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CHAPTER II, SECTION 3
the pump houses consisted of a reinforced concrete I-beam the height of the second story. The
concrete flanges of the I-beam were used to
give lateral stability to the 32-foot span and
were extended the full length of the building.
of supporting the pipes near Station 24 where
they converged together. It was decided to use
solid steel plate walls with holes for the pipes
as bents at locations within 150 feet of Station
24. Close to Station 24 and where the pipes
the end walls of the pump houses were extended
2’-6” to form buttresses. Because the building
18’ to 30 long and 13’ high. These bents rested
on reinforced concrete foundation walis which
extended down to coral. The steel wall bent
located 25 feet from Station 24 was a fixed-type
support and was required to take the thrust
from 125 feet of the pipelines. This was accomplished by bracing back to a steel wall bent 12
feet behind which in tum was secured to the
ground. To prevent buckling and movement of
this fixed bent, numerous bar stiffeners were
welded to the steel plate and placed in such a
manner as to miss all the pipes. This resulted
in an almost random looking pattern on the
bent. In all, there were 7 steel plate bents of
which three rested on foundation walls and four
on 8 to 9-high steel-framed structures composed of 6-inch pipe columns, 12-inch I-beams,
and 3-inch angle braces. The remainder of the
To give lateral stability to the entire building,
utilized mirrors, settlement was a critical con-
sideration.
To prevent settlement, the walls of the
pump houses, which supported the entire struc-
ture, were extended down to the solid coral
and supported on mat foundations. The 24-inch
diameter vacuum manifold on the second floor
was supported on steel beams which spanned
between the longitudinal 12-inch I-beams and
the concrete [-beams.
The 38-pipe array was supported on 17
steel frame bents, most of which were spaced 31
feet at center and laid parallel to the mirror
house. The pipes were spaced 7’-9” apart at
the mirror house where they were at the same
elevation and focused at various points within
Station 24, This situation proposed a problem
were low, the steel walls were 25/32-inch plate,
17 bents consisted of angle supports for each
pipe which rested on steel-framed structures
similar to those for the four steel plate walls.
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