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Hydrodemolition Robot Crushes With Water

Posted by simoniker on from the supersoaker-with-extra-evisceration dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "In 'Robot pummels roads with water', the Augusta Chronicle says that a hydrodemolition robot is going to restore seven bridges in Georgia. "It's a robot that destroys everything in its path with a crushing stream of water 15 times more powerful than a jackhammer. The robot looks like a street cleaner machine on steroids and is expected to begin use August 1 to resurface seven bridges on Gordon Highway from Walton Way to the bridge at the South Carolina state line." This kind of robot needs only two workers to operate it, instead of 15 workers for a jackhammer, is less noisy and more gentle for the foundations. You'll find more details in this summary."

5 of 292 comments (clear)

  1. High-pressure water by Renraku · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I saw a report a few years ago about the advantages of using a high-pressure water 'gun' for cutting metal. Some of the advantages was that the cooling was already taken care of, the material was recyclable with a filter, and the edges were already smoothed.

    --
    Job? I don't have time to get a job! Who will sit around and bitch about being broke and unemployed then?
    1. Re:High-pressure water by SpeedBump0619 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      You heard right. For anyone who hasn't heard of this there are several kinds, basically broken up by the maximum pressure. When I was involved with building automation systems this was one of the coolest things to play with (though they aren't toys).

      Add a little pulverized rock into a 0.012 inch stream of water at 60,000 psi and you can cut through *anything*. Biggest thing I ever saw was a 17 inch thick slab of titanium plating. The edges end up smooth, cool (or at most warm to the touch) and, if you are cutting something really expensive (or toxic) you can reclaim 99.99% of the material you eroded away.

      Waterjet is *the* coolest cutting technology in the world :) For info try:
      Flow
      Jet Edge

  2. "Restore Bridge" starts with trashing the old one by lildogie · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Last decade, in Washington State, hydrodemolition was used to "resurface" the Eastbound lanes of the Lake Washington Floating Bridge, a couple of miles from the Western end of Interstate 90.

    Due to a chain of snafus, the "floating" bridge sunk one Thanksgiving day. Very nearly sunk the brand new Westbound floating bridge right next to it. (Part of the root cause was the storage of hydrodemolition wastewater in the flotation cells of the bridge.)

    Some years later, the records of liability were sealed in a court settlement between the state and the contractor.

  3. Concrete Zamboni by supertbone · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If they could figure out a way to use the old concrete with the waste water to immediatly make new concrete it would be like a Zamboni for the highway.

  4. At last a Civil Article! by C.+Alan · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Perhaps I am one of the few Civil Engineers who find myself reading /. So +karma to the editors for bringing this article. I still would like to know how it removes the concret and doesn't dammage the rebar. When you start getting aligator cracking in concrete roads, water has more than likely reached the rebar, rusting it. Some newer road specs require that the rebar be coated with epoxy. This cuts down on rust, and may allow for rebar reuse in the case stated with the article. --C. Alan, PE