How construction of underwater objects is performed.
How bridge piers are built. How to build bridges on water
Most likely, the word cofferdam is unfamiliar to many people on the planet. Meanwhile, it is with its help that the most complicated bridges in the world are built, which is impossible to build in the usual way.
Cofferdam - is an English word, which literally translated as a chest, and refers to an unusual and quite complex way to create supporting structures in water. Cofferdam is a temporary concrete waterproof frame (as if hollow inside a box) right in the middle of the river or sea. At first, this structure is built directly in the water, and then water is pumped out of it. In this "dry environment" in the future and conducted normal construction work on the construction of bearing bridge structures.
From the point of view of geo-engineering, creating cofferdams is a long, labor-intensive and very expensive process, but it makes it possible to build bridges, dams and docks where conventional construction is almost impossible. In addition, when creating this structure, engineers must carefully design it in order to provide the builders with complete safety. After all, water is a substance that can infiltrate and drain even the strongest structures, systematically destroying them.
It is not easy to build cofferdams. At first, a special welded steel structure is installed on the sea bottom with many piles fastened to the sea bottom.
These piles must be of a certain length, and this necessary length can be determined only after a thorough survey of the depth and layers of the subsoil. If these piles are smaller or installed in the wrong order, external water pressure can destroy the cofferdam structure by flooding it and negating all efforts.
Once the "cofferdam" is installed in the water, it is pumped out of the water by powerful pumps, making it dry and suitable for operation. Once the cofferdam completes its mission, it is either removed or flooded.
Most often, cofferdams are made of strong steel alloys, but to date, have already invented and inflatable designs, which can be used several times. Such cofferdams are now considered the most advanced technology in the construction of dams and bridges.
However, this requires trained specialists, such as surveyors and underwater construction engineers. To conduct a very expensive and difficult study of soil, seasonal temperature fluctuations, the force of storm and ice attacks on the bridge, as well as to use in the construction of rare and very expensive special equipment. To all other things, such construction will not be able to steal or do something carelessly. Otherwise, all structures will collapse, killing many people. And the price of such construction is many times higher than usual.
In the world, cofferdams are used everywhere, both in civil and military construction. In particular, they were used to expand the New Panama Canal, eliminate the consequences of the accident at Fukushima, build bridges over rough and wide rivers Mississippi, Hudson and Ohio, eliminate oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico, and built locks on most dams. Large civilian and military seagoing ships are also often repaired using cofferdams.
Nice article bro