rubber inflatable dams.
i had recently been to the IITM tech fest called CEA Fest'11. there were many events but the thing i thought worth covering for CE was their project on display. Every year during this festival the students make it a point to make some engineering project which is not easy and display it. this year's marvel (the name they give the projects) was a inflatable rubber dam.
so here is what i gathered from them 😉
this inflatable rubber dam is just a tube like structure made of a hard rubber like material.the material is a multi layer fabric made synthetic fibre which may be rubberised on one or both sides and possibly coated with a plastic film.
they are made to a cylinder like structure after initial scrubbing to make the material hold tight when glue is applied. then the edges are firmly stuck and pressed to remove any locked air bubbles. then the circular shapes of the same material is cut and pasted to the sides. now this is the basic structure of the inflatable dam.
this bag like structure is then filled with air or water or both. there is an opening on top for this purpose. but air is more preferable since water may freeze in cold climates. this structure is then anchored to the base of the dam. in this case the students used glue as it was sufficient for the size they were building. when the air is filled it inflates and holds itself to the sill of the dam. it hence is capable of working as a weir or barrier to water flow.
it has its own advantages and disadvantages. being cheap, easy to construct are its advantages. the disadvantages are the facts that they are vulnerable to damage by people, life span of 20 years.
it was an awesome effort by the civil engineering students of IIT. cheers to them.
CEans any one witnessed such dams ever?
so here is what i gathered from them 😉
this inflatable rubber dam is just a tube like structure made of a hard rubber like material.the material is a multi layer fabric made synthetic fibre which may be rubberised on one or both sides and possibly coated with a plastic film.
they are made to a cylinder like structure after initial scrubbing to make the material hold tight when glue is applied. then the edges are firmly stuck and pressed to remove any locked air bubbles. then the circular shapes of the same material is cut and pasted to the sides. now this is the basic structure of the inflatable dam.
this bag like structure is then filled with air or water or both. there is an opening on top for this purpose. but air is more preferable since water may freeze in cold climates. this structure is then anchored to the base of the dam. in this case the students used glue as it was sufficient for the size they were building. when the air is filled it inflates and holds itself to the sill of the dam. it hence is capable of working as a weir or barrier to water flow.
it has its own advantages and disadvantages. being cheap, easy to construct are its advantages. the disadvantages are the facts that they are vulnerable to damage by people, life span of 20 years.
it was an awesome effort by the civil engineering students of IIT. cheers to them.
CEans any one witnessed such dams ever?
Replies
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maria flor
Never see any rubber dams.CIVILPRINCESSCEans any one witnessed such dams ever?
Do you think that this rubber is more stronger than concrete if ever be constructed??? -
CIVILPRINCESSnope for sure no. thats what i've mentioned the life is just 20 years. it can be used in flood controlling though. 😀
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maria flor
By means of these, cracking of dams will be avoided during earthquakes.CIVILPRINCESSnope for sure no. thats what i've mentioned the life is just 20 years. it can be used in flood controlling though. 😀
I think many engineers will be interested and find ways to improve the rubber to expand its life of more than 20 years.
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