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Title: The Possibilities for Floating Concrete Structures as a Transportation Medium

Author(s): M. LaNier, W. Cichanski, R. L. Wallace, and D. Magura

Publication: Symposium Paper

Volume: 93

Issue:

Appears on pages(s): 863-888

Keywords: concretes; feasibility; floating bodies; offshore structures; ships; transportation; value engineering

DOI: 10.14359/6331

Date: 9/1/1986

Abstract:
Transportation has always been an issue when considering concrete as a structural material. The bulk and weight of concrete have led engineers and planners to consider using the most locally available concrete materials to reduce the transportation effort required to build fixed structures which may support or interface with other vehicles such as ships, trains, and cars. tation function. These vehicles perform the primary transpor-Conventional wisdom defines the supporting concrete structures as massive, bulky, heavy, and stationary. Thus, as far as the concrete elements themselves are concerned, transportation issues are usually thought of as limitations and constraints. Viewing concrete from the perspective of the possibilities of floating concrete structures as a transportation medium leads one's thinking in a different direction. In the global community, many opportunities exist for the application of this little-used transportation technology to address a host of problems facing the people of the world. Engineers and planners have the opportunity to consider floating concrete structures as a transportation medium that opens up possibilities that are nonexistent with more conventional mediums. Floating concrete structures are a surprisingly economical response to a variety of needs. Limitations and advantages are considered from all angles. These issues include transportation, construction, economic, social and political, functional, environmental, scheduling, engineering and risk-related limits, and areas of particular sensitivity. In a series of pointed questions, the authors raise possibilities in the areas of global concern. Our challenge, they maintain, is to visualize bold ways to use the unique possibilities of large-scale floating concrete structures to meet needs that really make a difference to humanity.