My hometown of Pittsburgh built and xported a floating dam:
http://www.hq.usace.army.mil/cepa/pubs/feb02/story5.htm
Building the new Braddock Dam using "in-the-wet"
methods is at the
forefront of a Corps initiative to adapt cost-saving techniques to
sustain the nation's navigation infrastructure. The Braddock project at
Braddock, Penn., is part of the Lower Monongahela River Navigation
Project. Replacing the nearly 100-year-old fixed crest dam with a gated
dam will let Pittsburgh District replace old, inefficient locks at
Charleroi, Penn., and eliminate the 100-year-old Locks and Dam 3 at
Elizabeth, Penn.
Traditionally, inland navigation
projects are built
"in-the-dry" using large temporary cofferdams to provide a dry work
area. When construction is complete, the cofferdam is flooded and
removed. The "in-the-wet" technique eliminates the time and expense of
a cofferdam, and allows building the dam segments off-site while the
dam foundation system is built from a floating plant.
River barge info:
http://oldriverbillzumwalt.members.ktis.net/barges.htm
FLOAT'S or Float Barge = The very smallest
types, usually less than 20' across and less than 30' long, with about
a 2'
to 4; drafts, as basic sizes. Floats are used by small utility
boats in all sorts of repair
work. Often found around "Locks & Dams" and some can be self
powered
by their own small outboard motor, in some cases. Note
.... Dredges use
a number of Floats, to carry their "Discharge Pipe" that trails behind
the
dredge, used to pump materials out of a channel and off to one side of
a river channel in making it deeper.
http://www.key-to-metals.com/PrintArticle.asp?ID=100
Barges. Aluminum
barges, carrying various chemical products, have been operated
on the American inland waterway system since 1960. A 5200-bbl barge is 97 ft long, 35 ft wide
and operates at an 8.5-ft draft. A
9000-bbl barge is 100 ft long, 50 ft wide, and carries 1200
short tons at an 8.5-ft draft. The aluminum barges have 7/16 in. -thick
welded 5086-H34 hull plating; the cargo tanks are 5/16-in. 5052-H34
plate. Approximately 120 short tons
of aluminum were used in constructing the 100-ft barge, resulting in a weight saving of 150 tons
compared to a similar steel barge. This permitted 15% more cargo
to be carried, but the corrosion
resistance of the aluminum alloys employed in tanks, piping, and hull
was the major factor in selection of aluminum for these chemical
barges.
Short ton is 2000 lbs:
http://www.onlineconversion.com/faq_09.htm
---------------------------
HEAVY LIFT HELICOPTERS:
http://www.army.mil/fact_files_site/chinook/
CH-47D version, which
remains the U.S. Army standard and features composite rotor blades, an
improved electrical system, modularized hydraulics, triple cargo hooks,
avionics and communication improvements, and more powerful engines that
can handle a 19,500 lb load –
nearly twice the Chinook’s original lift capacity. An upgrade program
exists to remanufacture 300 of the current fleet of 425 CH-47D’s to the
CH-47F standard.
Chinook follow-on, the SKYCRANE:
http://www.combatreform.com/nextchinook.htm
per:
AHS International
217 N. Washington St.
Alexandria, VA
22314-2538 (USA)
Phone: 703-684-6777
Fax: 703-739-9279
Email: Staff@vtol.org
CH-53E
SUPER STALLION
http://www.sikorsky.com/details/1,,CLI1_DIV69_ETI896,00.html
Basic Mission
Payload 36,515 lb
http://www.sikorsky.com/details/1,,CLI1_DIV69_ETI918,00.html
16 ton capacity
http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Rotary/skycranes/HE13.htm
A later version of the S-64 was equipped with two
4,800-shaft-horsepower (3,579-kilowatt) T73-P-700 engines. Civilian
versions were built, and a number of ex-military versions were
remanufactured for civil use for the Erickson Air Crane Company,
which first began operations in 1971. Evergreen
Helicopters, Inc. also flies the S-64. Civilian skycranes can lift up
to 25,000 pounds (11,340 kilograms).
The
skycrane is exactly as its name implies—an aerial crane, nothing more.
It has a cockpit pod at the front of a long boom equipped with landing
gear mounted on outriggers. This provides a large open area under which
the carried load is connected to the fuselage.
Skycranes were used in 1972 when the
Chesapeake Bay Bridge connecting Maryland and the Eastern Shore was
being built to bring concrete and other supplies to the
construction site. In 1993, an Erickson
aerial Skycrane, normally used for hauling lumber in Oregon, was used
to remove the “Statue of Freedom” from the top of the Capitol dome in
Washington, D.C. The statue was placed on the ground while it
was being cleaned and restored before being gently returned to the top
of the dome, once again with a Skycrane.
S-64:
http://www.fiddlersgreen.net/AC/aircraft/Sikorsky-SkyCrane/info/info.htm
History:
http://www.aviation-history.com/sikorsky/s64.htm