The first lab session was conducted. Within this lab, there was an introduction to the course as well as the formation of groups. After forming the group, we established what was expected from each member before we began working. Once every member had a clear understanding of what was expected from them, we began conducting research to compile a list of possible candidates that could be used for the project.
(April 8th, 2015)
We met outside of class on Wednesday to work on the project proposal and on Thursday to work on the blog. We split the project proposal into equal parts in order to finish the work in a timely manner. We decided on the five engineering failures that we will research, and we all did a share of the blog.
WEEK 2: (April 9th, 2015)
During the second lab session, we went over the blog we completed week one. Bita went over what we did right and wrong and we then went back and fixed our mistakes. The group then split up the work that we would be doing for the project; Andrew will be writing about the BP Oil Spill, Nick will be writing about Fukushima, Dan will be writing about Chernobyl, and Lucy is writing about the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. The lab period was spent researching the topics. At the end of the lab, it was decided that we would continue researching our respective topics.The group then met on Thursday night to update the blog and make sure that everything was done.
WEEK 3: (April 16th, 2015)
Fukushima Disaster:
It was discovered that the fukushima disaster occurred march 11th, 2011. The reactor failed due to a sequence of events that folllowed an earthquake of magnitude 9.0. After the earthquake the northern japan power grid failed leading to a blackout. When the power generation stopped heat began to build up from the radioactive decay. The proceeding events led to the failure of the fukushima dacha reactor
Chernobyl Disaster:
In the year 1986, a nuclear disaster occurred in the Ukraine. The accident stemmed from the reactor's design in addition to the employees lack of proper training. The design flaw that resulted in the steam explosion that caused the radiation to spread across Europe. Within Figure 1, the control rods melted during a safety causing the airways to be jammed, which cause steam to build up in the reactor.
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| Figure 1: A graphic that illustrates the reactor type that was present within the Chernobyl reactor. |
Figure 2: An illustration that presents the reactor's design in the Fukushima plant.
(April 21st, 2015)
The group got together to see how everyone's research was going. We also started to look through the library databases to see if we could find any relevant information for our project. Parts of the blog were updated during this meeting and what was not finished was assigned to certain people to finish before the lab period. When our meeting occurred, we each provided each other with a graphic or video that aided the research that we performing. Figure 1 was used when discussing the Chernobyl incident, and it displays the reactor design of the one present within the plant. The figure can be used to discuss and point out where the failure had taken place. Figure 2 similarly displays the reactor design within Fukushima reactor. The visual aid assists in the description of the processes that are taking place within the reactor at the time of the accident. Video 1 shows the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapsing, which provides our readers with the firsthand view of the accident as it happened in order to for our readers to more easily visualize the accident.
Tacoma Narrows: In this week's research the materials and systems were discovered and analysed. The bridge was 5,400 feet long, designed by Leon Moisseiff. It was located in Tacoma and crossed over the Puget Sound, which served as a route to the military base and to people living out on the peninsula. The bridge was constructed out of steel and concrete and at the time was the third longest suspension bridge standing in the world.
WEEK 4: (April 22nd, 2015)
The lab period consisted of more research and continuing to develop our rough drafts. We split up some of the work for our fifth failure, the Boston Molasses disaster, so people could begin on their respective parts if they had extra time. We decided not to meet during the week this week due to everyone having a busy test schedule during week 5. It was decided that Dan and Andrew were going to make the update to the blog page before lab 5.
BP Oil Spill:
Chernobyl: The research that was conducted lead to specific details into how the reactor that failed functioned. The failure within the design stems from the use of control rods within the functioning of the reactor. Upon the time of failure, the control rods melted and jammed the airways causing a steam explosion. The results of this failure caused the government to create programs to assist surviving victims of the accident.
Fukushima Disaster: This week Research was conducted finding out exactly why the dacha reactor failed. On March 11th, 2011, an earthquake of magnitude 9 on the rector scale hit japan and the proceeding events led to the failure of the Fukushima Daichii reactor. After the earthquake hit, the power grid in north japan failed, leading to blackout. The reactor was undamaged but out of power. Heat generation began to build up but was suppressed by the access systems and the generators. after the tsunami hit, all power to the reactor was offline. because of this the reactor could not be sustained and it blew up.
Tacoma Narrows: This week the reasoning behind why the bridge failed was discovered. The bridge failed under 42 mph winds on November 7, 1940. The bridge was designed to be long and narrow and when planning this, the sides were designed to be as stiff as possible in order to avoid sideways movement, but in reality the problem would be vertical movement. At the time aerodynamics were not really focused on and the engineers involved in this project did not even consider that wind could cause the bridge to move vertically at all.
The winds caused the bridge to bend and twist, the pathway even moved in wave like motions. Fortunately there were no causalities in this disaster, but on the down side hardly any of the bridge could be salvaged. The main cables, suspender cables, towers, deck-floor system, side spans, piers and anchorages were torn apart and could only be used as scrap metal. Over 350 cables were ripped from their posts. Much of the bridge, when it collapsed, fell into the water below and had to be recovered for safety and hazardous reasons.
WEEK 5: (April 30th, 2015)
We decided in lab that since none of us were 100% done with our rough drafts because of a busy week, each of us having three midterms, that pushing back our drafts to Sunday would allow us to work on our midterms and not set us back in completing our research. We decided that each of our drafts should follow a similar outline. For example each should include why the structure failed, and what lessons learned will prevent the issue from ever reoccurring. When checking over each others work we look to make sure that every draft contains the set of questions we discussed in order to make sure we all covered everything.
Tacoma Narrows: During this week the consequences of the bridges failure were looked into. The State of Washington, insurance companies and The United States Government together appointed a board of five engineers to investigate what went wrong. This board created a report known as The Carmody Board Report. They decided that the bridge was to flexible and stood no chance against the turbulent winds. They felt that engineers had very little understanding of aerodynamics and there for in the future must construct models of their bridges and test them in wind tunnels. This would help ensure the engineer knows how the bridge moves under high wind speeds and avoid this disaster from reoccurring. They also found other flaws withing the design. The deck seemed to be too wide and shallow when compared to the length of the bridge which was a cause of its flexible nature.
It was decided upon later on that the bridge would be dismantled being that very few parts of it could actually be reused for the new bridge that would go up. Being that this event occurred during World War II, steel and metal were high in demand and short in supply, so much of the parts were then sold as scrap metal. The few parts that were still functional such as the cable anchorages, tower pedestals and parts of the substructure were carefully unattached and reused in the new bridge. Four years later a new bridge was put up in its place that was much wider than the original one and had more lanes.
BP Oil Spill: This week the consequences of the disaster were written about. After the rig sank, oil began pouring into the Gulf of Mexico. It is estimated that almost 5 million barrels of oil were spilled into the Gulf. This affected all local aquatic wildlife, whether it be fish, crabs, dolphins, birds, etc. Many animals died due complications with the oil. It also affected tourism in the gulf and the livelihoods of people who rely off the Gulf (fishermen, tour boats, etc.)
Chernobyl: The consequences of the failure included the destruction of the reactor and the building that housed, and more importantly the spread of radiation across Eastern Europe. The radiation affected the water supply, the vegetation, and the population itself. Also, the economy was negatively impacted by the Chernobyl explosion due to the loss of power being produced from the plant, clean up from the accident, and the creation of programs to help victims of the accident.
We met on Sunday to go over everyone's rough draft for any grammatical or spelling errors and to make sure they matched the template we decided on. Each member read a different person's draft and after revisions we all did some more research on thing that we missed.
WEEK 6: (May 7th, 2015)
The group wrapped up research and began finalizing their rough draft for the Boston Molasses disaster. The molasses in the tank flooded a portion of the town of Boston. The tank was too thin to hold such a large weight. The molasses also began to ferment, which carbon dioxide to form which raised the pressure and caused the explosion. We divided up the rest of the work; Dan was putting the paper together, Nick wrote the introduction and conclusion, and Lucy and Andrew wrote the case study on the Molasses disaster.
Fukushima Disaster: This week consequences of the failure were discovered. People around fukushima were immediately evacuated. The largest effects being that the surrounding area is now what is called an exclusion zone, where no one is allowed in due to radiation. There was also a lot of radiation which made its way into the ocean, requiring that fishing be banned off of the coast of fukushima.
Tacoma Narrows: The failure of this bridge led to several technical lessons. Now, the idea of aerodynamics would no longer be ignored by engineers. They would learn to study how wind affects bridges in both vertical and horizontal directions. Engineers would know now to construct models and see how they fail under the speeds of high winds, and keep running trials until their designs were perfected. This failure sparked a lot of change in the engineering community, it basically ended Moisseiff's career but in the long run it altered the techniques used by engineers all over.
Chernobyl: Technical Lessons: The flaws of the design include the use of control rods and operating through the use of a positive void constant. The use of control rods is flawed because they can jam air pathways that can cause steam explosions, which result in the destruction of the reactor itself. Operating at a positive void constant means that the reactor is more vulnerable to power overload due to the fact that it has a high rate of reactivity. Another important lesson is that the staff of every nuclear plant needs to be properly trained in order for them to not cause accidents and prevent others from occurring. Also, the builders should't cut corners to lower expenses because it can lead to a higher failure rate.
Ethical Lessons: These measures needed to be put in place due to the residual radiation that affected both the people and the environment in a large surrounding area. The government had taken responsibility for the accident by creating programs to help victims of the radiation as well as protecting the environment from being completely destroyed. The population that was affected by the radiation suffered health risks like thyroid cancer and leukemia.
Legal Ramifications: The legal ramifications were that stronger nuclear protocols and safety measures had to be put into place. These measures were created and enforced to provide safety to areas that are in the vicinity of nuclear plants. By creating a stricter rule system, nuclear plants have been much easier to maintain as well as keep safe. These two aspects in addition to better employee create a nuclear plant environment that is set up to avoid potential disasters like the one at Chernobyl.
(May 12th, 2015)
The group met to finalize the rough draft and to make sure everything was complete. Each person read over a portion of the paper to make sure that everything was grammatically correct. We decided to put a set format through the paper to help with organization.
WEEK 7: (May 14th 2015)
The group used the lab time to begin to divide up the presentation’s sections, so we can begin to work on the powerpoint. After the division of labor was complete, the group began to work on their respective parts. The deadline we established was to have an outline of it completed by week 8.
WEEK 8: (May 21st, 2015)
The group had the outline of the powerpoint complete, so they began to complete the powerpoint in order to be prepared for the practice presentations. The group finished the design of the presentation, and decided to meet outside of class to prepare for the practice presentation session.
(May 26th, 2015)
The group met outside of the lab period in order to have a run through of the finished presentation, so that they were more prepared for this week’s lab period.
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