4 ms·
The usual solution, as with petrol tanks in cars and elsewhere, is to use baffles. It effectively turns one large tank into several smaller ones and stops the l
by chillydawg 8y ago
The usual solution, as with petrol tanks in cars and elsewhere, is to use baffles. It effectively turns one large tank into several smaller ones and stops the liquid from freely sloshing from one side to another. The sloshing causes problems non-linearly with size of tank, so reducing one tank into 4 or 8 has a huge impact on the risks of sloshing. The partitions/baffles are always vertical (although I expect aerospace baffles are a bit more fancy).
- MPSimmons 8y agoAgreed. I read this and thought, "Oh my God, why not use baffles?"
- amelius 8y agoYeah, but the original state of the material was solid. You can't compartmentalize a solid unless you break it.
- maffydub 8y agoIt was solid, but granular - the article gives the example of crushed ore and mineral sands - so it's already broken up.
- aunty_helen 8y agoBauxite is pretty much red Australian dirt. It will be carted as small pebbles or a powder. If it was large solid pieces it wouldn't turn to liquefaction.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- winceschwab 8y agoIt’s not a true liquid, but rather solid dust mixed with trace amounts of water. Drier than mud, but powder and rock that can shift in a fluid-like way. It’s like an avalanche or rock slide.
- hfdgiutdryg 8y agoThe article mentions moisture several times, as well as draining moisture during the trip. It also explains liquefaction in terms of water acting on the solid, whereas I always thought it was just about granularity. From the article, it doesn't sound like it's about trace amounts of water at all. It sounds like water is somehow involved in the loading process...?
- Retric 8y agoThe liquid is simply acting as a lubricant. So, it takes a very small amount to make a large difference. Really it's less soggy than simply damp.
- hfdgiutdryg 8y agoSo why do they mention draining?
- NegativeLatency 8y agoOr large parts of SF during an earthquake.
- jsjohnst 8y agoRead the article again. Yes, it’s a solid, but a solid more similar to sand or dirt than to a mountain or solid block of metal.
- gnode 8y agoI imagine a problem with that solution is that most of the time, the solid isn't behaving as a liquid. The partitions / baffles may complicate unloading, as you can't just pipe the solid out; a conveyor belt is typically used.
- MPSimmons 8y agoCan we intentionally liquifact the solid into a liquid? Also, we can have articulated baffles that raise into place from below, cutting into the solid material. I think this is a solvable problem.
- VLM 8y agoBut, if the engineering and financial cost of "fixing" transport is higher than the cost of simply moving the bauxite processing plant to the bauxite instead of moving the bauxite to the plant... Murphys Law is someone will put an aluminum smelter pot on a nuclear powered ship, during a storm the molten cryolite will slosh out of the pot freezing onto one side of the ship, sinking the ship, and we're right back to where we started.
- gnode 8y ago> articulated baffles that raise into place from below From where below? My understanding is that the bottom of the tank is the hull. Although possibly you could put baffles in place, tip the grain, then crane them out for unloading.
- donarb 8y agoYanking the baffles out of the hold while the material is still there would be next to impossible. You have tons of weight pressing on them from all sides, not counting the weight of the baffle itself.