Before we get too hard on anyone about under-engineered tower footings....
When I lived in Hong Kong in the mid-1960's, the colony's pride and joy was
the new Ocean Terminal, combining docking for cruise ships with a
multi-story shopping deck that was mounted above the pier on separate
columns footed in bedrock. Imagine the engineers' surprise when they
realized that the headroom on the pier was diminishing about 6 inches a
year, as the shopping deck drove its way inexorably down into the bedrock
(which turned out to be crumbly, decomposed granite).
Not to say that we shouldn't try to anticipate problems and make
appropriate allowances, but sometimes best efforts fall short. I think
Ford has the right idea -- measure what's happening, and if the base is
indeed sinking, figure out how to spread the load more broadly. That's
what they did in HongKong -- put in additional columns.
73, Pete N4ZR
No, no ... that's WEST Virginia
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