Nuclear Boring machine
Sortof like the movie, The Core.
Posted on 09/03/2005 6:36:23 PM PDT by A. Pole
Efforts to drain New Orleans hit another snag Friday as the Army Corps of Engineers discovered that it could not buy new pumps to replace those damaged by the flooding.
Massive pumps capable of draining the city like those that have been keeping New Orleans dry for decades are no longer made and would have to be specially ordered, a process that would take too long, said Col. Richard Wagenaar, the senior corps official in New Orleans.
Instead, repair crews will have to dry out the existing pumps, which could take up to a week, before repairing them with replacement motors and parts and begin pumping water back into Lake Pontchartrain. The repair job could prolong efforts to drain the city, about 80% of which is submerged.
"These pumps are so big, you can't buy them off the shelf. You have to make them, and we don't have time for that," said Wagenaar, who spent about an hour Friday escorting President Bush around the levee damage at the 17th Street Canal.
The city, much of which is below sea level, relies on a network of 22 pumps to keep water out. Army engineers now believe eight pumps are underwater.
The latest wrinkle illustrated the enormous complexity of draining the city, which for more than 200 years had gradually built up an elaborate system to keep itself dry.
Even with the setback, Wagenaar said, the city could be drained in three to six months, mainly because engineers may finally be able to get to the largest pump station, at the end of the 17th Street Canal, as early as today.
[...]
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
You mean "dive"? :)
Pumps to get the initial drain completed may be a huge problem but doable, imo. Once they get the breaks fixed in the levees so that water won't flow back they can use pumps from many sources and most likely will. There are pumps on many marine type operations that can be floated up to the levees and run with diesel fuel. Pumps on trucks, pumps on trailers, pumps on rail cars, there are lots of options to get the water out. Now permanent type pumps and repairs may take some time but it can be done.
That's all we need, a Venice full of sewage.
bump
Hmmm,..about the same size as a nuclear boring machine. Just a little gearing maybe????
There are pumps on many marine type operations that can be floated up to the levees and run with diesel fuel.Bet they don't; ONE small thundershow and that would be a totally wasted effort.
They need CAPACITY.
Hey,..one man's art is another man's....;^0
I suspect Venice, LA is long gone ..... washed clean.
That's correct. My father and grandfather both worked for Allis-Chalmers in Cedar Rapids. Here's a couple background articles on the development of the pump and drainage in New Orleans. It is interesting to note that the Dutch also used this pump.
What in the world is a nuclear boring machine?
What in the world is a nuclear boring machine?
Loss of major portions of the system, coupled with an increase in load by one to several orders of magnitude changes the original design conditions. Becomes a different engineering problem.
Yes, and apparently a large portion of the system was built before anyone thought about what would happen if a levee broke and the pumping stations were flooded. Obviously they could build new pumping stations above the flood zone, but it would take a long time to replace the older pumping stations, and would involve spending a ton of money. So they gambled on not having to deal with a category 4 or 5 hurricane, and lost.
So, maybe 24,000 lazy bums = 1 pump?
ROTFLOL
Not really jumping on your case, but I've often wondered at people, such as yourself and many others on this same thread, posting this stuff off the top of their heads without giving it a second's thought. The existing pump facilities, which unfortunately aren't working, have a combined 22 million gallon/minute capacity. I've seen estimates that even if they were all working 24 hours/day, it would take 15 days to pump New Orleans dry. By comparison, a top of the line fire engine has about a 1000 gal./min. capacity, so all we have to do is find 22,000 fire engines and send them to New Orleans to get the job done in the same time.
In a week, that's 15,120,000 gallons. According to other posters, the big pumps could do 500,000gpm; in an hour, that's 30,000,000 gallons--almost twice what the firetruck did in a week.
Nuclear Boring machine
Sortof like the movie, The Core.
Electrical devices that are intended to be used near water generally are built to be submersible without ill effect. Check out most pumps built for marine use, for example, or the electrical systems of Jet-Skis, etc.
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