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ASSEMBLY BUILDING DESIGN FOR FLOODS doc
PROBLEM: The problem is that we need to be conterminous with the Mississippi River. That puts us in the flood plain. Cate’s Landing tried to solve the problem with a massive installation of interlocking sheet steel piling. The engineering alone was 1.1 Million and about 25 million for the infrastructure. A TIGER loan application was denied to a public port authority. I have “flown” both sides of the Mississippi River using Google Earth from Shreveport to St. Louis and did not find any “high ground” on which to build the shipyard and yet have easy access to the river.
SOLUTION: The Assembly Building or A Building. We can reduce the risk of damage to the shipyard to nil. The solution is to build only one building and put it on pontoons. Use a building over two stories (34' to below the clear span members), about 88 feet wide and 260 feet long. Set the stanchions on steel girders running around the perimeter as the foundation. Add to these girders, cross member girders about every 20', then gerts between the cross girders.
To keep the A building as light as possible, we should consider using as much wood as possible, given that most wood is around 0.50 to 0.75 specific gravity (32.5 to 48.75 lbs per cu. ft) while steel is 7.7 (500.7 lbs per cu. ft.). For instance, we will be manufacturing engineered Bamboo for the structural needs of the ship; why not do the same for the building? Except for the steel girders for the foundation, the entire building could be made mostly of wood and some plastic. The steel girders for the foundation, puts the center of gravity closer to the bottom of the structure. The retrofitted 40' cargo containers will be fixed under this frame and serve as pontoons.
The bottom floor will be for the assembly of the hull and the lay-up of the long structural members. We can have the cross members extend the 16' on each of the long side of the A Building and create the same foundation as for the rest of the building. These “lean-to's” will be one story high, plus the attic. These side buildings share the outside long walls and add stability to the pontoons. The side buildings can be used to assemble the longer engineered Bamboo and prepare the Black Locust planks by finger joining the ends of the planks into planks as long as the bottom of the hull demands, which in some cases could be 180' long. Big doors will allow the long planks and structural members to be pulled out of the side buildings and brought easily into the main assembly building. This way, we can shrink the width of the main part of the A Building to 66' feet wide. This saves on material since the clear span laminated Bamboo is shorter and not as thick and wide.
When the hull and deck on the hull is completed, we can roll the hull out of the A Building on air bags, then continue the assembly on the outside apron. That gives us plenty of room inside the A building to assemble the modules which will then be placed on the hull by our mobile crane. The hull will be complete with a top deck and a fully operational propulsion and steering system.
CONSTRUCTION OF THE TROUGHS
After layout, sheet steel pilings which interlock are driven along the outside line of the concrete trough on all four sides. Next a drag line removes the dirt within the area bounded by the piling. The unsaturated dirt might be used to raise the elevation of the land where permanent structures are to be built or for landscaping and parking needs. Note the clay content first to see if we can get suitable compaction. Even if the clay content is too high, we can create an inverted box foundation for the working apron.
When the dirt is removed from inside the steel piling, then a second row of steel pilings can be placed inside and thus create a form from the concrete. After the walls are poured, we can cut away a section of the inside steel so as to permit the joinder of the floor slab with the wall slab, including the rebar.
HYDROSTATIC PRESSURE
Hydrostatic pressure applied to the underside of the concrete trough could raise the entire trough and break up the concrete around the top of each trough.
Assume that the bottom of the underside of the concrete trough is below the ground water level by probably six to nine feet. To the west are the hills of Ste. Genevieve city and county. Those hills contain a “column of water” which exerts hydrostatic pressure down and sideways. Some of the sideways pressure can travel to the bottom of the concrete troughs and the push upwards. Likewise the ground water is fed by the river which also exerts upward pressure.
The solution will be a four to six pipe French drain in a field of gravel placed under the bottom of the troughs. The pipes carry the water to a sump from which it is pumped into the river. We should install a potentiometer to sense the hydrostatic pressure which would automatically turn on the pumps in the sumps.
CARO CONTAINER PONTOONS
On each of the long sides, the cross-members extend about 12' feet from the long sidewalls. Eight feet of these extensions act as the foundation for the two sheds, one on each side of the long wall, and the other four feet can be made into a deck. These girders are set so that the center line is midway between the ends of a row of 40' cargo containers. These containers are place head to toe along the outside end of the cross-members. They are rotated so that the wood floor is actually the ceiling. Prior to installation each container is repaired so that all walls, the floor and the ceiling/roof are sound. A thick layer of fiberglass cloth and matting is then bonded to the entire outside of each container, leaving the dog ports of the steel frame free of fiberglass.
Inside, all six walls are reinforced so that they will not buckle when used as pontoons. Cross members and X braces are fixed to the inside walls. The installation will require one inch thick metal plates be welded on the underside of the girders, above the two adjoining corners of the steel frames. To this plate is welded to the underside, two dog receivers. The positioning is critical because when the cargo containers are aligned and installed, dogs will connect the end of each frame to the end of the frame of the adjoining cargo container and the top dog receivers are dogged to the ones welded on the underside of the one inch steel plate. In this manner, all cargo containers, except the end ones are dogged in four places to the extended girders and to each other in four places. If one of the containers becomes damaged, it can be undogged, and replaced.
In addition to the inside bracing for the walls, pipes are installed at opposite corners (opposite on the diagonal), so that should any water enter the container, it can be pumped out. Also water can be added as ballast, if needed. These cargo containers sit inside a concrete trough so that the bottom of each cross-girder rests on trenches in the concrete surface, and the bottom of each container rests on a concrete pad about eight feet below the girder. The top surface of the girders should be below the surface of the pad and a floor built inside the building on top of the girders so that the top of the floor is flush with the top surface of the concrete pad covering the rest of the site so that the hulls can be rolled out of the assembly building and on to the apron without a drop-off. Clearance of about a foot on each side of each cargo container to the concrete walls of the trough is maintained. This clearance will allow the flood waters to lift the cargo containers straight up and out of the pits.
When a flood is predicted, utilities to the outside of the building are disconnected, each of which has a “quick disconnect” feature. When the flood water enters the site, it fills the trough and the entire building floats on the cargo container pontoons. We can add water or withdraw water from inside the pontoons, as needed.
As the flood waters raise the building, we keep the registration exact. Steel tube pilings are driven at the extreme opposite corners of the girder foundation, opposite the two corners of the perimeter girder foundation. A “box” of steel with four rollers enclose the piling with about 2” of clearance. As the level of the flood water rises, so does the Assembly Building, kept in registration by the pilings. When the flood recedes, the building automatically settles onto the same exact location as it was originally. Floating debris such as trees, would have to be cleared away from the cargo container pontoons and from the pits as the pontoons settled into place. These pilings should probably be 60 feet above the concrete pad. If the two pilings are not sufficient, additional pilings could be added to the other corners.
Utilities from outside would be disconnected upon threat of a flood. We will have a diesel genset in the building so that work can continue during the high water, if that is the decision. We will also have tanks for fresh water and waste water. A full kitchen, dining room and barracks will be provided for those who remain in the assembly building during the flood. We could have a land-based satellite dish for broadband located on dry land and then use a transceiver on both ends of the transmission. Ham radio will also be available in the office of the Assembly building.
This way, we would not need to pay for flood insurance or suffer any prolonged disruption of work in the Assembly building. After the flood, the A building is back in place. We can use a fire hose to wash away the mud from the pad area. Further, by concentrating all assembly and fabrication work in the A Building, we can have a smaller footprint for the concrete site.
Because of the high winds and tornado, we will need hold down devices which can secure the building but yet be quick release. We can use a number of 4” wide trucker’s straps with ratchets, which cross over the extended stubs of the cross-members.
The building's floor would need to be engineered to hold the weight of the completed ship's hull and all associated machinery, equipment and materials. It and the first lower six feet of the walls should be waterproof, otherwise wind, rain and flood waters could penetrate the lower floor.
River threat of erosion
High, fast water can over top levees and erode the dirt levies/banks. The slack harbor will have a narrow strip of land between the harbor and the river. Drive interlocking steel pilings along the inside face of this strip of land and place rip-rap along the outer, river-facing side of the strip. Continue the installation of sheet steel piling along and past the concrete covered grounds of the CCC shipyard site and across and toward Main Street on the north to prevent erosion damage.
The hydrated mud excavated at and below the water table will be hauled away by side-dump dump trucks to the Eco-campus for placement in one or more deep ravines and low spots. The distal end of the ravine will need a coffer dam with a swale in the middle for over-topping flow of water and a downstream face of rip-rap. Before placing mud, the bottom of the ravine will need a French drain, consisting of course gravel and four to six, perforated pipes leading to and through the coffer dam and past the rip-rap to the natural stream bed. A detention structure of rip-rap would need to be placed at the outlet of the French drain pipes. This structure is necessary to contain the hydrated mud and allow water to drain from the mud into the French drain.
When the cargo container troughs are excavated, and the remaining water pumped out, a french drain with four to six perforated pipes can be laid in a bed and bed cover of aggregate rock, the top of which is covered by geocloth as a filter.
Jim Miller jimmiller5417@gmail.com May 5, 2011
SOLUTION: The Assembly Building or A Building. We can reduce the risk of damage to the shipyard to nil. The solution is to build only one building and put it on pontoons. Use a building over two stories (34' to below the clear span members), about 88 feet wide and 260 feet long. Set the stanchions on steel girders running around the perimeter as the foundation. Add to these girders, cross member girders about every 20', then gerts between the cross girders.
To keep the A building as light as possible, we should consider using as much wood as possible, given that most wood is around 0.50 to 0.75 specific gravity (32.5 to 48.75 lbs per cu. ft) while steel is 7.7 (500.7 lbs per cu. ft.). For instance, we will be manufacturing engineered Bamboo for the structural needs of the ship; why not do the same for the building? Except for the steel girders for the foundation, the entire building could be made mostly of wood and some plastic. The steel girders for the foundation, puts the center of gravity closer to the bottom of the structure. The retrofitted 40' cargo containers will be fixed under this frame and serve as pontoons.
The bottom floor will be for the assembly of the hull and the lay-up of the long structural members. We can have the cross members extend the 16' on each of the long side of the A Building and create the same foundation as for the rest of the building. These “lean-to's” will be one story high, plus the attic. These side buildings share the outside long walls and add stability to the pontoons. The side buildings can be used to assemble the longer engineered Bamboo and prepare the Black Locust planks by finger joining the ends of the planks into planks as long as the bottom of the hull demands, which in some cases could be 180' long. Big doors will allow the long planks and structural members to be pulled out of the side buildings and brought easily into the main assembly building. This way, we can shrink the width of the main part of the A Building to 66' feet wide. This saves on material since the clear span laminated Bamboo is shorter and not as thick and wide.
When the hull and deck on the hull is completed, we can roll the hull out of the A Building on air bags, then continue the assembly on the outside apron. That gives us plenty of room inside the A building to assemble the modules which will then be placed on the hull by our mobile crane. The hull will be complete with a top deck and a fully operational propulsion and steering system.
CONSTRUCTION OF THE TROUGHS
After layout, sheet steel pilings which interlock are driven along the outside line of the concrete trough on all four sides. Next a drag line removes the dirt within the area bounded by the piling. The unsaturated dirt might be used to raise the elevation of the land where permanent structures are to be built or for landscaping and parking needs. Note the clay content first to see if we can get suitable compaction. Even if the clay content is too high, we can create an inverted box foundation for the working apron.
When the dirt is removed from inside the steel piling, then a second row of steel pilings can be placed inside and thus create a form from the concrete. After the walls are poured, we can cut away a section of the inside steel so as to permit the joinder of the floor slab with the wall slab, including the rebar.
HYDROSTATIC PRESSURE
Hydrostatic pressure applied to the underside of the concrete trough could raise the entire trough and break up the concrete around the top of each trough.
Assume that the bottom of the underside of the concrete trough is below the ground water level by probably six to nine feet. To the west are the hills of Ste. Genevieve city and county. Those hills contain a “column of water” which exerts hydrostatic pressure down and sideways. Some of the sideways pressure can travel to the bottom of the concrete troughs and the push upwards. Likewise the ground water is fed by the river which also exerts upward pressure.
The solution will be a four to six pipe French drain in a field of gravel placed under the bottom of the troughs. The pipes carry the water to a sump from which it is pumped into the river. We should install a potentiometer to sense the hydrostatic pressure which would automatically turn on the pumps in the sumps.
CARO CONTAINER PONTOONS
On each of the long sides, the cross-members extend about 12' feet from the long sidewalls. Eight feet of these extensions act as the foundation for the two sheds, one on each side of the long wall, and the other four feet can be made into a deck. These girders are set so that the center line is midway between the ends of a row of 40' cargo containers. These containers are place head to toe along the outside end of the cross-members. They are rotated so that the wood floor is actually the ceiling. Prior to installation each container is repaired so that all walls, the floor and the ceiling/roof are sound. A thick layer of fiberglass cloth and matting is then bonded to the entire outside of each container, leaving the dog ports of the steel frame free of fiberglass.
Inside, all six walls are reinforced so that they will not buckle when used as pontoons. Cross members and X braces are fixed to the inside walls. The installation will require one inch thick metal plates be welded on the underside of the girders, above the two adjoining corners of the steel frames. To this plate is welded to the underside, two dog receivers. The positioning is critical because when the cargo containers are aligned and installed, dogs will connect the end of each frame to the end of the frame of the adjoining cargo container and the top dog receivers are dogged to the ones welded on the underside of the one inch steel plate. In this manner, all cargo containers, except the end ones are dogged in four places to the extended girders and to each other in four places. If one of the containers becomes damaged, it can be undogged, and replaced.
In addition to the inside bracing for the walls, pipes are installed at opposite corners (opposite on the diagonal), so that should any water enter the container, it can be pumped out. Also water can be added as ballast, if needed. These cargo containers sit inside a concrete trough so that the bottom of each cross-girder rests on trenches in the concrete surface, and the bottom of each container rests on a concrete pad about eight feet below the girder. The top surface of the girders should be below the surface of the pad and a floor built inside the building on top of the girders so that the top of the floor is flush with the top surface of the concrete pad covering the rest of the site so that the hulls can be rolled out of the assembly building and on to the apron without a drop-off. Clearance of about a foot on each side of each cargo container to the concrete walls of the trough is maintained. This clearance will allow the flood waters to lift the cargo containers straight up and out of the pits.
When a flood is predicted, utilities to the outside of the building are disconnected, each of which has a “quick disconnect” feature. When the flood water enters the site, it fills the trough and the entire building floats on the cargo container pontoons. We can add water or withdraw water from inside the pontoons, as needed.
As the flood waters raise the building, we keep the registration exact. Steel tube pilings are driven at the extreme opposite corners of the girder foundation, opposite the two corners of the perimeter girder foundation. A “box” of steel with four rollers enclose the piling with about 2” of clearance. As the level of the flood water rises, so does the Assembly Building, kept in registration by the pilings. When the flood recedes, the building automatically settles onto the same exact location as it was originally. Floating debris such as trees, would have to be cleared away from the cargo container pontoons and from the pits as the pontoons settled into place. These pilings should probably be 60 feet above the concrete pad. If the two pilings are not sufficient, additional pilings could be added to the other corners.
Utilities from outside would be disconnected upon threat of a flood. We will have a diesel genset in the building so that work can continue during the high water, if that is the decision. We will also have tanks for fresh water and waste water. A full kitchen, dining room and barracks will be provided for those who remain in the assembly building during the flood. We could have a land-based satellite dish for broadband located on dry land and then use a transceiver on both ends of the transmission. Ham radio will also be available in the office of the Assembly building.
This way, we would not need to pay for flood insurance or suffer any prolonged disruption of work in the Assembly building. After the flood, the A building is back in place. We can use a fire hose to wash away the mud from the pad area. Further, by concentrating all assembly and fabrication work in the A Building, we can have a smaller footprint for the concrete site.
Because of the high winds and tornado, we will need hold down devices which can secure the building but yet be quick release. We can use a number of 4” wide trucker’s straps with ratchets, which cross over the extended stubs of the cross-members.
The building's floor would need to be engineered to hold the weight of the completed ship's hull and all associated machinery, equipment and materials. It and the first lower six feet of the walls should be waterproof, otherwise wind, rain and flood waters could penetrate the lower floor.
River threat of erosion
High, fast water can over top levees and erode the dirt levies/banks. The slack harbor will have a narrow strip of land between the harbor and the river. Drive interlocking steel pilings along the inside face of this strip of land and place rip-rap along the outer, river-facing side of the strip. Continue the installation of sheet steel piling along and past the concrete covered grounds of the CCC shipyard site and across and toward Main Street on the north to prevent erosion damage.
The hydrated mud excavated at and below the water table will be hauled away by side-dump dump trucks to the Eco-campus for placement in one or more deep ravines and low spots. The distal end of the ravine will need a coffer dam with a swale in the middle for over-topping flow of water and a downstream face of rip-rap. Before placing mud, the bottom of the ravine will need a French drain, consisting of course gravel and four to six, perforated pipes leading to and through the coffer dam and past the rip-rap to the natural stream bed. A detention structure of rip-rap would need to be placed at the outlet of the French drain pipes. This structure is necessary to contain the hydrated mud and allow water to drain from the mud into the French drain.
When the cargo container troughs are excavated, and the remaining water pumped out, a french drain with four to six perforated pipes can be laid in a bed and bed cover of aggregate rock, the top of which is covered by geocloth as a filter.
Jim Miller jimmiller5417@gmail.com May 5, 2011
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