Ft. Pickens Road already washed over by Ida

[OysterBoot74]

"Structural Engineering is the Art of moulding materials we do not wholly understand into shapes we cannot precisely analyze, so as to withstand forces we cannot really assess, in such a way that the community at large has no reason to suspect the extent of our ignorance."
Dr. A. R. Dykes in the 1946 Chairman’s Address to the Scottish Branch of the Institution of Structural Engineers

Any engineer who claims to KNOW all the answers is a liar. lol. All we can properly do is cite past sucesses and relate them to known laws of physics. We do, however, make many extrapolations based on past experiences. Here is one such opinion (and we all know what opinions are like) -

I could be wrong but guess is that cost wouldn't be worth the result. Straps would have to let the panel swing well enough away to relieve the hydraulic pressure from below. Lets say that happens, now you possibly have a projectile, tethered to the structure whipping around and beating adjacent components to splinters. Or, due to the corrosive environment, when it comes time for the thing to actually work, who's to say that the straps are still in any condition to withstand the load. My 2 cents.

Another option would be to have some panels pre-made and in storage so that they could just drop them in after damage.

 

[OysterBoot74]

yeah, sometimes I even bore myself when talking shop. rofl

 

[mike_s]

I could be wrong but guess is that cost wouldn't be worth the result. Straps would have to let the panel swing well enough away to relieve the hydraulic pressure from below. Lets say that happens, now you possibly have a projectile, tethered to the structure whipping around and beating adjacent components to splinters. Or, due to the corrosive environment, when it comes time for the thing to actually work, who's to say that the straps are still in any condition to withstand the load. My 2 cents.

my thought was to tether it at ALL four corners with say a 3-4 steel cable. that would allow it to move up say 4' when a wave hit it, allowing hydraulic pressure to hit it, lift it, and move it up 4' or so, then let it flop back down. (although I doubt it'd fall perfectly back into place 99% of the time). While it's lifted to 'max height', it could also release pressure of incoming waves as it would vent out the sides under the uplifted panel.

then post storm operations would be to simply use a Bobcat and go out and push the panels back into place as they would never be more than about 4' out of their 'hole'.

you shouldn't have much side to side movement as the waves would mostly push the panels in one direction (towards the shore end of the pier). so that would minimize damage to the railings.

Another option would be to have some panels pre-made and in storage so that they could just drop them in after damage.

I wondered if they had these already when I saw the video.... then I remembered it was the state we were dealing with and figured they didn't do any advance planning or have budget for it.

 

[Hetland]

I think each panel weighs 300 or so pounds. I imagine that you get 10 or 20 of those guys bouncing up and down on a tether and it would cause some serious issues.

I'm tempted to do a commando dive out there while the pier is shut down. There's probably no growth left after the sandblasting she took this week, but it would be nice to check it off as a dive spot in my log

 

[OysterBoot74]

hehe, I like the way you think.

 

[jhayes75]

As of November 9, 2009, the Fort Pickens Road is temporarily closed due to 3-5 feet of sand over the asphalt in some areas and damaged bike lanes. Loop A in the campground is open to hikers and boaters. For now the sites are $10 a night. Bathrooms and water are available.

 

[OysterBoot74]

Nice. I like that dive enough to do it from a boat sometime if I have to.

 

[scubadog1969]

if i had a boat i probly wouldn't do shore dives

 

[surfdwn]

My wife and I were down there today. I have yet to dive Ft. Pickens and wanted to scout out the Pensacola boat ramps. We decided we like the setup at Big lagoon State Park.

For lunch, we went to Pegleg Pete's and then decided to go look at
the Ft. Pickens road. It truly is a mess. The sand was covering the pavilion area ahead of the park and they had brought some sort of blade to plow the street, parking lot, and walkways. The road past the gate was completely covered.

It will be a while before the mess is cleaned up!


David nolen