Evacuated Twin-wall Barrel Vault

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Permalink Reply by Eric Koch on March 29, 2009 at 8:29am

and, oh crap ....what if a section of multiwall needs to be replaced?.....the sill plate channel would have to be waxed prior to "potting in" ......i could use a development team here......more brains for bouncing back and forth till an "average joe" methodology emerges.

i'm friends with Dave Holstrum ( LaX architect ) but i can't afford his time......could we get some city money on this?

It would be a wiser expenditure than a million dollar clock, or the widening of West Ave. with out a doubt.

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Permalink Reply by Charles Ivie on March 29, 2009 at 8:31am

This might be a good time to revisit Buckminster Fullers work on geodesic structures. He designed techniques to get maximum structural strength from a minimum of material. He was also one of the earliest "harmonialists" seeking ways that man could live in harmony with nature. Do a search on "buckminster fuller" and you will see what I mean.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Koch on March 29, 2009 at 10:30am

Thanks for the mention Charles,

Fullers work (as well as many others he inspired ) are very familiar to me....i still find my self astounded at the intense sustained levels of dimensional thought that went into the cumulative body of reference work available...also the integrate-able works on tensegrity compiled under the same movement....really great stuff (worth looking into if any one feels the need for a brain stretch)...the sphere is always where i seem to start in my mind, as this shape is, intrinsically, an engineer's dream come true...and i always find my self relived when an application lends itself.

but in attempt to localize food supply and retrofit housing for energy efficiency, invariably, some houses will be too far removed from "retrofit-able"...Leaving us with a defunct energy investment...most of witch is contained in the concrete of the lower portion.

And so a good rule of thumb would be...."if it would be easier to tare it down and start over....SCP"

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Permalink Reply by Eric Koch on March 29, 2009 at 6:56pm

Ok......with some internal longitudinal members progressively spaced from the ridge in accordance with a planar projection, this looks doable.....the only thing i'm still shaky on is is the intensity of the vacuum....i'm doing stress calculations off proportioned measurements of a picture of twin wall on my computer screen (no idea if it's the 6,8,or 10mm..or if it's entirely fictitious just to get the idea across)....then i see the hail impact section (how much would i be degrading that performance figure?)....i think i'm going to have to get a sample and run up the gauge till it folds then divide by four....so honestly, i cannot quote an exact R yet.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Koch on April 3, 2009 at 9:06am

Oh the mind gyrations before the settling occurs......as the aches would be more labor intensive,and more capable of resolving loads over distance,than the longitudinal members....i've settled in at (48"+ tendon) for the arch centers and 24" for the longitudinal planar projection.......since my mom is ordering multi wall for the house anyway,i'm switching to a single 10mm twin wall format....call it a small scale twin wall evacuation test run.

just gota figure out how to seal up the ends.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Koch on May 28, 2009 at 8:54am

sealing up the ends...seems polycarbonate U channel and the proper adhesive would be best..this would give uniform expansion and contraction under temperature extremes...

a decision has been made to sell the house...as is...i've got so much going on and i really have to focus on closing the gap on saucer production....i'm too vested to stop now.

thanks to all for being here...SCP is still the highest return EROI i can think of, hands down.

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