Fastening, Joining & Assembly

On 'Dragons Den' some time back ( it's a UK TV program for inventors) 2 guys had a great idea for emergency shelter. In short, modules could be air droppped, and the thing included an inflatable dome to pour cement over (included). It was tried and tested. Within hours a rigid dome shelter could be built in inaccesible regions this way. I don't know how it progressed, but the princiople sounded good. That's not to detract from the 2 women referenced, local people need to be involved in these things. People such as they shoud recieve generous backing via aid agencies.

Hi Kris, Adam Hart-Davis on a program on the technology of the Romans showed this principal to work, in 2005. In this program they inflated a large baloon within a round brick walled structure then plastered it over with a half dry concrete, then they deflated the baloon which left the structure free standing when it was dry. Spencer.

Just had a quick check. If I can find what became of this I'll post it back here. I saw the original program and the idea looked good. Maybe it was one of those that fell down because the guys lacked presentation/marketing skill. Perhaps because it was charity focused they didn't take up on it as an investment..

Not sure if I want to be in an unreinforced concrete dome during aftershocks following a major seismic event in a highly seismically active area. Tents with welded frames don't sound too bad though, as long as their are no ruptures under the tent.

Often people are left homeless for months or even years after a major quake. Any form of rapidly deployable shelter is of use, and is almost as essential as water. The concrete-dome sounds slightly crack-pot, but heck, 'any port in a storm' so to speak. Maybe the concrtete idea is more viable than tents because it offers a longer/medium term solution. The question is perhaps 'would you rather suffer for a year in a cold and flimsy tent, or worry in a concrete skin'. Without further knowledge on the idea I'm not sure, but I will try to find out more when I have time. K