greatest engineering achievements of the 20th century

7/31/2019 Greatest Engineering Achievements of the 20th Century

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The 20th century has provided spectacular advances in design, engineering, and construction which have

allowed humanity to create an array of monumental structures. And from these, the American Society of CivilEngineers (ASCE), with help from experts around the world, selected these wonders: the Empire State building,the Itaipu Dam, the CN Tower, the Panama Canal, the Channel Tunnel, the North Sea Protection Works, andthe Golden Gate Bridge.

These wonders embody an abundance of human ingenuity, thus showcasing humankind's ability to dream, plan,and achieve on a colossal, mind-boggling scale.

Man has an incredible ability to make the impossible, possible.


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HISTORY

Construction of the Empire State Building began in March of 1930 on the site of the oldWaldorf-Astoria Hotel at 350 Fifth Avenue at 34th Street. It was completed 14 months laterin May, 1931. Designed by the architectural firm of Shreve, Lamb, & Harmon Associates,the Empire State Building, at 102 stories, was the tallest building in the world until thecompletion of the first tower of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan in 1972.

The Itaip hydroelectric power plant is the largest development of its kind in operation in the world. Built from1975 to 1991, in a binational development on the Paran River, Itaip represents the efforts andaccomplishments of two neighboring countries, Brazil and Paraguay. The power plant's 18 generating units add

up to a total production capacity of 12,600 MW (megawatts) and a reliable output of 75 million MWh a year.Itaip's energy production has broken several records over the recent years, after the last generating unit wascommissioned in 1991. The generation of 77.212.396 MWh a year in 1995 will again be surpassed in 1996, andthe new record will be around the 80 million MWh a year mark.

The magnitude of the project can also be demonstrated by the fact that in 1995 Itaip alone responded for 25% ofthe energy supply in Brazil and 78% in Paraguay. The power plant is also a major tourism attraction in the Foz doIgua area, having received around 9 million visitors from 162 countries. The Brazilian city of Foz do Iguau,also home of the famous Igua Falls, is located at the Western tip of Paran State, right by the border withPara ua and Ar entina.


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It is fitting that television, the technological wonder that profoundly changed life in the 20th century, spurred thebuilding of the era's tallest freestanding structure. In the late 1960's, Toronto's soaring skyline began to playhavoc with signals from conventional transmission towers. Signals bouncing off the city's skyscrapers produceda number of problems, including the annoying phenomenon of "ghosting" on television sets. Weaker signalscompeted with stronger ones, giving viewers the effects of watching two programs at once. To improve the

situation, Canadian National Railways, or CN, proposed building a transmission tower that would stand head andshoulders - and then some - above Toronto's tallest buildings.

A Toronto firm prepared the initial design, enlisting the aid of engineering experts the world over. Their originalplan showed three towers linked by structural bridges. Gradually the design evolved into a single 1,815.5-foot-talltower comprised of three hollow "legs."

Among the great peaceful endeavors of mankind that have contributed significantly to progress in the world, theconstruction of the Canal stands as an awe-inspiring achievement. The unparalled engineering triumph wasmade possible by an international work force under the leadership of American visionaries, who made thecenturies-old dream of uniting the two great oceans a reality.

In 1534, Charles I of Spain ordered the first survey of a proposed canal route through the Isthmus of Panama.More than three centuries passed before the first construction was started. The French labored 20 years,beginning in 1880, but disease and financial problems defeated them.

In 1903, Panama and the United States signed a treaty by which the United States undertook to construct aninter-oceanic ship canal across the Isthmus of Panama. The following year, the United States purchased fromthe French Canal Company its rights and properties for $40 million and began construction. The monumentalproject was completed in ten years at a cost of about $387 million. Since 1903 the United States has investedabout $3 billion in the Canal enter rise a roximatel two-thirds of which has been recovered.


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The opening of the Channel Tunnel in 1994 turned the centuries old dream of a fixed link betweenthe UK and mainland Europe into a reality. 13,000 years earlier Britain was still connected tomainland Europe by a natural isthmus.

For many, the image out of the Dutch fight against the North Sea rests in the figure of a young boy valiantlysaving his town by using a finger to plug a hole in the dike. But this familiar hero is a fictional one, a creation of

American author Mary Mapes Dodge in her book, Hans Brinker. In reality, heroism falls on all the Dutch, who formore than a millenium have been wresting precious agricultural lands from the sea and fighting to hold on tothem. Their greatest achievement-a colossal fun in the dike-if the vast and one dress project known as thatNetherlands North Sea protection works.

Because much of the Netherlands lies below sea level, normal tides would daily inundate about half the country ifprevious generations of industrious Dutch had not raised dikes and dams. Severe storms often cause tidal watersto crash into the dikes and inundate rivers and estuaries. Although all of the coastal areas are threatened, twoparticularly vulnerable ones are the large tidal inlet formerly known as the Zuider Zee and the delta created bythe Rhine and Meuse rivers in the southwestern corner of the country.


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The Golden Gate Bridge links San Francisco with Marin County in absolute splendor. The bridge is one ofthe architectural marvels of the Twentieth Century and a testament to human strife, as it was constructed

during the years of the Great Depression. For years, the Golden Gate Bridge held the title as the longestsuspension bridge in the world.Before its completion in 1937, the bridge was considered impossible to build, due to persistently foggyweather, 60-mile-per-hour winds, and strong ocean currents, which whipped through a deep canyon below.In fact, the bridge is commonly known as the "Bridge that couldn't be built." Despite these unforgivingnatural elements, the bridge was constructed in a little more than four years. The total cost was $35 million.The total length of the bridge spans 1.2 miles. Eleven men lost their lives during the construction of thebridge.Even today, the massive spans of the bridge are often shrouded in fog. The bridge sways 27 feet towithstand winds of up to 100 miles per hour. International Orange was the color chosen for the bridgebecause it blended well with the bridge's natural surroundings. The two great cables extending from thebridge contain 80,000 miles of steel wire, which is enough to circle the equator three times. The concrete

poured to cement the bridge into the stormy waters below could have also been used to pave a five-footsidewalk from New York to San Francisco.

greatest engineering achievements of the 20th century

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