Category: Engineering

On 2024-04-25, Trish and I visited Orkanger (population 8 200). It required us to drive 137 km south-west of Cliff Cottage, taking 2h40m to travel there, including one ferry across Trondheim fjord. There are ways to get there that involve longer distances and shorter durations, but this was also an adventure. On route, in Leksvik, about 45 km away, we visited the school where I taught for 8 years, one last time. It was closing down at the end of the school year, combining with another school and moving 40 km further west. The new school was to be named after a local author, Johan Bojer (1872 – 1959), who wrote Den siste Viking = The Last of the Vikings, although I would have translated it to a more literal: The Last Viking. Set further north in the Lofoten Islands, the book depicts human perseverance, the end of an era, and a fishing season when Norwegian fishers make their annual voyage to the islands to fish for cod.

Interestingly, Bojer was born In Orkanger, our ultimate destination. Our task was to close out a regional co-operative account that I used working in Molde, but had not used since 2008, when I started teaching at the school in Leksvik.

I appreciate Orkanger for its heritage railway. Others in the family prefer its reference to orks = orcs = dim-witted, mythical humanoids. Others use adjectives such as brutish, aggressive, ugly, even malevolent to describe them, in contrast to benevolent elves. These are found in the books of J R R Tolkien (1892 – 1973) and in games such as Warhammer (1983).

I have no to little interest in Tolkien, Warhammer or orcs, but found a Norwegian book on sale with a translated title, Atlas of the Lighthouses at the end of the World (2022), by Gonzalez Macias. It was originally written in Spanish. The title refers to a novel by Jules Verne (1828 – 1905), Le Phare du bout du monde, written in 1901, but published posthumously in 1905. Verne was inspired by a lighthouse at the Isla de los Estados, Argentina, near Tierra del Fuego and Cape Horn. I have difficulty resisting temptation, so I bought the book.

I was aware of some of the lighthouses described in the book, but not the first one, that was outstanding. It was the Adziogol lighthouse in Kherson Oblast, Ukraine. It had been designed by Vladimir Shukhov (1853 – 1939) in 1910, and built by him (with the help of others) in 1911. It is located in the Dnieper-Bug Estuary, which extends eastward into the Dnieper Estuary, a part of the Dnieper River delta, south of the Cape of Adzhyhol, for which it is named.

Some people describe Shukhov as an engineering polymath = a person of extensive yet deep learning. He used innovative. amalytical methods that led to design breakthroughs in: 1) hyperboloid structures = a family of doubly curved structural forms; 2) diagrid shell structures = made up of triangles usually formed from beams of steel ; 3) tensile structures = structures carrying only tension (pulling forces) and no compression or bending (pushing forces), 4) gridshell structures = a structure which derives its strength from its double curvature, but is constructed in a grid or lattice. In addtion he worked with oil reservoirs; pipelines; boilers; ships and barges. In chemical engineering, Shukhov invented the first petroleum cracking method = the process whereby complex organic molecules such as long-chain hydrocarbons are broken down into simpler molecules by breaking carbon-carbon bonds in their precursors.

Besides the innovations he brought to the oil industry and the construction of numerous bridges and buildings, Shukhov was the inventor of a new family of doubly curved structural forms. These forms, based on non-Euclidean hyperbolic geometry, are known today as hyperboloids of revolution. Shukhov developed not only many varieties of light-weight hyperboloid towers and roof systems, but also the mathematics for their analysis. Shukhov is particularly reputed for his original designs of hyperboloid towers such as the Shukhov radio Tower on Shabolovka street, in Moscow. It is a 160-metre-highfree-standing steel diagrid structure with a mass of 240 tons, built between 1920 and 1922. Originally, plans called for it to be 350 m tall, 15 m taller than the Eiffel Tower.

Biography

Vladimir Shukhov was born in Graivoron,now in Belgorod Oblast on 1853-08-16 (172 years before the publication of this post), into a petty noble family. His father was a minor government official and onetime Mayor of Graivoron.

Between 1864 and 1871, Vladimir studied at the Saint Petersburg gymnasium. He then entered the Imperial Moscow Technical School, from which he graduated in 1876. In 1876-05 Shukhov went to Philadelphia, to work on the Russian pavilion at the Centennial Exposition = World’s Fair, and to investigate American construction and engineering. Here he came to know Alexander Veniaminovich Bari (1847 – 1913), a Russian-American entrepreneur.

In 1877 Shukhov returned to Russia and joined the drafting office of the Warsaw–Vienna railroad. He left within months, and joined a military-medical academy. When Bari came to Russia in 1877, he persuaded Shukhov to give up his medical education and become the Chief Engineer of a company specializing in innovative engineering. He worked with Bari at this company until the October Revolution. He also brought in Leonid Leibenson (1879 – 1951). Here they developed the Shukhov cracking process, which was patented by Vladimir Shukhov in 1891.

After the October Revolution Shukhov stayed in the Soviet Union, In 1919 he framed his slogan: We should work independently from politics. He worked on many signal Soviet engineering projects of the 1920s. In the later 1930s he retired from engineering work. He died on 1939-02-02 in Moscow and was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery

Vladimir Shukhov was one of the first to develop practical calculations of stresses and deformations of beams, shells and membranes on elastic foundation. He calculated the optimal diameter, wall thickness and fluid speed for fluid pipelines. These theoretical results allowed him to design the first seaworthy Russian oil tanker and new types of oil tanker barges, that used less than half of the metal previously required. 84 barges 150-meters long were built, mostly for use on the Volga river. His approach to the ship strength analysis, using the model of a shell on an elastic foundation, was novel for that time.

He also designed a new type of inexpensive oil reservoir, with the bottom consisting of a membrane on elastic foundation. They became very popular among oil-producers of the Imperial Russia. By 1881, 130 such tanks were built in Baku alone. In the chemical industry he designed and built an oil cracking plant, an original oil pump, a furnace using residual oil. He also designed metallic structures, hyperboloid structures, thin-shell structures, tensile structures.

An oil pipeline, the first in the Russian Empire, between Balkhany and Cherny Gorod near Baku (12 km, 1878 complete, used by the Branobel). By 1883 the total length of Shukhov-designed, Bari-built oil pipelines in Baku exceeded 94 km, transporting 30 000 barrels of oil per day. In 1894, a similar pipeline network was built in Grozny. Shukhov designed the first Trans-Caucasian kerosene pipeline between Baku and Batumi (835 km long) and Grozny-Tuapse pipeline (618 km long).

A superior design for water-mains. Shukhov designed (and Bari built) complete water-supply systems for the cities of Cherkassy, Tambov, Kharkov, Voronezh and many others. In that age of infectious diseases his water-supply systems likely saved thousands of lives.

Eight thin-shell structures exhibition pavilions for the All-Russia Exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod of 1896, covering the area of 27,000 m², and featuring an unorthodox water-tower that served as a model for more than 30 similar structures built in Imperial Russia, and thousands around the world now.

About 200 hyperboloid steel gridshell towers were built all over the world, the most famous being the 160-meter-high Shukhov Tower in Moscow (1922) and 70-meter-high Adziogol Lighthouse near Kherson (1910). On Shukhov’s 110th birthday in 1963 Soviet Union issued a postal stamp showing Shukhov and his tower.

Other works include: spacious elongated shop galleries, bridged with innovative metal-and-glass vaults, notably the Upper Trade Rows on Red Square (1889–94), Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts (1898–1912) and Petrovka Passage (1903–06); metal arch vaulting for the Municipal Railway Park (1908) and the Kievskiy Railway Station in Moscow (1912–17); the hall of the Central Post Office, Moscow (1911–13); truss-supported metal framework for the Central Universal Store in Moscow (1906–08); a rotating stage for the Moscow Art Theatre;
several Constructivist projects, designed in collaboration with Konstantin Melnikov (1890 – 1974), notably the Bakhmetevsky Bus Garage (1926–28) and Novo-Ryazanskaya Street Garage (1926–29); more than 180 bridges across the Volga, Yenisey, Dnieper, and other rivers. Shukhov’s last engineering work involved stabilizating the Minaret of the Madrasah Ulugh Beg in Samarkand.

Shukhov’s most passionate hobby was photography in various genres: reporting, city landscape, portrait, constructivism. About two thousand his photos and negatives have survived.

Some people study structural engineering to work professionally designing structures. Others, such as myself, are content to remain amateurs, but want to understand how structures function. There are three principles:

1. Efficiency = calculations of forces/stresses
2. Economy = cost, but also seen in its social context
3. Elegance = form/appearance based on engineering principles, not decoration

Two of my favourite online courses involved the art of structural engineering, offered by Princeton University, and presented by Maria Garlock. I completed the first, about bridges in 2016, and the second about vaults = long-span roofs, in 2019. A third, about towers, was announced along with the others in 2016, but has never emerged.

I believe the first time I ever seriously looked at the structure of a modern building, was in the mid 1960s. It was a cantilevered roof, outside the library at Simon Fraser University, It seemed to be a structure that was: endless, simple, appropriate and elegant, in contrast to the brutalism, surrounding it.

Cable-stayed Bridges

When we moved to Inderøy in 1988, preliminary work on Skarnsund bridge had already begun, although work on the bridge itself waited until we moved in. Thus, I had ample opportunity to observe the construction of what would be the cable-stayed bridge (CSB) with the longest main span = 530 m. The bridge was, 1 010 m long.

At about the same time, I was aware of two other CSBs, along the Fraser River in British Columbia. With a bridge length of 2 525 m with a main span length of 465 m, the Alex Fraser Bridge (named for Alex Fraser (1916 – 1989), a former British Columbia Minister of Transportation) was the longest cable-stayed bridge in the world when it opened 1986-09-26, and remained the longest in North America until the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge in South Carolina with a total length of 4 000 m and a main span length of 471 m, opened in 2005.

The SkyBridge between New Westminster and Surrey, was built between 1987 and 1989, it carries trains of the Expo Line of TransLink‘s SkyTrain across the Fraser River. It was much smaller, with a total length of 616 m and a main span length of 340 m.

One of the most significant characteristics to consider when evaluating structures is completion time. CSBs do not require the same levels of anchoring found in alternative designs, such as suspension bridges. A CSB can handle greater forces, allowing the deck to have more resilience against wear and tear because of its greater rigidity. In areas subject to earthquakes, CSBs are noted for their ability to better withstands shaking compared to most other bridge types. They also resist cross-winds better, and maintain its shape better while supporting the heavy loads.

CSBs use less about 30% less labour than other comparable designs. This advantage is one of the main reasons why CSBs are becoming so popular. Spans of different lengths acn be connected together with support pillars or towers to create a bridge of almost any length. The Jiaxing-Shaoxing Sea Bridge is the world’s longest and widest multi-pylon cable-stayed bridge. It is 10.14 km long, and 50 m (8 lanes) wide. Construction started in 2008, and was completed in 2013.

A CSB can be built using many different technologies. The side-spar design is the most common, as it only needs one tower and supports that are on just one side of the structure. In other places a cantilever-spar design is more appropriate. This provides a single spar that is located on one side of the bridge. Other options allow for cradle systems or multiple towers.

Cables provide the structure with the temporary and permanent supports it requires simultaneously. More cables are added as the bridge grows in length (and mass). Cables help to displace forces throughout the structure to prevent one section from receiving excessive stress. After the bridge opens, these cables will stabilize the structure as it distributes any unexpected forces.

Cable symmetry provides more stability and strength. When the spans on either side of the pillar/ tower are of the same length, then the horizontal forces help to balance out the effects of each other. That means there is less need for large ground anchors to support traffic as it passes along the deck.

There are four different types of cable rigging for CSBs less than 3 km in length. Mono design uses a single cable from its towers to provide support. This is rare unless the span being crossed is relatively small.

Parallel/ harp design, uses cables approximately parallel to each other so that the height of their attachment is proportion to their distance from the tower and their deck mounting.

Fan design requires cables to connect to or pass over the top of the towers. This option is preferred when cable access is necessary. to the cables while maximum supports are needed to create a stable deck environmental requirements too.

Star design spaces the cables apart on the tower, but connecting them to a single point or closely-spaced points on the deck instead of spreading them across the span.

Single arrangement refers to the use of a single column for cable support. This column is usually placed midway across the deck, but it can be placed along one of the sides. Double arrangement uses pairs of columns on both sides of the deck. Portal arrangement adds a third member that connects the tops of the two columns. This provides additional strength for traverse loads. A-shaped arrangement achieves the same goal as the portal design by angling the two columns toward each other, so that they meet. Columns can be vertical, curved or angled relative to the bridge deck.

CSBs are not perfect and do not provide a universal bridge solution. Here are some imperfections/ limitations.

Computer-aided design for cable-stayed bridges has increased the maximum span, but this still has limits. Most CSBs will have a span between 100 and 1 100 m. They are often preferred for pedestrian bridges and situations with unusual loading configurations might be present. Currently, the longest single span is found on the Russky Bridge, in Vladivostok Russia, with a length of 1 104 m.

While CSBs can provide a consistently supportive deck when there are crosswinds present over a span, they do not work well with constantly high wind speeds, which will encourage the deck to rock, which over time will loosen the support cables, which could lead to structural failure = a bridge collapse. This occurred with a cable-stayed bridge at Genoa, Italy, 2018-08-14. The bridge was built in 1967 largely of concrete. The collapse killed 43 people.

CSB design typically places the support structure bundle areas in places where a physical inspection becomes challenging. Add in the reduction of anchors, and the routine maintenance becomes intensive (read: expensive). Although the initial installation cost might save 30% of labour costs, maintenance costs will eventually eliminate those savings, over a design lifespan that is now typically 100 years.

Most 21st century CSBs are constructed out of concrete and steel to create a rigid structure. These materials need protective coatings to ensure integrity and prevent corrosion and metal fatigue. At Skarnsund, seven coatings were applied to the cables, when the bridge was built, to protect them against corrosion. This is common practice, especially in coastal regions, due to salt in the air.

Cable-stayed bridges date back to 1595, where designs were found in Machinae Novae, a book by Croatian–Venetian inventor Fausto Veranzio. The cable-stayed bridge design fell out of favor in the early 20th century because it simply lacked the strength to support traffc, although it was still used for short-to-medium spans, suspension bridges grew in popularity. They offered increased durability despite higher installation costs.
When the populations of the planet began to recover then increase after World War II, CSBs became more popular: They could be built quickly and cheaply, and were a cost effective way to improve transportation infrastructure. In addition, these bridges were aesthetically pleasing, strong and durable.

Geodesic domes

The first geodesic dome was designed by Walther Bauersfeld (1879 – 1959) for a planetarium for Zeiss, in Jena, Germany, located on a building roof. Construction was started in 1912 and completed in 1923. This structure is considered the first geodesic dome, which is a polyhedron = a three-dimensional shape with flat polygonal faces, straight edges and sharp corners or vertices. More specifically, this particular building was an icosahedron = a polyhedron with 20 faces. A convex regular icosahedron = a regular icosahedron, is one of the five regular Platonic solids, and is represented by its Schläfli symbol, containing 20 triangular faces, with 5 faces meeting around each vertex.

Some 26 years later, Richard Buckminster Fuller (1895 – 1983) reinvented and popularized this design.

Lloyd Kahn (1935 – ), who wrote Domebook 1 (1970) and Domebook 2 (1971) became disillusioned with geodesic domes, because they were smart but not wise. Disadvantages include: sheeted building materials such as plywood come in rectangular shapes that are wasteful to cut into triangles, increasing construction costs; fire escapes are problematic; windows are problematic, and expensive; electrical wiring installation requires increased labor time; expansion and partitioning are difficult; domes are difficult/ impossible to build with natural materials.

Others comment: air stratification and moisture distribution within a dome are unusual, resulting in degrade wooden frames and interior paneling; privacy is difficult because partitioning is difficult; sounds, odors and reflected light tend are diffused through the entire structure; wall areas can be difficult to use; some peripheral floor areas lack of headroom; circular plan shapes are difficult to use; rurnishers and fitters design with flat surfaces in mind.

Some dome builders, especially in the 1960s and 1970s, found it hard to weather-seal domes because of their many seams.

The most effective waterproofing method with a wooden dome is to shingle the dome. Peaked caps at the top of the dome, or to modify the dome shapes are used where slope is insufficient for ice barrier. One-piece reinforced concrete or plastic domes are also in use, and some domes have been constructed from plastic or waxed cardboard triangles that are overlapped in such a way as to shed water.

Notes: This weblog post was inspired by Incredible Crossing: The History and Art of the Bridges, Tunnels and Inland Ferries that Connect British Columbia (2022), written by Derek Hayes (1947 – ). We also have and regularly refer to his historical atlases of: Vancouver and the Lower Fraser Valley (2006); California (2007); North American Railways (2010); Washington and Oregon (2011); British Columbia (2012); Early Railways (2017); Iron Road West [British Columbia railroads] (2018). His latest book is: Quest for Speed: The definitive history of high-speed trains (2024).