h a l f b a k e r y
Needs more cowbell.
idea:
add, search, annotate, link, view, overview, recent, by name, best, random
meta:
news, help, about, links, report a problem
account:
Browse anonymously,
or get an account
and write.
or Create a new account.
|
|
|
Please log in.
If you're not logged in,
you can see what this page
looks like, but you will
not be able to add anything.
For a smooth, pothole free road, simply create a level box and fill with extremely high viscosity silicone fluid, something from the polydimethylsiloxane family, perhaps.
Advantages are that it burns at a much higher temperature than asphalt, doesn't properly solidify until about -40deg, and offers
exceptional tractional properties. The surface meniscus provides a slight gradient, for water shedding.
Advisory and line markings can be poured at the time of road construction.
No hills allowed; nor cambers.
Like this?
http://www.halfbake...elf-Healing_20Roads
[bungston, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]
Contact Patch size
http://www.racegood....com/fastfacts.html
5th bullet from the bottom [Bert6322, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]
Racer weight at 2d(1)
http://www.irwindal...Rules/2003late.html
[Bert6322, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]
Annotation:
|
| |
Wouldn't the constant passage of cars push the 'fluid' out to form deep ruts? |
|
| |
// burns at a much higher temperature than asphalt //
Is that really an advantage? Does it burn hot enough to incinerate autos? |
|
| |
I included the flammability issue more in respect of the damage that burning cars do to roads, shutting them for longer than necessary when they do burn. |
|
| |
[CP], the pressure exerted by a tyre is not terribly great, as the footprint area of the 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 18, 22 tyres under a vehicle is considerable. |
|
| |
I'm thinking of a polymer that is sufficiently viscous that you can barely push a sharp object into it, yet it will flow into any gouges or divots, albeit slowly. |
|
| |
Your polymer would be pushed to the outside of any turns, forming banked walls next to a flat road as the cars turn. |
|
| |
A few hundred psi of pressure on the road is a lot, I think. The average NASCAR racer weighs close to 3000 lbs (1361 kg) and has about 1 square foot (< 1/10 of a square meter) of contact patch under it (see links). This means it puts down about 250 psi on the road. Most passenger cars weigh more and have less contact patch than these racers, meaning a much higher pressure on the road. The point of all this is that [Cedar Park] is right, and your polymer needs to be very stiff to counteract this and the banking in turns. |
|
| |
Croissant though, because I sometimes crash on my bicycle, and landing on a relatively soft gel has to be better than scraping yourself up on rough pavement. |
|
| |
Perhaps some sort of custard, with dilatant properties, to counteract the shearing effects. |
|
| |
MmmMMmmPhffff! Mwahahahaha ! |
|
| |
[unabubba] I realize that where
you live is a
flat dry desert year-round, but
here in the country that invented
horseless carriages, the roads
aren't so flat, and we have
conditions
like rain, snow, and locust
carcasses that we have to drain,
scrape, or plow off so as we can
drive into each other more
effectively.
So you can
take your polydimethylsiloxane
road-laying material and keep it
down under, cause it ain't gonna
fly my boat round here, ya hear? |
|
| |
You live in Germany? I thought you were in New York, USA? |
|
| |
[Bert] - one square foot is 144 square inches, not 12. Result is closer to 21 psi. |
|
| |
Oops. I stand corrected, and your polymer doesn't need to be incredibly stiff then. |
|
| |
[UB] Given the auto's pressure of 21 PSI, would this be larger than the gravitational forces acting upon the polymer to make it self-seal? I left my brain in my other suit and can't for the life of me figure out the physics in this. |
|
| |
//doesn't properly solidify until about -40deg//
Is that celsius or American?
heh |
|
| |
[thumbwax], I assume you know better than to ask *that* question. |
|
| |
[Cedar Park], I'm having a little trouble with the maths myself, but the increased pressure would cause the road surface to deform, if the vehicle remained stationary for a long period. |
|
| |
Because you couldn't build hills or banked roads with this, it would only be useful for streets in a level city, right? |
|
| |
An old saying will need to be reformulated: "The more you run over a cat, the deeper it gets" |
|
| |
[krelnik], coming soon to San Francisco, Road Locks. |
|
| |
Farenheit was a German born in Poland but who lived most of his life in Holland so I'd hardly call his temperature scale "American." |
|
| |
I don't know where Dr. Metric was born . . . apparently someplace where counting on fingers is considered the limits of math. |
|
| |
Polydactylism sure is common, in some countries. |
|
| |
Better yet, A corn starch/water mixture. (if you don't know what that does, try it! it is fun). As long as the cars keep moving the road is solid, when they break down they sink down into the road, rather than blocking traffic. A slow-moving under-starch conveyer-belt type device could (slowly) slide the cars off the edge and out of a hatch to be reclaimed by the owner/his next of kin. |
|
| |
See my second annotation, [johnmeacham]. |
|
| |
You have unwittingly entered the kingdom of cornflour/cornstarch custard. Welcome aboard. |
|
| |
Nuts are next door, in their hatch. |
|
| |
i'd be very careful trying to park
on this road surface. wouldn't the
goo slowly seep into the treads of
my tires, thus preventing me from
departing (unless i drove
veeerrrryyyy slowly to start off...)? |
|
| |
This reminds me of a sci-fi book that involved a road that could not only repair potholes in itself, but also redirect its path around or over new obstacles in the event of a rock slide, seismic activity or other phenomenon. It might have been by Phillip Jose Farmer. Does anyone recall the name and/or author of that book? |
|
| |
In case no one has posted this yet, your gas milage is going to go through the floor because of the added rolling resistance |
|
| |