Iran's Smart Concrete Can Cope With Earthquakes and Bombs 609
PolygamousRanchKid writes "Iran is an earthquake zone, so its engineers have developed some of the toughest building materials in the world. Ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) could also be used to protect hidden nuclear installations from the artificial equivalent of small earthquakes, namely bunker-busting bombs. UHPC is based—like its quotidian cousins—on sand and cement. In addition, though, it is doped with powdered quartz (the pure stuff, rather than the tainted variety that makes up most sand) and various reinforcing metals and fibers. UHPC can withstand more compression than other forms of concrete. UHPC is also more flexible and durable than conventional concrete. It can therefore be used to make lighter and more slender structures. All of which is fine and dandy for safer dams and better sewers, which threaten no one. But UHPC's potential military applications are more intriguing—and for many, more worrying. Deep bunkers can be tackled in other ways. America's Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) has looked at what is known in the jargon as functional defeat, in other words bombing their entrances shut or destroying their electrical systems with electromagnetic pulses. They are also working on active penetrators—bombs which can tunnel through hundreds of meters of earth, rock and concrete. Development work is also under way on esoteric devices such as robot snakes, carrying warheads, which can infiltrate via air ducts and cable runs."
Evidence the Iranians are developing structures (Score:5, Funny)
capable of withstanding repeated ballistic impacts: Many engineers are seen with iPads doing structural-ballistic simulations involving various geometries made of wood, ice and stone, and green "test animals", whose survival indicates the durability of said structures.
But... (Score:2, Funny)
Stick to the subject of the article. (Score:5, Funny)
Could we stop the comments on abstract issues and just stick to the concrete one.
Re:Today's dose of fearmongering... (Score:5, Funny)
Man, they really got somethin' against Lebanon, don't they? Was it Jamie Farr's portrayal of Klinger on M*A*S*H?
Re:Today's dose of fearmongering... (Score:5, Funny)
wow, did I miss that. I thought he was talking about the united states. My next thought was, shit, we make oil, and we are a US neighbour, maybe we need some nukes to keep them at bay.
After all, the US only attacks defenceless countries...
Re:Back in 2003 ... (Score:5, Funny)
just like Isreali installations were shown to be clean of weapons making.
must be a regional thing to be so peacuful.
Re:Back in 2003 ... (Score:5, Funny)
Israel has always been considered a "friendly" nation; Iran, not so much. No-one's looking the other way when they inspect Iran's facilities!
Iran: we want to generate nuclear power
World: use oil instead.
Iran: no no no, you don't understand: you pay us lots of money for oil, so we want to keep selling it to you, and using cheap nuclear domestically.
World: but you're making weapons!
Iran: no we're not.
IAEA: they're telling the truth.
US, UK, Isreal: are you telling me you atomic energy experts know more about atomic energy than our paranoid military intelligence people? They're obviously making bombs.
World:...
Iran: have you seen our nice concrete? It stops our nuclear facilities from collapsing in the event of a geological disaster.
US: earthquake-proof nuclear facilities, in an earthquake zone? Hah! A likely story! They're bomb-proof weapons plants. Even Japan doesn't make its nuclear facilities proof against geological events....