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Old 09-20-2017, 03:33 PM   #73 (permalink)
freebeard
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Yeah, it would pop out of the ground like a coffin in Nawrleens.

Optimal is a 5/8th sphere. The bottom eighth balances the second eighth so you only get lift from the top three-eighths. Then the foundation is engineered for holding it down as much as holding it up.

When I was at the Darko wind tunnel, I got a chance to talk to aerohead about putting geodesic domes over Gothic arches to improve their curb appeal. We also talked about cheap pipe-frame domes/vaults for garaging that would also apply to emergency housing.

It isn't the material, it's the shape. On the Oregon coast people go out and build a house and put a big picture window in it for the view, then add a roof overhang for shade. Then a 100mph wind comes along and it hits the wall and it can't go up, so it goes through the picture window and fills the room with water and broken glass.

My parents built a 1750sq ft dome at the coast in 1980. All the shapes added onto the spherical shape were aerodynamically sympathetic, for instance the greenhouse addition was a gable pointed due East. No window was wider than four feet. It was ventilated through a small face-height (Joe sent me) trap door in the entry door.

After a big blow they'd drive around the neighborhood and point and laugh.

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