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    Discussing Performance and Suitability

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    Gray Fox García
    The three engineers, Mike, Loreta, and Hanif, are discussing the performance and suitability of different materials for constructing offshore wind turbines. Mike argues that steel is not suitable long-term because it will corrode from exposure to the ocean, and that reinforced concrete may be a better alternative, though Loreta says it was previously found not to be cost-effective. Hanif suggests they focus on determining the most reliable long-term solution for protecting steel from corrosion between an all-steel structure that would require regular repainting versus a reinforced concrete structure.

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    Discussing Performance and Suitability

    Uploaded by

    Gray Fox García
    120 views2 pages
    The three engineers, Mike, Loreta, and Hanif, are discussing the performance and suitability of different materials for constructing offshore wind turbines. Mike argues that steel is not suitable long-term because it will corrode from exposure to the ocean, and that reinforced concrete may be a better alternative, though Loreta says it was previously found not to be cost-effective. Hanif suggests they focus on determining the most reliable long-term solution for protecting steel from corrosion between an all-steel structure that would require regular repainting versus a reinforced concrete structure.

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    Inglés

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    Discussing performance and suitability

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    The three engineers, Mike, Loreta, and Hanif, are discussing the performance and suitability of different materials for constructing offshore wind turbines. Mike argues that steel is not suitable long-term because it will corrode from exposure to the ocean, and that reinforced concrete may be a better alternative, though Loreta says it was previously found not to be cost-effective. Hanif suggests they focus on determining the most reliable long-term solution for protecting steel from corrosion between an all-steel structure that would require regular repainting versus a reinforced concrete structure.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    120 views2 pages

    Discussing Performance and Suitability

    Uploaded by

    Gray Fox García
    The three engineers, Mike, Loreta, and Hanif, are discussing the performance and suitability of different materials for constructing offshore wind turbines. Mike argues that steel is not suitable long-term because it will corrode from exposure to the ocean, and that reinforced concrete may be a better alternative, though Loreta says it was previously found not to be cost-effective. Hanif suggests they focus on determining the most reliable long-term solution for protecting steel from corrosion between an all-steel structure that would require regular repainting versus a reinforced concrete structure.

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    1

    Comprensión de Lectura en Inglés para I.M.E.


    Prof. Mao Wilfrido Miguel Urrutia del Villar
    Discussing performance and suitability.

    DiscUSsing perfomance and SUitability


    Text from: Training material for graduate engineers

    Mike, Loreta and Hanif, engineers at a wind turbine constructor, are discussing
    5 performance and suitability issues relating to offshore wind turbines. Read
    about their conversation.

    Mike: (a) , a tubular steel tower only gives you sufficient structural
    strength if you give it adequate protection from (b) - the big problem
    with offshore installations. So, technically, you could say steel is inappropriate
    10 in that environment.

    Loreta: They make ships out of it.

    Mike: I know, Loreta, but only because there's no cost-effective alternative. But we're not talking
    about ships, we're talking about fixed structures. The point is, I think we should look more (c)
    at alternatives to all-steel supports. And the obvious alternative is reinforced concrete.

    15 Loreta: We've already looked into it, though, and it wasn't cost-effective.

    Mike: Not in the short term. But we didn't really look into it properly over the (d) term.

    Loreta: But you made the point yourself, Mike, that steel's (e) ineffective if it's corroded.
    And one of the main constituents of reinforced concrete is steel.

    Mike: lt's protected though, isn't it? lt's embedded inside concrete. That's a much (f)
    20 protection than paint.

    Loreta: Not necessarily. lf we're talking about the long term, as you say, what happens to concrete
    when it's exposed to the sea for a few years? It erodes. Which means the steel (g) gets
    exposed. You look at concrete coastal defences. How often do you see the concrete all crumbling
    away, and all the steel exposed?

    25 Mike: That's due to inconsistent quality, though. You only get that problem if there's insufficient
    cover. As long as there's appropriate cover at design level, and the construction quality's
    consistent, then there shouldn't be a problem.

    Loreta: lsn't inadequate cover more of a problem in a slender structure, though? You'd probably
    have less cover, compared with the big lumps of concrete they use for coastal defences.

    30 Mike: Not if ...

    Hanif: Just a second.

    Mike: Yes, Hanif?

    Hanif: Let's just think about what we're trying to resolve, here. The key issue is, what's the most
    (h) long-term solution? And in both cases, we're saying steel is necessary, either in an all-steel
    35 tubular structure or in the form of reinforcement inside concrete. But obviously exposed steel is
    2
    Comprensión de Lectura en Inglés para I.M.E.
    Prof. Mao Wilfrido Miguel Urrutia del Villar
    Discussing performance and suitability.

    unsuitable because of the problem of corrosion. So the question is, what's the most reliable way of
    protecting steel, over the long term? And we have to bear in mind that just because something
    requires reguIar maintenance, such as painting, that doesn't necessarily mean it's unreliable. As
    long as the maintenance is consistent. The key question is, what's the most economical approach?
    40 So painting a steel structure every couple of years is uneconomical only if the cost of painting is
    m (i) than the additional cost of using concrete at the time of construction.

    Mike: So, to determine the (j) solution, we need to assess the lifespan of a reinforced
    concrete structure. If we know that, we can determine how many times the equivalent steel
    structure would need to be repainted over that same period. and what the cost of that would be.

    45 Hanif: Yeah.

    Mike: But this is really the point I'm making, Hanif. We can't categorically say that reinforced
    concrete is inefficient unless we look into it in detail.

    Hanif: Of course not. Look, let me make a suggestion…

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