OK City Data Center Built To Withstand Winds Up To 310 MPH, Says Contractor 139
dcblogs writes "The area around and to the southwest of Oklahoma City, where more tornadoes were striking Friday night, 'has perhaps the greatest frequency of tornadoes in the U.S.,' said John Snow, a professor of meteorology at the University of Oklahoma. About 95% of all tornadoes are below EF3 intensity, and only 0.1% achieve EF5, which is what hit Moore earlier this month. To build a data center capable of surviving an EF3, Perimeter Technology in Oklahoma City surrounded the raised floor portion of the data center with 8.5-in. reinforced concrete walls. The data center is in the middle of the building, and around it are offices protected by another 8.5-in. exterior wall. But there's another data center in Oklahoma City that may be able survive 310 MPH winds. The company, Devon Energy, isn't talking about its data center or even confirming that it has one capable of handling these winds. But a contractor has disclosed details."
Re:To Expensive (Score:4, Interesting)
conversely, the shire must have had awful tornados (Score:4, Interesting)
otherwise therese basically no reason for hobbits to build that way
8.5 inches? Huh? (Score:5, Interesting)
Are we supposed to be impressed with 8.5 inches of concrete in the walls? In much of Europe, that's pretty close to normal residential construction, nothing special. Ok, maybe they are including more steel - I surely hope so - but it's still nothing special.
In Moore, the school where children were trapped under rubble and drowned because they couldn't escape the flooding: This school had no designated safe room from burst water mains. This is "tornado alley" we're talking about - the last time that Moore was flattened was just 15 years ago! What kind of idiot builds a school in that area that cannot stand up to tornados and has no shelter to retreat to? In this area, tinkertoy construction ought to be forbidden in government buildings, and utterly uninsurable in private ones.
Re:Domes (Score:5, Interesting)
Here in Oklahoma we have lots of groundwater and heavy red clay soil. We also have extreme temperature variations. These combine to make maintaing underground structures very difficult. A traditional basement like you find in many areas of the country can be essentially destroyed in just a few years. Underground houses have similar issues. It has been tried but so far it has not proved to be very practical. Reinforced concrete above ground structures are likely a better solution.
Re:conversely, the shire must have had awful torna (Score:4, Interesting)
Underground housing has many benefits besides protection from severe winds, chiefly protection against temperature changes. Underground houses don't ever get too hot or cold. Maybe the Shire gets excessively hot in the summer and the Hobbits, not having invented air conditioning, prefer to stay cool. Of course, underground housing like that does require extra labor to build; maybe the Hobbits used some slave labor force to build them.