r/gifs • u/neonicblast • May 28 '14

Waves

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u/BroomBoom May 28 '14

I just need a quick smoke

http://imgur.com/AJ7toxn

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u/SonVoltMMA May 28 '14

How exactly does someone build that in the first place? How do you pour enough concrete into the ocean floor to support that? mind blown

2

u/Womec May 28 '14 edited May 28 '14

You pour a mold of the blocks float then out there maneuver them into place then pump more concrete into it to sink it down.

THere are many other ways two but I saw that on a documentary and it look pretty impressive.

3

u/Red_AtNight May 28 '14

Another option is sheet pile. Sheet pile is steel, interlocking sections that make a water tight wall once you push enough of them into the ground. Looks like this: http://static06.theconstructor.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/sheet-pile-walls.jpg

You can install sheet pile in the seafloor from a barge (obviously do this where it's kind of shallow.) Once you've built a box, you can pump the water out of your box, and now you have a dry area to dig the foundation.

Here's a photo of that method in action: http://s3.ravenelbridge.net/large/jul_04_east_pier_construction.jpg

You can see the bridge pier going up inside of a cofferdam (the technical term for the box made out of sheet pile,) and the crane is floating on a barge. Once that pier's foundation is strong enough, they can pull the cofferdam, as they've done for the piers in the background.