Filling Columns with Concrete

Did anyone else check out the cam this morning? I believe they were filling the columns for the tower with concrete. The tall white crane looking thing had a short jib (the length past the fulcrum of the main boom), common to pumping systems used for large bridges & buildings. It seemed to hover over each column for an extended length of time.

Composite construction (steel & concrete) definitely increases the axial capacity of these members. The confined concrete will take as much if not more load than the steel shell.

I like Intamin's use of common sense in strengthening these sections. They could have just as easily designed larger steel pipes for the axial effects. Ultimately, CP saved a lot of money using the combined section.

amm no...they dont Cut open the tower supports to pour in concrete....i dont know what they were doing...but they dont pour concrete into the structure.

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Guess who's back....back again ;)

Big D

I never said they would cut the structure apart. I'm pretty sure I saw a picture somewhere of the main supports without steel baseplates. All I can seem to find right now are the other smaller tube sections with base plates on all ends. But I agree, IF the main columns do have baseplates, it would not make sense to fill them with concrete.

Sealed bottoms for the main supports:

http://www.virtualmidway.com/popup/mysterypopup6001.asp?image=attraction25.jpg&title=Mystery%20Attraction

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James Draeger
-Captain Sarcasm
*** This post was edited by Draegs 10/10/2002 4:10:27 PM ***

I cannot see how those columns could contain the heat generated by that much curing concrete. I don't think it was concrete they were pouring in.
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I fool so feelish...

they're all sealed...and even if they werent...puring concrete in the main support beams would put so too much strain on the lower sections on the tower.

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Guess who's back....back again ;)

Maybe not concrete, but could it be some other material for vibration dampening reasons?

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Florida may have Disneyworld and Key West,
but Ohio has Cedar Point and Put-In-Bay.
It's great to live in Ohio!

That would be a lot of concrete!

Actually it wasn't concrete. They were filling it with soft, cushy foam to comply with the new OSHA regulations to "Nerf the world."

(Hopefully readers of The Onion will get it...)

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- John
My B&M T-shirt: Fact or Fiction?

*** This post was edited by Michael Darling 10/10/2002 4:57:38 PM ***

Well, I don't.

It's sand....Xcelerator and California Screamin...both Intamin coaster have their supports filled with sand.

It reduces noise greatly, and with an attraction that large so close to the hotels, I am sure noise reduction is a good idea.

Yeah they put sand in the Small Launch supports.

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Guess who's back....back again ;)

Then I'm confused. Aren't all the supports sealed (as someone pointed out earlier)? I'm sure they wouldn't open them up to put sand in there....although I've heard a lot about the quietness of it all and would be interested if it were in fact true....

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Well, I don't.

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Do a google search for OSHA, then for NERF; maybe then you would get it. If you would take the thirty seconds to do that, you wouldn't need to fill this board with the crap that I've been having to wade through recently just to read CP Place.

On topic: It was most likely some sort of noise/vibration dampening material. I would imagine, that 4-5 ft steel section columns composing a 400 ft tower would be able to transmit or even concentrate noises fairly well.

I could see the possibility of concrete filled sections at the base of the tower, but filling the entire structure is not needed and impractical for reasons stated in above posts.

I don't really think compression strength is much of an issue with these sections as they are, though. When compared to office towers, the structure is really only carrying its own weight. I would be more concerned with dealing with lateral dynamic loading and wind forces (which can account for alot more force than many realize) applying lateral forces to the structure. As a result you have the width of the tower and moment resisting cross-bracing.

Whoa! Chill! Calm down!

UR_coaster was just saying he didn't read the article. Is that a sin? How many people read the Onion compared to real newspapers? The Onion is supposed to be funny. Lighten up!

On the note of the coaster:
No concrete was poured in the supports. The tower is strong as it is. Triangles are strong....very strong.
*** This post was edited by MrCoaster 10/10/2002 8:07:50 PM ***