The umbrella-like balanced lift method is brilliant.
And speaking of video, here's a post from last July:
- Structural engineers have built a new bridge using an unfolding, umbrella-like technique.
- The engineers say the process is ideal for unusual terrain and reduces time and cost.
- Hollow steel girders are lowered slowly and steadily into place by a hydraulic lift.
A new kind of bridge construction opens and unfolds like an umbrella, creators say. Structural engineers at the TU Wien, or Vienna University of Technology, have built a prototype bridge mechanism with a central umbrella handle and two opposite spokes controlled by a slider. The example bridge spans a river in Austria.The umbrella method is a completely new way to construct a static final bridge. This TU Wien team first worked on the idea in 2006, and it’s been experimenting and fine tuning since then. Instead of traditional kinds of bridge building—i.e. putting up long-term scaffolding as rebar is laid and concrete is filled into structures—this mechanism is built like a “closed” umbrella and then unfolded into its final position. From there, its hollow girders are filled with concrete and the rest of the structural elements are completed.“Erecting bridges using scaffolding usually takes months,” designer Johann Kollegger said in a statement. “The elements for the balanced lowering method, on the other hand, can be set up in two to three days, and the lowering process takes around three hours.” But this process, he says, is less invasive for bridges through protected or uneven terrain. The team's sample bridge over the Lafnitz River touches a nature preserve.The resulting bridge section has a span of 72 meters (about 236 feet)—enough to span many rivers and highways. Sections can also be daisy-chained and connected into longer bridges. Each girder weighs over 50 tons, and they’re lowered carefully and symmetrically over a pretty long time. Traditionally constructed bridges are also often built out symmetrically, because even small imbalances can break the foundations that have been constructed....MUCH MORE, including video
"Stunning aerial view of China's longest coal transport route..."
China is still building-out its coal infrastructure.
You didn't believe the "largest developer of renewables" spin did you?
They are the largest developer of renewables and they are the largest developer of nuclear and they are the largest developer of coal and will be the largest developer of natural gas if they can steal a bit of Japan's cutting edge technology for extracting methane clathrates or American fracking tech.
From Xinhua's twitter feed, a fancy piece of engineering:
This seems like a pretty serious commitment to coal.Stunning aerial view of China's longest coal transport route, a heavy-loaded #railway scheduled to be completed later this year pic.twitter.com/KHd9DyUohw— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) July 20, 2019
