pmsumner

Yep, the documentary was interesting indeed - though they never go into enough detail! If they did it in enough detail for me, I guess the programs would run for hours and hours, lol. Fabulous idea - if you can't build an airport on land, why not make a 4km long island in a 100m (and more) deep section of sea? How hard can it be? :)

And the idiots have decided that they need to expand! They're going to build a second runway and terminal building for use by 2007, going over even deeper water and even softer clay than before.

An idea that I thought was incredibly clever was the method for draining the clay at the sea bed. This needs to be done in order to strengthen the clay there, and try to reduce subsidence. They drill tubes into the clay, fill them with sand, then remove the tubes. Then when the landfill is dumped on the sea bed, the water is absorbed into the sand (the pressure from the landfill pushes the water out of the clay and is immediately absorbed). Fantastic.

Then the way they deal with different rates of subsidence in different parts fo the building. This threatens to rip the building apart - if the ends subside faster than the middle, for example. So - the supports that hold the structure and roof up can be individually jacked up and down from the basement floor, keeping the structure straight and level! Simplicity in a glass.

It's things like this that make me want to be an architect or (physical) engineer :)