of the tank up to the top, they would bring in a couple of cranes and lift it up and then weld it into place. Boy was I wrong.
The job foreman told me they were lifting the top tomorrow and if I wasted to watch I should bring a lawn chair and a cooler of beer. I thought he was joking, but I threw those items in my truck just to make sure.
So, tomorrow came and there must have been 20 guys standing and sitting in their chairs on the top of the tank and inside the tank. So, what the hell, I grabbed my chair and went inside also. The foreman said "What, you didn't bring the beer"? So, I went and got the cooler of beer and threw it inside also. And then they started, and I'm looking for the cranes, and none are there.
What they did, which really impressed me to no end", was to plug the small gap between the top and walls with rags, then turned on an air compressor and started to fill the tank with air, and voila, the top slowly raised upward. All this time they kept replugging the holes when they lost the rags in order to maintain air pressure. It was a slow process, but a damn good one. I asked the foreman why he needed 20 guys who pretty much sat on their duff most of the time. He smiled and said "you'll see".
Every now and then the top will slant slightly due to the imperfection of having a truly circular tank. Sometimes it even falls a foot or so if it catches a snag. When that happens, all the guys run to the high side to weight it down and level the top out again. The first time this happened I thought I was dead. The foreman just looked at me and smiled. When the top got to the top, they welded what they called "catches" to the side and the roof to hold it temporarily in place. After that, everyone went down the outside ladder and the platters constructed the inside top ring while the "top men" platted the top to the sides.
That was one of the best experiences of my life. It took about 6 hours to get the top in place before they installed the "catches".
Those men knew exactly what they were doing.....and the SOB's drank all my beer before we even got halfway up.
BTW Joe, when researching a photo of the tank I noticed the city recoated the inside and outside of the tank in 2001. It took 7,000 gallons at a cost of $1.5 million dollars. Wouldn't you like to have that contract? |
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Post by DADDY O on Oct 19, 2017 20:12:38 GMT
It must be harder for you's to climb up because of the heat. We very rarely have that problem. sigh Those big tubular cans on the bottom of the jackets are called 'suction buckets' there's nothing in them, I think they just sink in the mud, and work off gravity, or the lack of it, or something. It's not the heat so much as it is the vertical climb up a steel ladder. We engineers are not in the best physical shape. Sitting at a desk most of the day tends to slow us down a tad. |
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Post by sherri on Oct 19, 2017 22:17:54 GMT
There's no way on earth I would fancy sitting on top of one of those lids with it tilting and going up, daddyo.
And 6 hours, all that drinking & no toilets! Very uncomfortable.
But it is a clever way to get the thing to the top, I would have assumed they would need cranes too.
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Post by granty on Oct 23, 2017 19:28:22 GMT
I done a bit of tank building in Southern Ireland many moons ago. You're right about the engineers, they've got it all worked out in their head, or computer. Then up pops the fabricator, to mark it, burn it, and put it together. For half the money.
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Post by sherri on Oct 23, 2017 21:44:37 GMT
Where abouts are you working at the moment, granty? Is it close to Sth Shields or elsewhere?
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