Around the globe there are many
feats of engineering that make people stand back in awe. From the Palm Islands
in Dubai, built of islands that had to be constructed from rock and sandstone,
to stepping out onto an oval glass ring above the Grand Canyon. These are just
a couple of amazing constructions found around the world and here are some of
the greatest feats of engineering that we think are worth a mention.
The Palm Islands, Dubai.
The Palm Islands in Dubai
finished construction September 24 2008 and are made up of around 100 million
cubic meters of sand and rock. Before building a total of 210 million cubic
meters of limestone, rock and sand was dredged and reclaimed so that the
islands could be constructed. The outer ring of Palm Islands took 10 million
cubic meters on its own. Rocks that were used in construction of the islands
had to be brought from United Arab Emirates quarries, with a total of 16
quarries being used. In total the amount of material that was used in the
construction of the Palm Islands would be enough to make a small wall that
would go around the globe three times over.
[Image Courtesy of the Palm Jumeirah]
The Burj Khalifa, Dubai.
The Burj Khalifa
was completed January 4 2010 and it is not only the world’s tallest building,
standing at 828 meters, it is also the tallest free-standing structure. There
were many obstacles to overcome when designing and building the structure, one
of which were high winds. Due to issues with strong winds the structure
underwent more than 40 wind tunnel tests. These were undertaken not only on the
building itself but also on the cranes that were being used in the
construction.
[Image Courtesy of the Burj Khalifa]
The Skywalk, Grand Canyon.
The Skywalk is
a horseshoe walk that was completed March 28 2007 and was the idea of David
Jin, a business man from Las Vegas, who discussed the project with the Hualapai
tribe. He dreamed up a walkway of glass that stretched out over the Grand
Canyon in a half circuit. The Skywalk can hold a total weight of 71 million
pounds, which would equate to around 71 fully loaded 747 aircrafts. The walkway
is 1,219 meters above the Colorado River and extends 21m from the cliff edge.
83,000 pounds of glass was used in the construction along with one million
pounds of steel. The whole thing was constructed on site and drilling for the
project took over a year from start to finish.
[Image Courtesy of the Grand Canyon]
The Millau Viaduct, France
The Millau
Viaduct was completed on 16 December 2004 and is the highest road
bridge deck in the whole of Europe. The viaduct is located 270 meters above the
Tarn River at the highest point of the viaduct and it is the tallest bridge in
the world; as the viaduct is 342 metres it comes in higher than the Eiffel
Tower. The viaduct offers passage between Paris and Spain and helps to ease the
congestion. It has a lifespan of around 120 years and cost a total of 320
million Euros to build.
[Image Courtesy of the French Tourism Board]
The Kansai Airport, Osaka, Japan
The
Kansai Airport in Osaka, Japan was completed in 1994 at a cost of
$20 billion and was the first ever airport to be built on an island that was
created artificially. Being one of the most crowded cities in Japan, a new
airport was needed in Osaka, so engineers found a solution by making an island
measuring 4 kilometres by 2.5 kilometres. It took them three years to build and
involved more than 10,000 workers along with 80 ships to excavate the 21
million cubic metres of landfill. It has been one of the most expensive civil
engineering projects in the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment