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Space-Age Houses
An anonymous reader writes "The dream of building the Jetson's Skypad Apartment may come to true because technology designed for space could become the basis of the
new German Antarctic station. The same ultra-light composites that ESA uses onboard its spacecraft for antennas and solar panels, will be used to make a self-supporting lightweight shell-like structure able to withstand severe earthquakes. This approach is in sharp contrast to many contemporary design solutions that use ever more steel and concrete..."
RTFA - SpaceHouse can withstand vibrations from earthquakes of up to 7 on the Richter scale, wind speeds of up to 220 km/h and up to 3 metres of flooding
Should handle a nice combination of the worst weather of Florida, L.A., and New Orleans.
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And from TFA, the structure they're talking about can withstand 220 km/h (140 mph) winds.
So I'd say it's pretty sturdy. Lightweight means less inertia which means it's easier to withstand some strong forces.
Cheers, Matt
Terrorist, bomb, al Qaeda, nuclear, yellowcake, kill, assassinate. Carnivore is dead... long live Echelon.
Because light is better than strong and heavy. In a gentle earthquake still most of the injuries are caused by fixtures and fittings flying around or objects falling from shelves. This increases but with the strength of the quake but almost all deaths are caused by crushing or suffocation when a structure collapses. Yes you would be flying around like seeds in a pod but unless your computer monitor decides to hit you back for all the times you whacked it then you can at least know you are going to survive with a few bruises.
165 mph = 265.54176 kph
Cat 5 hurricanes can have wind speeds above 165 MPH.
That only 45 kph over the max rated wind speed.
True, but with only 7 Cat 5 Hurricanes in the past 50 years or so (and not all in Florida), and the actual definition of a CAT 5 hurricane is total destruction, with very few structures (if any) being able to withstand the full-force onslaught of a CAT 5 hurricane, I'd certainly live in this SpaceHouse... my Florida home is concrete top to bottom, and only rated to withstand a Category 3-4 hurricane.
History of Cat 5 hurricanes:
Hurricane Carla: This hurricane hit on September 10, 1961. It struck the Texas coast. About 500,000 people were evacuated from the area. Winds near the center of the hurricane were estimated at 150 miles per hour. Damage was about $2 billion (adjusted to 1990 dollars) and 46 people died.
Hurricane Betsy: This hurricane hit on September 8, 1965. It hit Florida first and then turned and hit the Louisiana coast. A total of 75 people lost their lives. The hurricane had winds as high as 160 miles per hour. In 1990 dollars, Betsy caused $6.5 billion of damage -- making it the third most costly hurricane in the U.S.
Hurricane Camille: This hurricane began on August 17, 1969. It was a Category 5 hurricane -- the most powerful rating, with winds as high as 200 miles per hour. The hurricane hit the U.S. Gulf Coast, but also caused flooding in Virginia. About 250 people died because of the hurricane and the flooding. It was the fifth most costly disaster in U.S. history, with damage of $5.2 billion (in 1990 dollars).
Hurricane Celia: This hurricane hit Texas on August 3, 1970 and caused $1.6 billion in damage (in 1990 dollars). Very high winds damaged an airport and demolished a nearby mobile home park, fortunately, only 11 people died.
Hurricane Gilbert: This hurricane hit on September 16, 1988. It was a Category 5 hurricane with winds as high as 160 miles per hour. It went through Jamaica, over the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico and came to the U.S. (Texas and Oklahoma) as a heavy rain storm. Damage in Mexico was many billions of dollars, and 318 people died.
Hurricane Andrew: This hurricane hit on August 24, 1992 in southern Florida. It then turned and hit Louisiana. More than a million people had to leave the area due to the storm. Heavy rains and tornadoes were part of the hurricane's destructive power. Andrew was the most expensive hurricane in the history of the U.S.
Hurricane Floyd: This hurricane, which struck in September 1999, brought so much rain that 13 states were issued federal disaster declarations -- more declarations for a single event than ever before. More than $500 million of federal money was spent on helping states recover. North Carolina was hit the hardest of any state.
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As for cold - they make carbon fiber tanks for NASA(not sure of the matrix) intended for liquid hydrogen.
http://www.globalcomposites.com/news/news_fiche.a
And yes, making stuff from carbon fiber is very expensive. A case of the proverbial diamond in a goats *ss. (oh, now I've done it....)
Anyway, this thing isn't going to fly (intentionally) or be pulling 10Gs anytime soon. CF is stronger than GF but is certainly overkill. It seems more a marketing tool/cool engineer toy (screw the $, full steam ahead) =P
-Otto
You are partially right. Lift occurs when you have a high-velocity fluid moving above an object while a lower velocity fluid is moving below the object. In the case of a roof in a hurricane, there can be over 200kph winds above with 0kph below resulting in tremendous lift. If air was allowed through the house at the same speed (assuming an airflow parallel to the ground), the negative-lift generated inside the house would somewhat offset the lift occurring outside (a good thing). I believe in some places in the Caribbean, they open the front and back doors wide open to help keep the roof from blowing off.
The reason you shutter windows is to equalize the pressure on the outside of the window to prevent the window from shattering from the difference in air pressure (see dynamic vs. static pressure). Of course, it also blocks the windows from flying debris. The key to this technique is to fasten the roof strongly to the foundation of the house and make the roof strong enough to withstand the forces pulling on it (which are far greater than its own weight during a cat 4 hurricane).
Looking at the picture of the house, it seems that it would generate about as much negative lift as positive lift, making it able to withstand strong winds easily (so long as the structure between the roof and bottom are strong). The problem with it would be flying debris. Composites shatter and delaminate when struck hard. While the house may withstand a hurricane, it may need to be almost completely rebuilt to replace the damaged shell. Perhaps there would be a coating of vinyl and foam to protect it?
BTW, the grandparent post is wrong too. The air passing over the house is lifting it. The only force countering it is the negative lift from the bottom of the house and its foundation.
It's no dumber than a lot of the stuff they do in coastal areas to try and make houses "hurricane proof". I used to build them, so I know more about it than I ever wanted to.
First, three meters of water is no big deal. Three meters of water hitting your house as a storm surge is a big fucking deal. Most houses on the coast are build on sand, under the cement. Sand is good. Makes a nice foundation...Until hurricane driven tides wash it and your heavy ass house away.
As for durability...Most modern houses aren't set to last anywhere near 100 years. Sheetrock and plywood only go so far.
Considering what a subdivision of stilt-houses looks like now, I don't see what the difference is. What looks weirder, a normal house on stilts or a house that looks like it's SUPPOSED to be on stilts?
Seems like a perfectly decent idea to me. Solar power is way underutilized on the coast, and god knows regular housing doesn't fare all that well.
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
"I believe tornado instructions include opening doors / windows on the leeward side of the house for the same reason."
I'm pretty sure that's simply to keep the windows from breaking. A tornado's small size means you can get some truly vicious pressure differentials over a relatively short distance, and even if a tornado doesn't pass close enough by your house to knock it down, most modern houses don't leak air fast enough to avoid... well... explosive decompression.
And you would only open one side of the house to avoid getting airflow under your roof and lifting it off, and it's usually a good idea to open the side that stuff isn't trying to come in through.