Top 10 Most Impressive Civil Engineering Projects of All Time
Top 10 Most Impressive Civil Engineering Projects of All Time
10.Qingdao Haiwan Bridge
Jiaozhou Bay Bridge (or Qingdao Haiwan Bridge)
is a 26.7 km (16.6 mi) long roadway bridge in eastern China's Shandong
province, which is part of the 41.58 km (25.84 mi) Jiaozhou Bay Connection
Project. As of December 2012, Guinness World Records lists the Jiaozhou Bay
Bridge as the world's longest bridge over water (aggregate length) at 41.58 km
(25.84 mi).
Records
Guinness World Records lists the Jiaozhou Bay
Bridge at 41.58 km (25.84 mi), which makes it the longest bridge over water
(aggregate length), and the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway is at 38.44 km (23.89
mi) the longest bridge over water (continuous length) (status July 2011).The
Guinness title will be challenged by the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, which
is currently under construction and scheduled to be opened in 2016 with an
aggregate 50.0 km (31.1 mi) of bridges and tunnels.
The bridge builder Shandong Gaosu Group claims
that Jiaozhou Bay Bridge has the first oversea interchange in the world and
that it has the world's largest number of oversea bored concrete piles.
9.Burji Khalifa
Burj Khalifa was designed to be the
centerpiece of a large-scale, mixed-use development that would include 30,000
homes, nine hotels (including The Address Downtown Dubai), 3 hectares (7.4
acres) of parkland, at least 19 residential towers, the Dubai Mall, and the
12-hectare (30-acre) man-made Burj Khalifa Lake. The decision to build Burj
Khalifa is reportedly based on the government's decision to diversify from an
oil based economy to one that is service and tourism based. According to
officials, it is necessary for projects like Burj Khalifa to be built in the
city to garner more international recognition, and hence investment. "He
(Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum) wanted to put Dubai on the map with something
really sensational," said Jacqui Josephson, a tourism and VIP delegations
executive at Nakheel Properties.
Records
Tallest existing structure: 829.8 m (2,722 ft)
(previously KVLY-TV mast – 628.8 m or 2,063 ft)
Tallest structure ever built: 829.8 m (2,722
ft) (previously Warsaw radio mast – 646.38 m or 2,121 ft)
Tallest freestanding structure: 829.8 m (2,722
ft) (previously CN Tower – 553.3 m or 1,815 ft)
Structure to have the most floors: 163
(previously CN Tower - 147)
Tallest skyscraper (to top of spire): 829.8 m
(2,722 ft) (previously Taipei 101 – 509.2 m or 1,671 ft)
Tallest skyscraper to top of antenna: 829.8 m
(2,722 ft) (previously the Willis (formerly Sears) Tower – 527.3 m or 1,730 ft)
Building with most floors: 163 (previously
World Trade Center – 110)
Building with world's highest occupied floor:
584.5 m (1,918 ft)
World's highest elevator installation
(situated inside a rod at the very top of the building)
World's longest travel distance elevators:
504m (1,654 ft)[19][20]
Highest vertical concrete pumping (for a
building): 606 m (1,988 ft)
World's tallest structure that includes
residential space[22]
World's highest observation deck: 148th floor
at 555 m (1,821 ft)
World's highest outdoor observation deck:
124th floor at 452 m (1,483 ft)
World's highest installation of an aluminium
and glass façade: 512 m (1,680 ft)
World's highest nightclub: 144th floor
World's highest restaurant (At.mosphere):
122nd floor at 442 m (1,450 ft) (previously 360, at a height of 350 m (1,148
ft) in CN Tower)
World's highest New Year display of fireworks.
World's second highest swimming pool: 76th
floor (world's highest swimming pool is located on 118th floor of Ritz-Carlton
Hotel at International Commerce Centre, Hong Kong).
8.English channel tunnel
The Channel Tunnel (French: Le tunnel sous la
Manche; also referred to as the Chunnel) is a 50.5-kilometre (31.4 mi) rail
tunnel linking Folkestone, Kent, in the United Kingdom, with Coquelles,
Pas-de-Calais, near Calais in northern France, beneath the English Channel at
the Strait of Dover. At its lowest point, it is 75 m (250 ft) deep.At 37.9
kilometres (23.5 mi), the tunnel has the longest undersea portion of any tunnel
in the world, although the Seikan Tunnel in Japan is both longer overall at
53.85 kilometres (33.46 mi) and deeper at 240 metres (790 ft) below sea level.
The speed limit in the tunnel is 160 kilometres per hour (99 mph).
The tunnel carries high-speed Eurostar
passenger trains, the Eurotunnel Shuttle for road vehicles—the largest such
transport in the world and international freight trains. The tunnel connects
end-to-end with the LGV Nord and High Speed 1 high-speed railway lines.
7.Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge
spanning the Golden Gate strait, the mile-wide, three-mile-long channel between
San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of
San Francisco, on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, to Marin
County, bridging both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1 across the
strait. The bridge is one of the most internationally recognized symbols of San
Francisco, California, and the United States. It has been declared one of the
Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
The Frommers travel guide considers the Golden
Gate Bridge "possibly the most beautiful, certainly the most photographed,
bridge in the world".It opened in 1937 and was, until 1964, the longest
suspension bridge main span in the world, at 4,200 feet (1,300 m).
6.Hoover Dam
Hoover Dam, once known as Boulder Dam, is a
concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the
border between the U.S. states of Arizona and Nevada. It was constructed
between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and was dedicated on
September 30, 1935, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Its construction was
the result of a massive effort involving thousands of workers, and cost over
one hundred lives. The dam was controversially named after President Herbert
Hoover.
5.Panama Canal
Panama Canal is a 77.1-kilometre (48 mi)
ship canal in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean (via the Caribbean Sea)
to the Pacific Ocean. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a key
conduit for international maritime trade. There are locks at each end to lift
ships up to Gatun Lake, an artificial lake created to reduce the amount of
excavation work required for the canal, 26 metres (85 ft) above sea level. The current
locks are 33.5 metres (110 ft) wide. A third, wider lane of locks is currently
under construction and is due to open in 2016.
4.Brooklyn Bridge
The Brooklyn Bridge is a hybrid
cable-stayed/suspension bridge in New York City and is one of the oldest
bridges of either type in the United States. Completed in 1883, it connects the
boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn by spanning the East River. It has a main
span of 1,595.5 feet (486.3 m), and was the first steel-wire suspension bridge
constructed. It was originally referred to as the New York and Brooklyn Bridge
and as the East River Bridge, but it was later dubbed the Brooklyn Bridge, a
name coming from an earlier January 25, 1867, letter to the editor of the
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, and formally so named by the city government in 1915.
Since its opening, it has become an icon of New York City, and was designated a
National Historic Landmark in 1964 and a National Historic Civil Engineering
Landmark in 1972.
3.Aqueduct of Segovia
The Aqueduct of Segovia (or more precisely,
the aqueduct bridge) is a Roman aqueduct and one of the most significant and
best-preserved ancient monuments left on the Iberian Peninsula. It is located
in Spain and is the foremost symbol of Segovia, as evidenced by its presence on
the city's coat of arms.
Description
The aqueduct transports water from Fuente Fría
river, situated in the nearby mountains, some 17 km (11 mi) from the city in a
region known as La Acebeda. It runs another 15 km (9.3 mi) before arriving in
the city.
The water is first gathered in a tank known as
El Caserón (or Big House), and is then led through a channel to a second tower
known as the Casa de Aguas (or Waterhouse). There it is naturally decanted and
sand settles out before the water continues its route. Next the water travels
728 m (796 yd) on a one-percent grade until it is high upon the Postigo, a
rocky outcropping on which the old city center, the Segovia Alcázar, was built.
Then, at Plaza de Díaz Sanz (Díaz Sanz Square), the structure makes an abrupt
turn and heads toward Plaza Azoguejo (Azoguejo Square). It is there the
monument begins to display its full splendor. At its tallest, the aqueduct
reaches a height of 28.5 m (93 ft 6 in), including nearly 6 m (19 ft 8 in) of
foundation. There are both single and double arches supported by pillars. From
the point the aqueduct enters the city until it reaches Plaza de Díaz Sanz, it
includes 75 single arches and 44 double arches (or 88 arches when counted
individually), followed by four single arches, totalling 167 arches in all. The
construction of the aqueduct follows the principles laid out by Vitruvius as he
describes in his De Architectura published in the mid-first century.
2.Great Wall of China
The Great Wall of China is a series of
fortifications made of stone, brick, tamped earth, wood, and other materials,
generally built along an east-to-west line across the historical northern
borders of China to protect the Chinese states and empires against the raids
and invasions of the various nomadic groups of the Eurasian Steppe. Several
walls were being built as early as the 7th century bc; these, later joined together
and made bigger and stronger, are now collectively referred to as the Great
Wall. Especially famous is the wall built 220–206 bc by Qin Shihuang, the first
Emperor of China. Little of that wall remains. Since then, the Great Wall has
on and off been rebuilt, maintained, and enhanced; the majority of the existing
wall is from the Ming Dynasty.
Other purposes of the Great Wall have included
border controls, allowing the imposition of duties on goods transported along
the Silk Road, regulation or encouragement of trade and the control of
immigration and emigration. Furthermore, the defensive characteristics of the
Great Wall were enhanced by the construction of watch towers, troop barracks,
garrison stations, signaling capabilities through the means of smoke or fire,
and the fact that the path of the Great Wall also served as a transportation
corridor.
The main Great Wall line stretches from
Shanhaiguan in the east, to Lop Lake in the west, along an arc that roughly
delineates the southern edge of Inner Mongolia. A comprehensive archaeological
survey, using advanced technologies, has concluded that the Ming walls measure
8,850 km (5,500 mi).This is made up of 6,259 km (3,889 mi) sections of actual
wall, 359 km (223 mi) of trenches and 2,232 km (1,387 mi) of natural defensive
barriers such as hills and rivers.Another archaeological survey found that the
entire wall with all of its branches measure out to be 21,196 km (13,171 mi).
1.Great Pyramid of Giza
The Great Pyramid of Giza (also known as the
Pyramid of Khufu or the Pyramid of Cheops) is the oldest and largest of the
three pyramids in the Giza Necropolis bordering what is now El Giza, Egypt. It
is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the only one to
remain largely intact.
Based on a mark in an interior chamber naming
the work gang and a reference to fourth dynasty Egyptian Pharaoh Khufu,
Egyptologists believe that the pyramid was built as a tomb over a 10 to 20-year
period concluding around 2560 BC. Initially at 146.5 metres (481 feet), the
Great Pyramid was the tallest man-made structure in the world for over 3,800
years. Originally, the Great Pyramid was covered by casing stones that formed a
smooth outer surface; what is seen today is the underlying core structure. Some
of the casing stones that once covered the structure can still be seen around
the base. There have been varying scientific and alternative theories about the
Great Pyramid's construction techniques. Most accepted construction hypotheses
are based on the idea that it was built by moving huge stones from a quarry and
dragging and lifting them into place.
History and description
It is believed the pyramid was built as a tomb
for Fourth Dynasty Egyptian pharaoh Khufu (often Hellenicised as
"Cheops") and was constructed over a 20-year period. Khufu's vizier,
Hemon, or Hemiunu, is believed by some to be the architect of the Great
Pyramid.It is thought that, at construction, the Great Pyramid was originally
280 Egyptian cubits tall (146.5 metres (480.6 ft)), but with erosion and
absence of its pyramidion, its present height is 138.8 metres (455.4 ft). Each
base side was 440 cubits, 230.4 metres (755.9 ft) long. The mass of the pyramid
is estimated at 5.9 million tonnes. The volume, including an internal hillock,
is roughly 2,500,000 cubic metres (88,000,000 cu ft). Based on these estimates,
building the pyramid in 20 years would involve installing approximately 800
tonnes of stone every day. Additionally, since it consists of an estimated 2.3
million blocks, completing the building in 20 years would involve moving an
average of more than 12 of the blocks into place each hour, day and night. The
first precision measurements of the pyramid were made by Egyptologist Sir
Flinders Petrie in 1880–82 and published as The Pyramids and Temples of
Gizeh.Almost all reports are based on his measurements. Many of the casing
stones and inner chamber blocks of the Great Pyramid fit together with
extremely high precision. Based on measurements taken on the north eastern
casing stones, the mean opening of the joints is only 0.5 millimetres wide
(1/50th of an inch).
Great Pyramid of Giza from a 19th-century
stereopticon card photo
The pyramid remained the tallest man-made
structure in the world for over 3,800 years,unsurpassed until the
160-metre-tall (520 ft) spire of Lincoln Cathedral was completed c. 1300. The
accuracy of the pyramid's workmanship is such that the four sides of the base
have an average error of only 58 millimetres in length. The base is horizontal
and flat to within ±15 mm (0.6 in).[10] The sides of the square base are
closely aligned to the four cardinal compass points (within four minutes of
arc) based on true north, not magnetic north, and the finished base was squared
to a mean corner error of only 12 seconds of arc. The completed design
dimensions, as suggested by Petrie's survey and subsequent studies, are
estimated to have originally been 280 Royal cubits high by 440 Royal
cubits long at each of the four sides of its base. The ratio of the perimeter
to height of 1760/280 Royal cubits equates to 2π to an accuracy of better than
0.05% (corresponding to the well-known approximation of π as 22/7). Some
Egyptologists consider this to have been the result of deliberate design
proportion. Verner wrote, "We can conclude that although the ancient
Egyptians could not precisely define the value of π, in practice they used
it". Petrie, author of Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh concluded: "but
these relations of areas and of circular ratio are so systematic that we should
grant that they were in the builder's design". Others have argued that the
Ancient Egyptians had no concept of pi and would not have thought to encode it
in their monuments. They believe that the observed pyramid slope may be based
on a simple seked slope choice alone, with no regard to the overall size and
proportions of the finished building
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