Changing the face of Charleston : The unbuilding of the Grace and Pearman Bridges
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Unbuilding Highlights
(Apr 10)
Meeting St. Stories
(Jul 10 2006)
East Bay Stories
(Oct 10 2006)
Drum Island Stories
(Feb 17)
Pearman Bridge Stories
(Apr 3)
Grace Bridge Stories
(Apr 3)
Imposions: Prep and boom
(Mar 27)
Unbuilding Bridge Blog
(July 23 2006)
Unbuilding Challenges
(Mar 13)
Learning Links
(Feb 20)
Unbuilding Stories
(Mar 13)
Video and Sounds
(Feb 28)

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The Learning Center - restoring the fun of learning with links to related sites


More and more folks are asking why I am telling the story of Building the Ravenel Bridge and Unbuilding the Grace and Pearman Bridges. I have a passion for learning and how to convey to others the fun in learning. Learning is all about brain training and learning creates options for us and more options give us flexibility in the way we care for our families, friends and communities - often in ways that we could not anticipate.

Early learning centers were around story tellers and monastaries because that is where the experiences and books were. Over time, no university could survive without its own library of resources and if I wanted to learn something I had to travel to the local community or university library.

The Internet evaporates distance - so when I need to learn something, my travel is from wherever I am to the nearest web browser. My view is that the world is now the library, the Internet makes the world's learning opportunities available to all, and Google is the card catalog (even more).

This week's work (Dec 1, 2005) with Mickey Rogers and Advanced Blasting Services taught me a lot and last night I decided to add links to learning resources that enable you to chase your curiosity and learn more about implosions or sequencing explosive charges. Now I think its time to backtrack and add learning links to other stories - about excavators, their operators, about project management, and iron worker acrobatics. So I created this new section called The Learning Center (in the menu bar).

There is another very selfish reason for introducing this change. The web access statistics for all my scientific work, spiders etc show that about 80% of the viewers spend less than 2 minutes on my web pages. However with either the Ravenel page or this Unbuilding page, < 49% of visitors spend < 2 minutes on these pages. 42% of visitors spend > 2 minutes on these pages. So if I have your attention, I'm going to try to increase the learning opportunities for you, your friends and your kids. -

If you have suggestions, know of links or ideas that want a home within some of the story segments, send me your ideas email. Frank 12/2/2005.


August 09, 2005 15:59
Topic: About demolition, excavators, rebar, reinforced concrete and hydraulic backhoe
An early bite of the bridge

August 11, 2005 17:19
Topic: Building and Unbuilding
Removing the Pearman roadway

August 19, 2005 13:48
Topic: Reinforced and Prestressed Concrete
Removing the last girder over Meeting St.

September 20, 2005 11:32
Topic: Oxy-fuel Cutting (Burning)
Cutting through girders: Nugget, a dentist in disguise

October 03, 2005 19:27
Topic: Welding and Repairs
Neil Myers night crew at work

November 04, 2005 8:27
Topic: About Barges
Picking girders from the Cooper River segment of the Pearman

November 08, 2005 14:25
Topic: Marine Biology and Artificial Reefs
Reef Transplantation: The Testa-Cashman surgical procedure

November 15, 2005 10:03
Topic: Cantilever Bridges
Dropping the Drum Island cantilevered section of the Pearman

November 30, 2005 6:30
Topic: Dynamite, detonation, shock waves, explosives, blasting cap, building implosions
Loading and sequencing D-25 with explosives

November 30, 2005 15:53
Topic: About implosion
Imploding Pearman Pier D-25

December 11, 2005 14:23
Topic: About barges and jack-up barges
The jackup barge and a language lesson

December 14, 2005 6:32
Topic: About sunrise, blue sky, EXIF files and digital photographs
Early morning girder harvesting

December 30, 2005 9:40
Topic: About orb weaving spiders and their silk - stronger than kevlar
Micro building and unbuilding
Happy New Year from us to you

January 07, 2006 8:45
Topic: Safety Devices: PFD, Hard Hats and Harnesses
Unbuilding the Pearman ramp and preparing the observation deck foundation

January 09, 2006 10:04
Topic: About protective gloves
Early start, loading and imploding Pearman D-24

January 11, 2006 15:01
Topic: Medical uses of nitroglycerin
Practice makes perfect: Dropping D-27 with remote ignition

January 15, 2006 10:45
Topic: Bridges over the Singapore River
A distraction: Vehicular and pedestrian bridges of Singapore

January 21, 2006 10:05
Topic: Little Blue Heron
Downhill unbuilding of the Grace ramp

January 24, 2006 15:05
Topic: Drilling blast holes
Drilling the T4 base for explosive disassembly

January 25, 2006 14:05
Topic: Rack and pinion gears and buoyancy
Adventures with Captain Bill's jackup barge and Mickey's drilling team

February 02, 2006 7:34
Topic: Shock tube detonators
A golden early morning and loading D-24

February 14, 2006 10:00
Topic: Vasodilation, headaches and vasoconstrictors
Implosion of D-25 substructure

February 15, 2006 10:00
Topic: Air drag and free falling objects
Explosive fracture of the Grace Cantilever Truss

February 20, 2006 9:45
Topic: Hyradulic Jacks
Installing the hydraulic jack - umbrella - cable assembly

February 22, 2006 6:45
Topic: Cable wedges and their performance
History today - Successful lowering of the Pearman main span over the Cooper RIver

March 18, 2006 7:04
Topic: Ironworkers and yo-yo safety
Ironworker acrobats display their Graceful respect of Grace

March 27, 2006 15:03
Topic: Rack and Pinion gears
Rebuilding a jackup barge leg, work on "Stiff Neck" and pre-blast prep on the Pearman

April 05, 2006 9:00
Topic: kevlar and spider silk
Demolition Dynamics: Dropping the east Pearman cantilever

May 16, 2006 8:57
Topic: sun and the earth's declination
The Last Grace Blast and a tribute from the C-17s and F-15s

June 30, 2006 13:35
Topic: oxygen, rust and marine life
Marine life in the Cooper River

July 14, 2006 14:50
Topic: About underwater shock waves, double images, video frames and fields
C-1 base takes a dive

August 16, 2006 7:08
Topic: The Thinker and Rodin
Waking up across the street: Michael in the thinking position

September 08, 2006 18:20
Topic: Great Circle and the Jet Stream
Around the world in 36 hours with Singapore Airlines

October 20, 2006 18:17
Topic: erhu juggling
Evening street scenes in Singapore's Chinatown

January 12, 2007 9:21
Topic: NonEl Detonators
T-1 is no more: Mickey and Ken at their best

January 13, 2007 13:11
Topic: Stemming and control of the blast wave
Michael Rogers makes his debut

February 20, 2007 13:45
Topic: Indonesia, kelong and cable stayed bridges
A weekend at Lincoln's Kelong - near Batam Indonesia


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Attribution: C. Frank Starmer and Sparky Witte from http://oldcooperriverbridge.org