China road collapses
Discussion
Just posting a link, as the pictures are important.
A highway in China has collapsed, it looks very much like there is minimal steel reinforcement in the concrete, and the columns the road is mounted to seem barely attached to the deck of the bridge, what do the boffins think?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1359289/Dr...
A highway in China has collapsed, it looks very much like there is minimal steel reinforcement in the concrete, and the columns the road is mounted to seem barely attached to the deck of the bridge, what do the boffins think?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1359289/Dr...
munroman said:
A highway in China has collapsed, it looks very much like there is minimal steel reinforcement in the concrete, and the columns the road is mounted to seem barely attached to the deck of the bridge, what do the boffins think?
China's infrastructure has been built on the cheap. This doesn't bode well for the future when they have to rebuild everything.The failure will have been further back down the bridge, the clean break line will just have been an expansion joint of some sort (hence the lack of rebar running though), which would also explain why the deck isnt connected fully to the column at that location as it will have been a roller bearing or similar.
Not that I'm a structural engineer though!
Not that I'm a structural engineer though!
There was a collapse of a block of flats in Shanghai where the piles were far shorter than they should have been, and I have heard that the steel rebar is pulled out before the concrete sets, as it's expensive.
Having seen the state of the pillars on the Shanghai Maglev, it's like a lot of Chinese things, looks good, but where's the quality that really matters?
Having seen the state of the pillars on the Shanghai Maglev, it's like a lot of Chinese things, looks good, but where's the quality that really matters?
munroman said:
There was a collapse of a block of flats in Shanghai where the piles were far shorter than they should have been
I was sent one of the round-robin type emails depicting something similar.The pictures and diagrams seemed to suggest the piles - reinforced or otherwise - were simply too short (only a couple of storeys for a 13 storey building on a hillside, without firm footing) and that there were un-shored excavations being dug downhill off the place. Upshot was that the whole plot toppled, virtually intact.
Google images: Building Topples
I think this may be one of the early signs that the Chinese model has a real problems in the longer term. With 'infrastructure' like this, how will they maintain let alone increase capacity and how does this look to outside investors?
ETA link.
Edited by Digga on Tuesday 22 February 16:51
Digga said:
munroman said:
There was a collapse of a block of flats in Shanghai where the piles were far shorter than they should have been
I was sent one of the round-robin type emails depicting something similar.The pictures and diagrams seemed to suggest the piles - reinforced or otherwise - were simply too short (only a couple of storeys for a 13 storey building on a hillside, without firm footing) and that there were un-shored excavations being dug downhill off the place. Upshot was that the whole plot toppled, virtually intact.
Google images: Building Topples
I think this may be one of the early signs that the Chinese model has a real problems in the longer term. With 'infrastructure' like this, how will they maintain let alone increase capacity and how does this look to outside investors?
ETA link.
Yes, that's the one I saw, shocking to see how short the piles are.
Very common to get fantastic quality samples from Chinese manufacturers, but when production started they tried to palm off any old crap as suitable.
Shake hands and then count your fingers!
Edited by Digga on Tuesday 22 February 16:51
Tadite said:
Want to hear something scary? The head of the Chinese high speed rail was recently fired for a nice long list of problems starting with quality control and moving towards gross corruption.
Anyone want to be on a 200+ mile and hour train with that level of construction....
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Anyone want to be on a 200+ mile and hour train with that level of construction....
A microcosm of the whole country.
When I was working their I met an Italian guy who had set up various contract manufacturing operations in the clothing industry.
He said a lot of China's issues date back to Maos time, where if you stuck out as a leader you were either sent away for 're-education', or killed.
This left a void in the managerial class which still exists, and his opinion is that kids were brought up without that sort of role model, hence why they struggle to really make good stuff, and why 'Western' goods do have a cachet in China, despite the look-alikes.
Edited by munroman on Tuesday 22 February 19:23
A mate of mine recalls a story some years back where a competitor to the company he worked for dealt a lot with China buying hand tools; spanners, Stanley knives, garden spades etc, and were well aware of the problems trying to sell stuff which was marked "Made in China", due to their reputation with quality issues.
To give their sales the best possible chance they asked the Chinese supplier to ensure that on no account should any of the tools from the manufacturer be stamped to say that their products originated in China.
Unfortunately there is a big difference between the languages, and the request was taken quite literally, despite the best efforts of the supplier to translate their customer's requirements.
The container was duly delivered from the docks, and opened to reveal every single tool stamped "Not made in China"
To give their sales the best possible chance they asked the Chinese supplier to ensure that on no account should any of the tools from the manufacturer be stamped to say that their products originated in China.
Unfortunately there is a big difference between the languages, and the request was taken quite literally, despite the best efforts of the supplier to translate their customer's requirements.
The container was duly delivered from the docks, and opened to reveal every single tool stamped "Not made in China"
Just before he retired my old man had a job whereby he had to work out why an office block had collapsed in China. Before flying out he asked to see the plans / blueprints.
He was sent plans for a well designed 6 story block with appropriate safety margins built in throughout. What collapsed was a 15 story building, complete with 4 forty ton airconditioner units on the roof.
Seems they got a little carried away when building it and someone clearly thought "it'll be fine!"
Nedless to say he didn't need to fly out.
He was sent plans for a well designed 6 story block with appropriate safety margins built in throughout. What collapsed was a 15 story building, complete with 4 forty ton airconditioner units on the roof.
Seems they got a little carried away when building it and someone clearly thought "it'll be fine!"
Nedless to say he didn't need to fly out.
Yet in some areas the quality is great. I'm thinking niche, like valve amplifiers and even valve CD players (google Shanling), where the gear is as good as pretty much anything, and model aero engines (little four-stroke glow motors) that are as good as the Jap numbers they are copies of for a third of the dosh. They can do it guys 
Gassing Station | News, Politics & Economics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff