Why I like being an engineer

[fatcatfan]

http://webpages.charter.net/fatcatfan/barrier.WMV

Crashing and blowing things up is fun!

This was a test of some barrier walls, designed with anti-terrorism in mind, to keep a car/truck bomb from getting to something like a nuclear plant.

[theplustwo]

Wow, it looks like the barrier did a pretty good job of stopping that truck, too! I know I feel safer, knowing that fatcatfan is doing this important work. :)

[Shadowblazer]

That was awesome. Hell of a barrier there, too. It didn't look nearly thick enough to stop that speeding truck, but it seems to have done a great job.

[Rainman]

So what were some of the design features?

[Tygore]

Nice! How much did it cost to test that anyway?

[carrot red]

Wow. Just wow.
Even after reading the comments I was still impressed.


Crashing and blowing things up is fun!

Sure is. Can I come?

[Master Ghaleon]

Truck vs Wall

The wall kicked the trucks ass. That was great. I love to crash. smash and blow things up like mailboxes and such

[fatcatfan]

I wish I could take credit for it, but I had nothing to do wish this personally. However, it is designed and tested by a local concrete company. From what I've been told, the truck would be about 16 tons fully loaded and each of the precast segments of that wall weighs roughly 40 tons, plus they are all tied together, and partially buried.... so it's basically like driving into the side of a mountain or something. Simple physics, conservation of momentum, etc. Though that's not what you use when designing a concrete wall. You'd only use basic physics to determine the impact load the wall would have to be designed to withstand.

[Great Warrior]

having fun crashing and blowing up things for the good of people. the designer must feel like a super hero. :p