Tuesday, October 6, 2020

Distorted Rail tracks after the 2010 7.1 Mw Earthquake in Canterbury, New Zealand.

 


13 comments:

  1. Where are the sleepers? Something in this photo doesn't appear correct.

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    1. You can see the blots and plates on the bends, and the ends of the sleepers.

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  2. Did they sink into the ballast?

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  3. Like a lot of supposedly dense and solid materials during earthquakes, the ballast probably underwent a liquefaction process. The sleepers would sink into that pretty well. During the 1989 Loma Prieta quake, the Marina section of SF underwent the same process and it destabilized many buildings.

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  4. It's had to imagine the earth shrinking enough "right now" to force railroad tracks to do that... but that you are...

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  5. Ghee.. I've never seen a railroad chicane before.

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  6. Wherever that line goes, it doesn't reach there any more!

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  7. If just in the picture sure looks like some spair steel not needed, assume somewhere not in picture is short that same amount.

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  8. Its called a sun kink. Happens in welded rail when not laid down in sufficient tension. Notice the rail next to it. Straight as an arrow. Has nothing to do with an earthquake other than maybe helping it get started.

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    1. Looks like a dirt road to the left, not rails. Just tire tracks.

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  9. You'd think they'd put that mint-exes bucket on that line to keep it from whipping the cutter off when the tension was released on the final fractions of an inch.

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  10. That damage is from thermal expansion.

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  11. Shucks, The Donald could just pick up the ends of the tracks & give it a shake, and it'd be all straightened out!

    He'd need gloves, though- he doesn't like to get his hands dirty.

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