Underwater tunnels across the world that depend on rubber gaskets to keep out the ocean were not supposed to leak for 100 years.
But a new engineering study says the gaskets are deteriorating much faster than thought due to the underwater pressure and salt-water exposure.
Engineers analyzed the rubber gaskets that go between the pre-fabbed steel sections to see how they were faring.
They used the 3.5-mile Yuliangzhou Tunnel in China as their example.
The underwater tunnel is a six-lane highway spanning the floor of the Hanjiang River.
Opened three years ago, it is central China’s first inland river immersed tunnel.
The bad news is the tunnel’s gaskets quickly lost much of their power to keep out the ocean.
Imagine the project manager now having to explain that to his boss…
‘Don’t Know How To Break This To You, Boss’
By Ted Cohen
