Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2017/10/25/cool-design-for-underwater-res.html
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If the walls must be 1 meter thick to withstand the force of the see, how thick must the acrylic windows be? I would have assumed that concrete is much stronger than acrylic.
Maybe concrete is brittle and porous, acrylic is impermeable and flexible?
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Underwater? It’s going to cold, wet, dark, and moldy. Not a good dining experience.
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Well… the 23.58 million liter Georgia Aquarium has an acrylic viewing window that is 18.5 meters wide, 7 meters tall and 0.6 meters thick.
Might as well work out the math…
F = Pavg * A
Pavg = ρgdavg
Let’s assume both areas have comparable salinity. Given Norway is colder, let’s say the sea water density there is 1031 kg/m3 and Georgia is at 1027 kg/m3.
So the water in the Georgia aquarium exerts 4,566,434 N of force against the glass wall.
F = 1027 * 9.81 * 7/2 * 18.5 * 7 = 4566434 N
This restaurant has a panel that is 11 x 4 meters and it is submerged 5 meters below the surface. The force would be 3,115,145 N.
F = 1031 * 9.81 * (5 + 4/2) * 11 * 4 = 3115145 N
So… assuming it is made of the same acrylic as the Georgia aquarium, thinner than 60 cm.
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But keep in mind that the concept drawing shows the concrete exposed to the erosive power of surf, while the acrylic remains submerged at all times.
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Who cleans the windows?
I dunno. It’d be a great place to break up with someone over dinner.
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Seems an appropriate place to have whale on the menu.
Finally a place where the schoolyard joke “what where you eating under there?” will be assured to backfire.
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So if this restaurant is touting fabulous underwater views, and the water outside is dark at the dinner hour, although in nearby Oslo, Norway the winters are dark early and long even if May-August should be spectacular, do they plan on hella lighting to make sure the hipsters are duly in awe of the super-special view?
How does this affect the life forms who didn’t sign up for this, and whose biological rhythms are now compromised? I beat up the interwebs but found very little on light pollution impacts to aquatic biota health, so instead, here:
Come on humans, check your privilege.
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I have to admit that it is atmospheric; but in a “descend into a concrete sarcophagus half-swallowed by cold northern sea” sort of way, which may or may not be conducive to pleasant dining.
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Ahh, you beat me to it. Well played.
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So…Norway.
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Location scouts for James Bond movies, listen up!
Anyway, from an engineering standpoint not that challenging.
Besides, Norwegian engineers have decades of experience in building concrete structures in much tougher conditions, just look at all those concrete oil rigs Statoil put in the North Sea / Arctic Sea etc.
Those guys are good.
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Not to mention the passage way under the tank.
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