Sunday, January 23, 2011

Simple Solution

 Each year, many homes along the coast of The Gulf get swept away because their wood pylons are not strong enough to prevent these houses from being washed away by storm surges.
Some have switched to round pre-fab or poured-concrete pylons instead - but while concrete has a high compression strength, it's tensile strength is fairly weak.
What if steel reinforced, flexible polymer coated, elliptical concrete pylons were used instead?
These could be arrayed in a pattern which would decrease the drag from debris.
This shape would whisk water to the sides of the structure instead of taking the full force of the waves during a storm.
The concrete would be good for support while the polymer coating would ensure that each pylon could still bend a bit (like wood).

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