Mysterious object block Seattle tunnel progress

reply to post by sirhumperdink

nothing

Got it.

Phage

Sounds like they hit a rock.

Typical Seattle, always hitting the rock.

wingsfan

Phage

Sounds like they hit a rock.

Typical Seattle, always hitting the rock.

No. That would be Tacoma.

Q33323
reply to post by BuzzCory

 

Tube travel via compressed air in a vacuum sealed environment?

Hyperloop on wikipedia

edit on 11-12-2013 by Q33323 because: (no reason given)

edit on 11-12-2013 by Q33323 because: Add. Info

At a smaller scale, pneumatic mail systems were invented and are still in use. Hospitals use them to transport medical samples.

www.cix.co.uk...

The favored explanation for the problem, among those who are familiar with the work of tunnel boring, is that a boulder embedded in loose soil was shifting about. This may have prevented the boring machine from being able to make solid contact with it, and so, break it up.
Finding loose soil 60 to 120 feet down, after everything has been pressing down on it from above for so long seems somewhat unlikely, but apparently is not considered out of the question.
We should bear in in mind that even the proposed explanations of the experts are somewhat speculative at this point. No one really knows what's down there.

Speculation as to the object's true identity include an Ice Age-era boulder or a pioneer-era rail car. "We don't know whether it is man-made or natural," a WSDOT official told the Seattle Times. Or neither.

Gawker

The last two words put a different slant on things..don't ya think?

'Man-made, natural...or NEITHER' !!!

'Neither' can only mean one thing if you think about it.

If it's not man made and it's not natural...the only thing left is alien.

Thorneblood
Ya know what is fascinating, the native american myths from around the Seattle area claim the center of all creation is over on Nob Hill.

They just want to hope they haven't stumbled across an ancient high technology civilisations nuclear waste storage silo.

Yeah...don't worry, the waste is radioactive for a couple of hundred thousand years, but that's why we're burying the waste deep underground where nobody will ever disturb it, even if they did, we've made sure we've covered the container with warning symbols.

Fast forward 20,000 years..."Bill, stop Bertha...we've hit something big and heavy with strange writing on it that i've never seen before...man...my hair is falling out faster than fleas off a dead dog.

The latest update from Washington state officials on the 'Bertha' situation is linked below. It was issued on Friday. Besides repeating what has been said before, it is reported than groundwater is being pumped from the tunnel to permit access. The initial inspection of the obstruction site is now set for the week of Dec. 16th---20th.
www.kirotv.com...

reply to post by Ross 54


Excellent time for them to unwittingly open the gate to Hell and start The End Times.
All I want for Christmas is the apocalypse and a flaming sword.

All Seeing Eye

Char-Lee
reply to post by Q33323

 

They should have a tube in the machine that can insert a filament camera to the front or something. Must be costly to try and figure out what they are dealing with blind.

I was a welder working on a TBM "Tunnel Boring Machine" in the Southwest, and one of my jobs was to pad, add metal by welding, to the front blades from time to time. Its not too difficult to get in front of the machine. You just dig on one side a small 6 - 10 foot hole in the wall, deep enough to get through, then back the TBM up so the hole goes to the front. It would only take a matter of hours to complete. Its considered routine maintenance.

this

or something close.

if we were ever going to know what it really hit

we would have known by now

its 60 feet tall and 60 feet beneith the surface.


that boulder would be seen from sattillite.


cover up

What I dont understand is why they are drilling multiple times from the surface and going to pump groundwater out. If the post above is true (and I have no reason to think it isn't) then they could easily dig a hole in the side wall, back up the machine and pop out in front to inspect the obstruction.

Why all the fuss and bother to drill from the surface to 60 feet down where Bertha is 'stuck' ?

By the way... where was that other boring machine they abandoned because it broke down and they could not remove it? It was in some city in the USA they were making subways I think?

No-one answered my question whether this Bertha is a nuclear powered boring machine? Maybe we should research a little about Bertha and what her capabilities should be, as advertised. Maybe this information is only in Japanese though since it was made in Japan.

Answering my own question, if you look at the Robbins brochures on the right hand menu of the Robbins site, there is a lot of information about the kind of rock which can be cut etc. Some of the images in the brochures brochure pdf here also appear to have smooth walls to the tunnels and not concrete sections which suggest to me they have been melted, although some obviosly do have concrete sections installed to hold up the tunnel. Take a look. The largest diameter machines they have in their featured projects is about 10.4 metres (35 feet approx?)

20 interesting boring machines

also 2006 ATS thread

reply to post by qmantoo


after reading those links it is abundenly clear that they know what they hit

and i think this whole tunneling thing is acover story.

or

thry are liars and a bunch of inepts

ty for links

Too late to edit my last post. We should have the manafacturer of this Seattle TBM in this thread. This linked page shows the actual Seattle TBM but says very little about its capabilities.


from wikipedia

Soft ground TBMs
In soft ground, there are three main types of TBMs: Earth Pressure Balance Machines (EPB), Slurry Shield (SS) and open-face type. Both types of closed machines operate like Single Shield TBMs, using thrust cylinders to advance forward by pushing off against concrete segments. Earth Pressure Balance Machines are used in soft ground with less than 7 bar of pressure. The cutter head does not use disc cutters only, but instead a combination of tungsten carbide cutting bits, carbide disc cutters, and/or hard rock disc cutters. The EPB gets its name because it is capable of holding up soft ground by maintaining a balance between earth and pressure. The TBM operator and automated systems keep the rate of soil removal equal to the rate of machine advance. Thus, a stable environment is maintained. In addition, additives such as bentonite, polymers and foam are injected into the ground to further stabilize it.

In soft ground with very high water pressure and large amounts of ground water, Slurry Shield TBMs are needed. These machines offer a completely enclosed working environment. Soils are mixed with bentonite slurry, which must be removed from the tunnel through a system of slurry tubes that exit the tunnel. Large slurry separation plants are needed on the surface for this process, which separate the dirt from the slurry so it can be recycled back into the tunnel.[citation needed]

Open face TBMs in soft ground rely on the fact that the face of the ground being excavated will stand up with no support for a short period of time - this makes them suitable for use in rock types with a strength of up to 10MPa or so, and with low water inflows. Face sizes in excess of 10 metres can be excavated in this manner. The face is excavated using a backactor arm or cutter head to within 150mm of the edge of the shield. The shield is jacked forwards and cutters on the front of the shield cut the remaining ground to the same circular shape. Ground support is provided by use of precast concrete, or occasionally SGI (Spheroidal Graphite Iron), segments that are bolted or supported until a full ring of support has been erected. A final segment, called the key, is wedge-shaped, and expands the ring until it is tight against the circular cut of the ground left behind by cutters on the TBM shield. Many variations of this type of TBM exist.

While the use of TBMs relieves the need for large numbers of workers at high pressures, a caisson system is sometimes formed at the cutting head for slurry shield TBMs. Workers entering this space for inspection, maintenance and repair need to be medically cleared as "fit to dive" and trained in the operation of the locks

I believe we saw some references to 'divers' needed to inspect the cutting face. This last para is obviously what they are referring to.

The article, linked below, does the best job of describing the current 'Bertha' situation. The water is to be pumped out of multiple wells around the site. The tunnel is not flooding. It is water in the surrounding soil that is to be removed, in order to make the tunnel stable enough for it be safe for workers to enter. This will probably take at least until the latter part of the current week.
www.blscourierherald.com...

Another_Nut

All Seeing Eye

Char-Lee
reply to post by Q33323

 

They should have a tube in the machine that can insert a filament camera to the front or something. Must be costly to try and figure out what they are dealing with blind.

I was a welder working on a TBM "Tunnel Boring Machine" in the Southwest, and one of my jobs was to pad, add metal by welding, to the front blades from time to time. Its not too difficult to get in front of the machine. You just dig on one side a small 6 - 10 foot hole in the wall, deep enough to get through, then back the TBM up so the hole goes to the front. It would only take a matter of hours to complete. Its considered routine maintenance.

this

or something close.

if we were ever going to know what it really hit

we would have known by now

its 60 feet tall and 60 feet beneith the surface.


that boulder would be seen from sattillite.


cover up

There is no reason why they cant "know" what they hit within 24 hours. I should say, what they hit, or what they "Didn't" hit.

If they hit a underground crevasse or other "Void" where the TBM can not cross over without extensive renovation, rework of the void, that too is a possibility.

Wish it was the temple-like ship as seen on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon.

Well, the highly intelligent people who thought it was a good idea to drill UNDER Seattle, on TOP of one of the largest, most dangerous subduction zones in the world are now surprised that there is a problem?


better it be now than before they are allowing thousands of people to travel through it.

With the incredibly diverse geological landscape of the area, I think it only makes sense that there isn't just 'dirt' down there.

It would be seriously cool though if it were some sort of ancient, alien technology.

The rotary cutting head can chew through concrete, and includes steel discs that are designed to gouge and crack boulders. It cannot grind through steel.

seattletimes.com...

It cannot grind through steel. STEEL?

That object is made of steel?

WTH!

Arken

The rotary cutting head can chew through concrete, and includes steel discs that are designed to gouge and crack boulders. It cannot grind through steel.

seattletimes.com...

STEEL?

WTH!

Probably diamond coated steel to be specific..

reply to post by Arken


a better question is - why do you think it should be able to cut steel ?