Out of the navy and enrolled at Alaska Methodist University now APU, 21 year old Leif Kopperud worked on his truck at his dad’s shop in downtown Palmer that fateful, sunny Good Friday. “We wanted to go party,” said Kopperud unabashedly. As the earth began to shake, he watched a trucker try to fill his gas tank, with one hand on the hose and the other on his truck. “What the heck is going on? he wondered.
“It was long!” exclaimed Kopperud. The Inside Story of the Crazy on I watched the snow slide on Pioneer Peak.”Accessories He saw water slopping out of the Palmer water tower as it swayed from side to side. Then everything went absolutely quiet. The power went out. He headed down to the Glass Bar to get some beer; the place was a mess. The liquor had crashed from the shelves and spilled all over. Fortunately the beer cooler was intact. He picked out a couple of cases, but the cash register didn’t work, because it was electric. He visited Koslosky’s grocery. The place was a mess with foodstuffs all over the aisles. Kopperud said, laughingly, that locals reported seeing the town drunk drive straight as an arrow for the first time.
He picked up the power welder from the shop and went to Palmer City Hall to help. “I was probably more curious than helpful,composite hose which was always true for me,” admits Kopperud. Over the next couple days other damage became apparent. The rocker plates on the Knick Bridge had actually hopped around during the quake and flipped over. An 8” crack and drop on one section made the bridge impassable without some mechanism to span the gap. A huge hole appeared by Echo Lake.
When the Old Glenn reopened, Kopperud drove into Anchorage to help. He joined the Civil Defense team and worked at the 13-story McKay building, packing people’s belongings down the long flights of stairs, making trip after trip. “The totalness of it all was overwhelming,” reflected Kopperud. “When it comes to nature, you can’t change the channel.” He recalled the destruction of 4th Avenue and the serious state of JCPenny.
“It was a different place and time then. We were barely a state, still a territory really. We were cut off. No one came to our rescue. We needed to deal with this on our own.” And then Kopperud noted, “The people were amazing.
2014年3月31日 星期一
The Inside Story of the Crazy Rocket Research at Jet Propulsion Labs
Everybody knows the cowboy reputation associated with early astronauts, the test-pilot swagger immortalized by Apollo 13 and The Right Stuff. But the rockets that took those astronauts to space were built by a group with an equally cinematic image: the nearly-unhinged, completely unfettered mad scientists at Jet Propulsion Laboratories. Mika McKinnon brings us a fascinating look at the madcap, explosion-obsessed minds that helped get man into space—and presided over some monumental explosions in the process.
Everyone loves a gorgeous rocket launch, but the story of getting from the first sputtering attempts to the modern day marvels is completely unreal. The Jet Propulsion Laboratories took it up a notch, giving mad scientists their epic reputation.
In the late 1930s, a group of Caltech graduate students were booted off campus after blowing up part of! their building during a rocket test gone awry. Unwilling to give up on the joy of semi-controlled explosions, the students and a few of their friends headed into the San Gabriel Mountains. They picked a deserted gully — Arroyo Seco — and got testing. This was about when their classmates starting calling the gathering the Suicide Club.
Frank Malina studied aerodynamics at Caltech. Jack Parons was a high school drop-out and a self-taught chemist. Ed Forman was an excellent mechanic. Their first round of testing in October 1936 was less-than-successful: the last test of the day, they accidentally lit their oxygen line on fire. The line whipped around, a snaking hose of fire that somehow didn't kill anyone. Undeterred, they kept trying. By November, their tests worked.
When the Suicide Club failed to live up to their name and blew neither themselves nor anyone else to pieces, Caltech professor Theodore von Karman had a little faith and found them a spot back on campus. But the keys had a price: for access to their sweet new space, the Rocket Boys had to learn the math to back up their fancy rockets.
Everyone loves a gorgeous rocket launch, but the story of getting from the first sputtering attempts to the modern day marvels is completely unreal. The Jet Propulsion Laboratories took it up a notch, giving mad scientists their epic reputation.
In the late 1930s, a group of Caltech graduate students were booted off campus after blowing up part of! their building during a rocket test gone awry. Unwilling to give up on the joy of semi-controlled explosions, the students and a few of their friends headed into the San Gabriel Mountains. They picked a deserted gully — Arroyo Seco — and got testing. This was about when their classmates starting calling the gathering the Suicide Club.
Frank Malina studied aerodynamics at Caltech. Jack Parons was a high school drop-out and a self-taught chemist. Ed Forman was an excellent mechanic. Their first round of testing in October 1936 was less-than-successful: the last test of the day, they accidentally lit their oxygen line on fire. The line whipped around, a snaking hose of fire that somehow didn't kill anyone. Undeterred, they kept trying. By November, their tests worked.
When the Suicide Club failed to live up to their name and blew neither themselves nor anyone else to pieces, Caltech professor Theodore von Karman had a little faith and found them a spot back on campus. But the keys had a price: for access to their sweet new space, the Rocket Boys had to learn the math to back up their fancy rockets.
2014年3月25日 星期二
How to transform your Subaru WRX into a sports car for under $15K
“Our method means the shut in line can be left in-situ and we can enter using existing facilities, reducing risk for operators. We can also attach monitoring devices and retrieve and analyse debris to provide assurance on operational success. Mature offshore basins such as the North Sea and West Africa are key markets for this and we are calling on UK operators to partner on the bespoke development of the technology to really push its boundaries and address the main issues they are facing.”
The technology can be adapted for several applications. In the UK, integrity of flexible risers is becoming a more prominent issue and inspection tools can be added to the system to address that challenge. Flexi-Coil Extended Reach can also be used for decommissioning to clean flowlines in-situ for safe abandonment as fuel hose a cost effective and environmentally positive solution.
The Flexi-Coil Extended Reach system comprises a blow-out preventer stack, thruster system and lightweight composite hose reel. With capacity to clear sand and wax plugs, there is a unique mechanism to deploy the water through the outer annulus of the hose and return through the inner hose. The operation is managed by skilled Paradigm engineers.Imagine turning your 2002-2007 Subaru WRX that’s sitting in your garage into a screaming two-seat sports car for under $15K. That’s what Factory Five Racing has done for Subaru WRX performance enthusiasts. You can take your Subaru WRX and transform it into a mid-engined, rear-wheel-drive, chemical hose suppliers 1,800 pound, Subaru WRX powered two-seat sports car. And you can build it in your own garage.
Factory Five Racing provides the chassis, frame, suspension, and body, and you provide the 2002-2007 Subaru WRX or normally aspirated Impreza donor car. If you have a Subaru WRX, you have whatever you need to build the 818 in your garage. The 818 uses composite body panels that are gel coated and don’t have any body seams so there is absolutely no panting required.
The technology can be adapted for several applications. In the UK, integrity of flexible risers is becoming a more prominent issue and inspection tools can be added to the system to address that challenge. Flexi-Coil Extended Reach can also be used for decommissioning to clean flowlines in-situ for safe abandonment as fuel hose a cost effective and environmentally positive solution.
The Flexi-Coil Extended Reach system comprises a blow-out preventer stack, thruster system and lightweight composite hose reel. With capacity to clear sand and wax plugs, there is a unique mechanism to deploy the water through the outer annulus of the hose and return through the inner hose. The operation is managed by skilled Paradigm engineers.Imagine turning your 2002-2007 Subaru WRX that’s sitting in your garage into a screaming two-seat sports car for under $15K. That’s what Factory Five Racing has done for Subaru WRX performance enthusiasts. You can take your Subaru WRX and transform it into a mid-engined, rear-wheel-drive, chemical hose suppliers 1,800 pound, Subaru WRX powered two-seat sports car. And you can build it in your own garage.
Factory Five Racing provides the chassis, frame, suspension, and body, and you provide the 2002-2007 Subaru WRX or normally aspirated Impreza donor car. If you have a Subaru WRX, you have whatever you need to build the 818 in your garage. The 818 uses composite body panels that are gel coated and don’t have any body seams so there is absolutely no panting required.
Paradigm launches new miniature coiled tubing system
Paradigm Flow Services, the blockage removal experts for the oil and gas sector, has launched Flexi-Coil Extended Reach to take riser and flowline blockage remediation and internal inspection to new lengths. The company is now calling on North Sea oil and gas operators to collaborate on trailblazing applications for the technology.
Conventional methods for remediating riser and flowline blockages are limited due to deployment difficulties and inability to overcome bends and safely navigate beyond 200 m. Flexi-Coil Extended Reach has been proven in tests up to 2000 m. As the technology continues to be enhanced, Paradigm is positive of its potential to tackle more than double that distance to 4000 m. The firm is currently undertaking major projects with an international operator in West Africa.
The system, based on miniaturised coiled tubing principals, can be deployed in-situ into risers and flowlines and currently provides the only safe solution to unblock these lines when working from an FPSO. The innovative system can carry out high pressure jetting, chemical and nitrogen injection over long distances, to de-sand, de-wax and de-pressurise hydrate plugs.
The industry can save operators tens of millions of pounds and solve blockage and restriction issues within a few days. Lines that may have been shut in for months or years can be remediated, restoring flow and enhancing oil recovery.
Rob Bain, Managing Director of Paradigm Flow Services, said: “Flexi-Coil Extended Reach is game changing, taking proven coiled tubing technology and adapting it in a way that makes it applicable and viable for the remediation of production systems. The only other option at the moment is to disconnect risers and bring another rig on site to carry out conventional coiled tubing. The safety and logistical implications have rendered this option redundant.
Conventional methods for remediating riser and flowline blockages are limited due to deployment difficulties and inability to overcome bends and safely navigate beyond 200 m. Flexi-Coil Extended Reach has been proven in tests up to 2000 m. As the technology continues to be enhanced, Paradigm is positive of its potential to tackle more than double that distance to 4000 m. The firm is currently undertaking major projects with an international operator in West Africa.
The system, based on miniaturised coiled tubing principals, can be deployed in-situ into risers and flowlines and currently provides the only safe solution to unblock these lines when working from an FPSO. The innovative system can carry out high pressure jetting, chemical and nitrogen injection over long distances, to de-sand, de-wax and de-pressurise hydrate plugs.
The industry can save operators tens of millions of pounds and solve blockage and restriction issues within a few days. Lines that may have been shut in for months or years can be remediated, restoring flow and enhancing oil recovery.
Rob Bain, Managing Director of Paradigm Flow Services, said: “Flexi-Coil Extended Reach is game changing, taking proven coiled tubing technology and adapting it in a way that makes it applicable and viable for the remediation of production systems. The only other option at the moment is to disconnect risers and bring another rig on site to carry out conventional coiled tubing. The safety and logistical implications have rendered this option redundant.
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