FEMA is paying 50 million for domes o be built in Texas
Read where Texas director of public safety states the monolithic domes do in fact withstand 200 mph winds (rated at 300 actually) and the associated debris
Degree of structural integrity. a 200 mph structure will not survive a 300 mph assault with 2x4’s battering it to pieces. It’s not just the wind it’s the objects accelerated by the wind. A bullet doesn’t do much damage thrown at you but put an explosive cartridge behind it and it’d deadly.
Even more studies ( Brigham Young) and actual cases where domes survived up to 400 mph wind and 200 to 300 mph debris
http://suite101.com/article/dome-homes-provide-increased-tornado-protection-a380501
I am finding that high end school dome cost $2.5 million, versus the cheaper $400k ones FEMA is placing in Ohio trailer courts.
Texas (at least upper Texas) suffers from the same ground problems as OK. It’s expensive to dig a hole and build something structurally stable IN the hole.
BYU shot a dome with a 30.06 rifle and it deflected it. See link above
I have no experience with cost estimation for large municipal projects. If you say it is cheaper to build at-grade hemispheres than it is to build below-grade boxes or retrofit shelters into existing structures, I’ll not argue.
However, your assertions about Oklahoma geology are incorrect.
Oklahoma is a big state. This is an entirely too-broad generalization about surface geology of Oklahoma.
No. Oklahoma is a big state. In many parts of the state, like the Oklahoma City area, there is often 10’+ of soil overlaying rock.
No. There are few residential basements, because few homeowners want one badly enough to pay the higher than average cost of digging one. There are many below grade structures of one kind or another, like parking decks and basements in office buildings.
No. Basements are more expensive to dig. Whether or not this is too expensive depends on what you are trying to accomplish.
No. In addition to the not-insignificant soil/regolith/saprolite, the rocks underlaying, for instance, the Oklahoma City area are Permian age sandstones and mudstones, which are typically friable or poorly indurated. The upshot of this is that nearly all excavation is done with heavy machinery, not explosives. Explosives are very rarely used, typically in roadcuts.
Also, you may be underestimating the number and size of the domes needed.
http://high-schools.com/report/ok/public-school-enrollment-rank-in-oklahoma.html
There are 466 high schools in Oklahoma. 155 have more than 300 students and 41 have enrollment over 1000. Add in staff and you’re talking about some big domes, with the biggest ones in the areas with the least available real estate. That’s before you even get to middle and elementary schools. Moore High School has >2000 students.
Per the CNN transcripts:
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST:
“Something you don’t understand because it doesn’t make any sense, there’s no way to get a real basement in Oklahoma. It’s just too expensive. It takes dynamite and backhoes. It’s a rock right under the soil. So people don’t dig basements. When we say go to the lowest level, that slab is the lowest level. It’s dangerous. I wish we could do better.”
Here’s a post over in the MPSIMS tornado thread from a Doper who works in Edmond, OK, 23.4 miles away (per Google), who mentions that they are “so glad my school has a basement”.
But Chad Myers, AMS Meteorologist certainly seems qualified to make a sweeping statement about the geological characterstics of a 70,000 sq. mile area.
Mr. Myers appears to have been speaking off the top of his head about an unfolding weather-related tragedy. He is a weather expert, not a construction or geology expert. As such, his comments are generalized and not entirely factual.
He is correct that residential basements are rare in his viewing area (Oklahoma City region), because of cost.
He is incorrect that this is because of the need to use explosives.
He is correct that there is rock underneath the soil, but that’s not especially profound, since there is always rock below soil.
Soils are not as well-developed in the Oklahoma City area as in some other places, but they exist and can be rather deep. Further, the local bedrock is not Precambrian granite or something seriously hard. It is typically relatively soft sandstones and shales that are easily excavated with backhoes and other common construction machinery.
Chad’s a nice guy, but he’s out of his depth on this.
Sincerely,
Furious_Marmot
Geologist
Former geotechnical consultant
Former preconstruction evaluator
Former Edmond-ite
Not that hard to install below ground shelters* in OK homes. (watch the video on the front page) BTW, a lot of digging I’ve done in OKC was of hard packed red clay. But, even homes across the street from each other can have very different soils.
*these are small scale, residential solutions. A bit of a hijack from the OP, sorry…
The type of construction is irrelevant. It’s possible to make shelters that would survive the largest know tornados, they should be building a lot of them.
exactly.
totally inexcusable to force children into lock down with an EF5 on the way, when the school could not withstand an EF3.
CNN is just now confirming it was upgraded to EF5.
Odd that Seoul Korea has underground shelter space for 10 million people in 4000 shelters, yet large USA cities have squat.
cite: Seoul not safe from artillery attacks - The Korea Times
You find that odd? I don’t find that odd, considering the number of rockets currently aimed at Seoul, South Korea with a madman on the trigger.
Is this a joke? There’s no seatbelts on busses because it’s safer to slam headfirst into the padded seat in front of you than it is to be stuck in a seatbelt in the back of a burning bus.
Probably not, given this person believes that football stadiums are built for 30 people.
It depends when the school was built as to how inexcusable it is.
Why would you consider it odd that a city that’s been repeatedly threatened with nuclear annihilation has underground shelter space for 10 million people?.
It would be wonderful if we could fix every problem everywhere. It’s not inexcusable we don’t. It’s reality.
Did they try shooting cars at it?
Yeah, when I attended the FAA Academy in Oklahoma (only 13 miles away from Moore, OK) the entire bottom level was below ground.
:smack: didn’t even think if a grease pit in the garage. Of course that would mean always parking the car out in potential weather beforehand. Don’t want 30 gallons of gasoline above you when it hits the fan. I’d opt for a 3 season room.
I think the odd part was supposed to be that US cities can’t manage the same.
I have no bone in this dog.