General > General Technical Chat
Berlin AquaDom explosion - what went wrong?
Ian.M:
@Tom66,
The area below the aquarium base was a bar + access to the elevator. I don't believe the inner tube extended below the concrete aquarium base. However I think there were curved glazing panels above the bar to give the appearance it did.
I agree that looks like a crack in the inner cylinder (right photo behind shard of outer shell). I did say "probably compromised" . . . IMHO the whole inner cylinder is scrap as its probably crazed with micro-cracks, and even if it isn't, the general public would never trust it unless it was completely replaced.
@AndyBeez,
The hoop stresses are easily calculable (without stress simulation software) if you take the known tank dimensions, and scale off them for the water level. However without knowing the details of the shell and inner cylinder to base joints, and also whether or not any of the weight of the two cylinders was supported from the top, its impossible to calculate the stresses there.
Wikipedia claims the water column was 14 m. That's only about 1.4 atmospheres pressure, or about 5% of the typical operating depth for a nuclear submarine in deep water. It is 40% more than the internal atmosphere pressure the ISS runs at. However neither application requires a transparent hull so comparison with them is totally irrelevant except to get a 'human scale' feel for the forces involved.
MrMobodies:
According to this article there was there a power cut before the explosion.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-64010677
--- Quote ---Hundreds more fish that were kept in the basement for breeding purposes were also at risk from the power cut that followed the incident but they have also now been moved to safety.
--- End quote ---
I wonder could that be a contributing factor?
I mean if there was any power used to maintain a set water temperature.
--- Quote from: tom66 on December 17, 2022, 11:19:51 am ---The bonding is claimed to be proprietary, but it's a reasonable guess that it's a case of polishing the mating surfaces and then using an adhesive of some kind, there are only so many ways to solve this problem. I wonder if it is possible that at the surface exposed to the water that adhesive could progressively allow water into the joint, which eventually forced two halves apart, especially if the low temperatures of the hotel lobby allowed for some kind of expansion-contraction against the 26C tank water.
The problem with this explanation is this might lead to the tank bursting,
--- End quote ---
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/huge-berlin-aquarium-bursts-housed-1500-tropical-fish-95405351
--- Quote ---There was speculation freezing temperatures that got down to minus 10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit) overnight caused a crack in the acrylic glass tank, which then exploded under the weight of the water. Police said they found no evidence of a malicious act.
--- End quote ---
So it was -10c before the explosion but that is speculation.
langwadt:
--- Quote from: MrMobodies on December 17, 2022, 07:57:06 pm ---According to this article there was there a power cut before the explosion.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-64010677
--- Quote ---Hundreds more fish that were kept in the basement for breeding purposes were also at risk from the power cut that followed the incident but they have also now been moved to safety.
--- End quote ---
I wonder could that be a contributing factor?
--- End quote ---
how do you interpret "followed the incident" as being before it happened?
if you spill 1 million liter of saltwater, you are probably going to lose power ...
ebastler:
--- Quote from: MrMobodies on December 17, 2022, 07:57:06 pm ---
--- Quote ---There was speculation freezing temperatures that got down to minus 10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit) overnight caused a crack in the acrylic glass tank, which then exploded under the weight of the water. Police said they found no evidence of a malicious act.
--- End quote ---
So it was -10c before the explosion but that is speculation.
--- End quote ---
The aquarium tank was located in a hotel lobby, i.e. a well-heated, temperature-controlled environment. And any source which uses the word "exploded" in this context can't be trusted with their speculation anyway.
(Edit: typos...)
MrMobodies:
--- Quote from: langwadt on December 17, 2022, 08:31:10 pm ---how do you interpret "followed the incident" as being before it happened?
* if you spill 1 million liter of saltwater, you are probably going to lose power ...
--- End quote ---
I interpret the power cut before the explosion happened.
For you to ask obviously my interpretation is wrong.
* Aaah I see, the flood caused the powercut.
Sorry about that.
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