This is a post on the Tri Star Site.
You’re an engineer and a raging storm is heading to your town. A tidal surge is inevitable. Your job is to protect the subway from flooding. What are your ideas?
You might think about a better drainage system and pumps. Maybe floodgates. But it’s all too little, too late, and too expensive. The winds are picking up. What’s your other idea?
US Homeland Security asked Ever J. Barbero, a West Virginia professor who specializes in advanced materials in engineering, for his ideas, and here’s what he proposed:
“We’ll put an air bag in a tunnel,” he told the New York Times. The pressurized plug would take about 30 minutes to deploy, using friction to keep the giant inflatable in place as floodwaters pushed against it.
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