10/06/08

Purpose:

We can build it out of plastic, or we can build it out of steel and concrete.

One set of balloon forms could be used to make hundreds of domes. 

Original Intent:

The original intent of the BioDome project was to facilitate the construction of large habitats in an extraterrestrial environment.

Various Construction Methods:

If you were to develop a multi layered balloon where the interstitial layers would contain randomly oriented "Twigs" that are bound to the "net-like" interstitial layer which will provide a miniature re-enforcement rod that would be a compliment to a fiber impregnated liquid used to fill the void between the outer and inner layers.  

The inner and outer layers will be useful to suspend the interstitial layers with suspension cords.

As for the ocean floor installations, we can keep in mind the use of sea water to "inflate the lower layer" without the need to do anything other than fill the space underneath the lower balloon with the same "atmospheric pressure" of the surrounding sea water.

Considering the advantage of keeping the outer and inner layers as the part of one balloon. Imagine having a spherical balloon and mounting a "ring" around the balloon where that ring is slightly smaller than the greatest diameter of the balloon. The "ring" is the "foundation plate" that is mounted to the foundations installed on the sea floor in advance. Now visualize the original spherical balloon with the ring attached to the balloon at a point slightly smaller than the greatest diameter effectually dividing the balloon into larger and smaller sections. Then proceed to invert the smaller area of the balloon into the space inside of the larger side of the balloon. Very quickly we can use this method to utilize a perfect spherical balloon to create our first form to build a prototype.

Perhaps we could purchase a "large balloon" from a hobby store, perhaps a 36in diameter test case could be used in a prototype experiment.

After the first experiment kit is assembled, we can create a multitude of domes that are 36in in diameter using a wide range of materials to test for strength. But if the materials industry already has a standard system for identifying tensile strength, brittleness and various temperatures, ductility, etc., we could determine the best materials without much work.  

For extra planetary installations, the foundations that fasten the "foundation plate" could be achieved using a drilling rig to install cylindrical foundations that run at an angle underneath the dome that may resemble "Pilings" that support sky scrapers here on Earth but will act in the opposite as they will keep the form firmly and uniformly attached to the surface once it is pressurized.

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Cost Estimate:

The figures presented here are for a cylinder of a certain wall thickness and of a certain height and diameter.

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