Yet Another Cycling Forum
Off Topic => The Pub => Arts and Entertainment => Topic started by: Cudzoziemiec on 14 January, 2024, 08:11:25 pm
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Including those that used to be in Didcot, but more so the few still standing.
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/jan/14/britains-45-remaining-cooling-towers-are-architectural-gems-lets-save-them
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I understood one of the problems of retaining them was that they decay and will fall down anyway.
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Yup. Carbonation of the thin concrete enveloping the steel reinforcement (efficient design!) means that these structures have a time limit before they collapse.
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(https://i.ibb.co/ZY7Mn19/shot-Remember-Brazil03-jpg.jpg) (https://imgbb.com/)
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It's amazing how different that film actually is from my memory of it.
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Yup. Carbonation of the thin concrete enveloping the steel reinforcement (efficient design!) means that these structures have a time limit before they collapse.
So how near are they to that time limit and is there any way of prolonging their life?
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They would be pretty close to time-expired now. There are anti-carbonation coatings and realkalisation of concrete but both cost money and access to all surfaces is not easy, due to the shape. Coatings slow down deterioration and realkalisation ‘reverses’ carbonation but neither is very effective if carbonation has already reached the reinforcement and corrosion has started.
Carbonation rate varies depending on concrete quality and environmental exposure but around 1mm/ year is not unusual. Cooling towers are about 180mm thick with 50mm cover to reinforcement.
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Disappointed to learn that this thread isn't about Jools Holland's big house/castle in the village of Cooling.
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Disappointed to learn that this thread isn't about Jools Holland's big house/castle in the village of Cooling.
Cooling for Cats?
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(https://i.ibb.co/ZY7Mn19/shot-Remember-Brazil03-jpg.jpg) (https://imgbb.com/)
My immediate first thought too. If I have it right, that was Acton, where 'Aliens' was also filmed.
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In entertainment there was also the tower used to hide the entrance to the underground base in "The Last Train" (which can be found on youtube - the relevant episode is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwVp9cbPB08), which was apparently Thorpe Marsh (https://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/topic/164771-thorpe-marsh-power-station/).
As an aside, if you remember that series, the underground base (the ARK) used to cryogenically allow a cadre to sleep through the disaster was actually deep underground in a salt mine in Winsford rather than underneath the cooling tower. D2D (part of ICL) used to have an EMC test facility there in a large inflatable tent, which I had the "pleasure" of working in for a couple of weeks trying to get a mass spectrometer to pass the then-new CE marking EMC tests. Excellent for having low background RF, and a fantastic find for the TV production company as a ready-made underground lair that was quite photogenic.
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an EMC test facility
Electromagnetic compatibility?
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Yes. Making sure that equipment under test doesn't radiate too much unintended RF so it doesn't interfere with other pieces of kit. And, conversely, making sure that its normal operation isn't too susceptible to interference from RF fields from other sources. To do both, you need to know the RF environment you are in - so, for example, if you are looking for emissions you need to discount signals from broadcast radio, the local taxi firm etc. if you are on the surface (screened rooms aren't perfect). Go underground, there's nothing except the equipment you took and the equipment to make the test facility work.
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The cooling towers in data centres are much less interesting, being normally fan-assisted square metal boxes. There is a pervasive smell of bromine (needed to stop legionella growing). Power stations presumably heat the cooling water* enough at some point in the cycle to kill bacteria.
*this water hasn't been through the turbines, which need very pure water; it's just used in the condensers
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(https://i.ibb.co/ZY7Mn19/shot-Remember-Brazil03-jpg.jpg) (https://imgbb.com/)
My immediate first thought too. If I have it right, that was Acton, where 'Aliens' was also filmed.
Croydon power station. Aliens was Acton.