Think your weekend of diving sucks / Read this!

[abitton]

I doubt that.

The pressure differential is what is causing the vaccum in the first place, IMHO.

Your guess of what the pressure profile was in that tube is as good as mine...

I would think that the entire time she was inside the pipe that the pressure would remain constant at the pressure of the depth she was at. However, once she left the pipe she would go to the pressure of the surrounding area.

The story doesn't state what depth she was at when she was sucked up or whether the pipe empties out into the air or underwater in the holding pond but I would assume that there would definitely be a risk of barotrauma.

 

[primalchaos]

It sounds like they are already preparing for a lawsuit by blaming it on the diver.

It was even less impressive seeing their representative on TV. I'm sure it is not a good idea to go poking around in tubes underwater that you are unsure of, but it seemed like Consumers was more interested in stating that she never made it to the "plant" area of the complex.

I would think that if the intake is as shallow as 45', it would have a grate, as he said some of their other intakes do.

 

[mongoose]

It was even less impressive seeing their representative on TV. I'm sure it is not a good idea to go poking around in tubes underwater that you are unsure of, but it seemed like Consumers was more interested in stating that she never made it to the "plant" area of the complex.

I would think that if the intake is as shallow as 45', it would have a grate, as he said some of their other intakes do.

Even more than the lawsuits, I might worry about lunatic thrillseekers who, now that they've heard of this, might want to go "ride the pipe". Even more than that I might worry about lawsuits from the families of said lunatic thrillseekers. :11:

Glad to hear that the lady's OK, though. It might as easily have been a tragic story, instead of a "holy cow" story...

--'Goose

 

[primalchaos]

Even more than the lawsuits, I might worry about lunatic thrillseekers who, now that they've heard of this, might want to go "ride the pipe". Even more than that I might worry about lawsuits from the families of said lunatic thrillseekers. :11:

Glad to hear that the lady's OK, though. It might as easily have been a tragic story, instead of a "holy cow" story...

--'Goose

Now last night they reported on the news that there was "maintenance being performed that their representative had not been informed of". I have no idea if that means that there was a grate that had been removed, or something to do with the intake, maybe it was off, then turned on? They didn't go into it much in the news.

Hopefully no one gets the idea to shoot the pipe. I'd imagine at the very least they will put a grate on the end of it by the cooling pond to keep people out of their facility, so it might be a really quick stop at the end.

 

[ranger979]

I doubt that.

The pressure differential is what is causing the vaccum in the first place, IMHO.

Your guess of what the pressure profile was in that tube is as good as mine...

You may be right. I'm definitely not a physicist. However, in either case I would think the pressure is going to remain fairly constant inside the pipe, so I woud guess there would be a rapid change either going in or out.

 

[bp_968]

I think that would increase their liability a lot. It would go from being dangerous to nearly 100% deadly. I can just see the judge now, "You put the grate at the *END* of the tunnel??!"

Hopefully no one gets the idea to shoot the pipe. I'd imagine at the very least they will put a grate on the end of it by the cooling pond to keep people out of their facility, so it might be a really quick stop at the end.

 

[CD_in_Chitown]

You may be right. I'm definitely not a physicist. However, in either case I would think the pressure is going to remain fairly constant inside the pipe, so I woud guess there would be a rapid change either going in or out.

The ambient pressure is still going to be based on depth. The water is flowing through the pipe, its not a vacuum.

 

[Daryl Morse]

The ambient pressure is still going to be based on depth. The water is flowing through the pipe, its not a vacuum.

Water flows through a pipe based on a pressure differential. There will be ambient pressure at the pipe inlet due to the depth, but the movement of water through the pipe is caused by the pressure differential.

 

[cmalinowski]

I'd imagine at the very least they will put a grate on the end of it by the cooling pond to keep people out of their facility, so it might be a really quick stop at the end.

Ouch! That would be like manslaughter if you ask me. I mean, knowing that people might get sucked into your intake pipe and making sure that they have no way to get out?!

 

[mongoose]

You may be right. I'm definitely not a physicist. However, in either case I would think the pressure is going to remain fairly constant inside the pipe, so I woud guess there would be a rapid change either going in or out.

Now this has me interested... wouldn't there be a bit of a Bernoulli effect going on inside the pipe? As water flows into the pipe (from the same depth as the pipe, for the sake of argument), the surrounding water, as it moves closer and closer to the pipe inlet, is forced into a narrower channel (but not compressed of course)... As such, according to Bernoulli, the water picks up speed and, thus, there would be small pressure increase just outside the pipe and a corresponding small pressure decrease when inside the pipe...

Right?