Eddystone Lighthouse Research Articles

Fea study of effectiveness of bionic legacy-shape console as huge machine tool’s column

Concept of machine tool’s column in the appearance of vertical bionic console is proposed. Console was 3D-transformed from the shape of legacy oak-like structure – Eddystone lighthouse. It is proposed to create the variable-section column with “layer-by-layer” technics from the polymer concrete.FEA shows high stiffness of the column. It increases from 1500 to 11000 N/μm from top to bottom along vertical guideways. Such stiffness needs only 19.3 ton of concrete for the instance of 4.5 m height’s column. FEMmodelling pointed out rather high eigenmode’s frequencies (˃49 Hz). FRF is appropriate for pre-resonance heavy cutting as for post-resonance finishing. Proposed bionic-shape column is perspective as for stand-alone variant so for portal composition created by two opposite columns.

Interactive FEM education for load-bearing system static and dynamic analysises by case of the bionic tower of the Eddys- tone lighthouse

FEM simulation of Eddystone lighthouse is provided. Incorporated bionic tower is modelled as well. Load cases including gravity force, wind thrust, water stream and 50-year wave impulse are accomplished. Stress concentrator system is described. Effect of tension stress concentrator compensation caused by gravity is showed. Low gradient stress dispensation is demonstrated for bionic tower outer surfaces. Recommendation touching places to monitor are given.Methodic experience related to interactive one-command student – professor FEM simulation of responsible load-bearing systems is collected.

English engineer John Smeaton's experimental method(s): Optimisation, hypothesis testing and exploratory experimentation

In this paper I provide a detailed account of eighteenth-century engineer John Smeaton's experimental methods, with the aim of bringing our understanding of his work into line with recent research in the history and philosophy of science. Starting from his use of the technique of parameter variation, I identify three distinct methodological aims in the research he carried out on waterwheels, windmills and hydraulic mortars. These aims are: optimisation, hypothesis testing and maxim generation. The main claim of this paper is that Smeaton did more than merely improve engineering methods by systematising earlier artisanal approaches, which is the classic view of Smeaton's method developed by historians of technology in the 1990s. I argue instead that his approach bridged the divide between science and technology, by integrating both hypothesis testing and exploratory experimentation. This is borne out, in particular, by the way that Smeaton emphasised the exploratory side of the work he published in the Philosophical Transactions, in contrast to his account of the construction of the Eddystone lighthouse, which was aimed at a broader, non-specialist public. I contribute to recent research on exploratory experimentation by showing – in line with other work on this topic – that exploratory experimentation is not incompatible with hypothesis testing. This new perspective on Smeaton's method will hopefully lead to further research and new insights into the relation between science and technology at the start of the Industrial Revolution.

“The joint labours of ingenious men”:JohnSmeaton'sRoyalSociety network and theEddystoneLighthouse

The Industrial Enlightenment is widely thought to have been a period when “science” and “technology” became intimately intertwined. In his 1791 book on the building of the Eddystone lighthouse (completed in 1759), the English engineer John Smeaton praised the Royal Society for being more than a group of abstract theoreticians. This article looks at the fellows of Smeaton's Royal Society network who contributed knowledge, reports, specimens, and inventions solicited by Smeaton when he was working on this lighthouse project. I show, in line with other recent research on this topic, that the “artisans” of the 18th century did not confine themselves to practical know-how, and that “scholars” were not merely interested in abstract philosophising; instead, the figures I look at in this paper were hybrid knowers who possessed useful knowledge and book learning. I argue that the advice solicited by Smeaton during the building of the lighthouse was characterised not by exchanges between theory and practice, but by a combining of different types of knowledge from separate fields. A second feature of this intellectual co-operation is that it was not centred on a group of practical industrialists or engineers, but rather it was the Royal Society that served as the common denominator, bringing all of the characters in our story into contact with each other. This is reflected in the subject matter involved, which was characteristic of the research focus of the virtuoso tradition in the 18th-century Royal Society. Smeaton's contact with this tradition was influenced by his friendships, his social activities, and, indirectly, by the way that the dissensions that occupied the Royal Society during the early 1780s impacted his retrospective account of the project.

Environmental loading of heritage structures.

This theme issue, featuring Environmental loading of heritage structures, provides a snapshot of current civil engineering approaches to assessing ageing structures under a variety of loads. The publication arose from a serendipitous sequence of interactions. Academics at the University of Plymouth were contacted by Trinity House in 2010 to investigate reported vibrations in their rock lighthouses when impacted by storm waves. A pilot study on the nearby Eddystone lighthouse captured structural response data from the catastrophic storms of 2013/2014 and paved the way for a more comprehensive project. The STORMLAMP project brought together expertise across various civil engineering disciplines, hydrodynamics, field-based structural monitoring and structural modelling, at the University of Plymouth, University of Exeter and UCL, respectively. It has investigated rock lighthouses across all three of the General Lighthouse Authorities of UK and Ireland (Trinity House, Irish Lights and the Northern Lighthouse Board). Field modal testing was undertaken at seven rock lighthouses right across this region to support the characterization of extreme impulsive breaking wave loads, and the identified modal properties have subsequently been used to validate structural models. These models have also required the best estimates of likely wave loads in order to predict maximum structural responses, provided by researchers in the team. The Special Issue features comprehensive investigations undertaken on the Wolf Rock lighthouse [1], located eight nautical miles from Land's End at the southwest tip of England, and one of the most exposed lighthouses in the British Isles (figure 1). Open in a separate window Figure 1. Locations of heritage structures described in this Special Issue (adapted from [2]). (Online version in colour.)

CHARACTERISATION OF BREAKING WAVES ON THE EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE: A LABORATORY INVESTIGATION ON WAVE PRESSURE

Commonly, rock lighthouses are erected on the top of steep reefs and in limited water depths. The effect of these environmental conditions on wave loading requires deeper understanding. This paper investigates wave loading at small scale for a particular case study: the Eddystone lighthouse (UK). Load characteristics due to breaking waves are obtained by the use of pressure transducers and the test program is designed to generate a comprehensive data set covering a broader range of wave conditions. Although the magnitude of wave pressures is rather random from wave to wave of the same train of regular waves, the pressure impulsivity tends to decrease with increasing relative breaking distance. Four breaker types are described and particular attention is given to time histories of the line of action of horizontal force and vertical spatial distributions. Estimation of overall forces, obtained by pressure integration, indicates that the wave loading is strongly affected by the limited water depth condition. In fact, only small plunging waves are able to break at the structure; thus, they cause small forces despite the small breaking distances. Finally, the occurrence of the breakers is investigated on a dimensionless plane given by the combination of the Iribarren number and momentum flux of Hughes.

Civil engineering heritage: country profile – England

This paper is a review of the civil engineering heritage of England, one of the series of national profiles being published by Engineering History and Heritage. It is presented under four headings: ‘England’s major civil engineering achievements’, ‘National and regional recognition of engineering heritage’, ‘Exemplar conservation of engineering structures’ and ‘Information sources for engineering heritage’. This profile discusses engineering structures of heritage importance, including the following, all built before 1900: Eddystone lighthouse; Iron Bridge, the first major structure of cast iron; Ditherington Mill in Shrewsbury, the first multistorey building using beams and columns of cast iron; Saint Katherine’s Docks by Thomas Telford; the Thames Tunnel, the first tunnel constructed under water; the Royal Albert Bridge by I. K. Brunel; the Palm House at Kew Gardens; and numerous Victorian railway stations. The profile lists organisations in England active in helping conserve its engineering heritage, including Historic England, the Panel for Historical Engineering Works, the Canal & River Trust and the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, and concludes with a short list of websites and books giving further information about English civil engineering heritage.

Modelling the Eddystone Lighthouse response to wave loading

The Eddystone Lighthouse is an imposing granite structure that has guided mariners through the treacherous waters off the Plymouth coast for nearly 150years. The General Lighthouse Authorities (GLAs) of the UK and Ireland, recognising the continuing importance of rock-mounted lighthouses as physical aids for navigation, funded a pilot project, commissioning Plymouth University to monitor the tower. The present study aims to provide more information on the structural behaviour of the Eddystone Lighthouse under the impacts from wave loading, through the utilisation of a 3D finite element model. Data from geophones, an offshore wave buoy and video cameras installed on the tower have been used to calibrate and validate the model; in particular, the wave that caused the maximum displacement during the winter 2013/2014storms has been considered. The point of application of the wave load is important in the tower’s structural response; the lighthouse being especially vulnerable to larger displacements when the wave acts above its cylindrical base. Finite element analysis suggests that the lighthouse is stable with regard to material failure, and for failure mechanisms of overturning and sliding there are factors of safety of 6.3 and 8.0 respectively. A hypothetical unbroken wave of 17.5m height would be required to overturn the lighthouse, and one of height 17m would cause cracking at the base, but in such a location these waves would not be possible.

The house and garden of Henry Winstanley, Littlebury, Essex

ABSTRACTThe remarkable House of Wonders, erected in the later seventeenth century by Henry Winstanley, the designer and builder of the first Eddystone Lighthouse, is examined, perhaps for the first time by a landscape historian. It is concluded that its usually accepted date is eighteen to nineteen years too early and that it was actually built in 1695–6, probably to help finance the construction of the lighthouse. The remains of Winstanley's garden are also analysed, showing that it had a complex history spread over some forty years. New light is shed on Winstanley's life, interests and intentions revealing that he was not the wild eccentric genius he has been considered hitherto, but was fully in touch with contemporary thinking.

Mass encystment of a planktonic oligotrich ciliate

Sediment traps were deployed in a 60 m water column near the Eddystone Lighthouse on the south west coast of England for one year from March 1984. In April, the traps collected the cysts of a planktonic ciliate with a flux of almost 35 000 m-2 d-1. The cysts were attributed to a planktonic oligotrich [provisionally identified as Strombidium crassulum (Leegard) Kahl], which was common in the water at the time. Identification was achieved through the discovery of the incipient formation of the cysts in preserved water samples and by the similarity of the morphology of the cysts with that of other oligotrichid ciliates. Attempts to prove the relationship by incubation have so far failed. The production of the cysts followed the main spring bloom of diatoms and coincided with a small bloom of autotrophic oligotrichs. In the traps, the total number and percentage of cysts with contents decreased rapidly after the encystment event. However, potentially viable cysts were still recorded in the plankton eleven months later, with minimum fluxes of 200 cysts m-2 d-1. Resuspension of bottom sediments by tides and storms ensured that a large population of cysts was always present in the water column during the winter, awaiting the right conditions to stimulate excystment and the initiation of a new motile population.

Amalosoma eddystonense sp.n., a new species of Bonelliidae

In October 1921, a specimen of an echiuroid was taken in the otter trawl of the S.S. Salpa, in the neighbourhood of the Eddystone lighthouse. The specimen, a female, was provisionally identified by Mr E. Ford as Hamingia arctica Kör & Dan. The pharynx and uteri were opened in an unsuccessful search for males, after which the specimen was preserved in alcohol and put in the museum at the Plymouth Laboratory. In the following month, two more specimens were taken in the dredge by Dr R. S. Clark, a few miles from the same locality, and placed in the museum without further examination. No more specimens were obtained until April 1925, when one was taken in a trawl offRame Head, near the entrance to Plymouth Harbour. This specimen was examined by O. D. Hunt, and was found to be a female with uteri containing ripe eggs. Twenty-eight males of minute size were discovered attached externally to the female in a groove in the skin which extended for a short distance in the median line just posterior to what appeared to be a single genital orifice.

Notes on Plymouth Mysidacea

The mysid fauna of eight night hauls made near the Eddystone Lighthouse is analysed.Keys are given for the identification of Mysidacea which have been recorded from, or are likely to occur in, the Plymouth area.

Notes on the Distribution of Burrowing Isopoda and Amphipoda in Various Soils on the Sea Bottom near Plymouth

The earliest detailed account of the nature of the sea bottom near Plymouth is that of Allen (1899), wherein analyses of the soils on the 30 fm. line are coupled with lists of the animals collected by trawl and dredge. Ford (1923) described a number of soils in shallower water, and gave a quantitative list of the bottom fauna, collected with a grab which covered an area of 0·1 sq. m. Smith (1932) described in great detail the soils of the area of shell-gravel which surrounds the Eddystone Lighthouse. By none of these workers, however, was special attention paid to the smaller burrowing Crustacea, which are often overlooked unless they are made the special object of collecting. Some species, e.g. of Bathyporeia and Ampelisca, may be very common, and certainly play an important part in the ecology of the sea-bottom. See Steven (1930) and Hunt (1925).

The Seasonal Abundance and Distribution of the Pelagic Young of Teleostean Fishes Caught in the Ring-trawl in Offshore Waters in the Plymouth Area. Part II

Data are given on the abundance of post-larval stages of teleostean fish in half-hour oblique hauls with the 2-metre stramin ring-trawl taken at weekly intervals at a position two miles east of the Eddystone lighthouse during the years 1930 to 1934 inclusive.The seasonal composition of the catches is considered and it is shown that there is a gradual change over from the young of northern species of fish to those of more southern species as the summer advances. The relation between the spawning times of closely related species appears usually to be a function of their geographic distribution.The period of maximum abundance of post-larvæ of spring-spawning fish occurs at different times in different years and this difference may be as much as a month. An apparent correlation between the times of abundance of young whiting and the previous temperature of the water has been shown.

Calendar of Discovery and Invention

October 16, 1759.—The building of Smeaton's Eddystone lighthouse, accupied the summers of 1756–1759, and the light was first exhibited on Oct. 16, 1759. The lighting apparatus consisted of 24 candles hold in bronze frame.

The Young of the Gobiidæ from the Neighbourhood of Plymouth

Several Gobius species and also Aphya and Crystallogobius are common near Plymouth, from up the estuaries in the neighbourhood of Saltash to the west and Chelson Meadow to the east, as far as the open sea, well beyond Rame Head and the Eddystone Lighthouse. It has, however, always been difficult to determine the young of the various species as they usually differ very little from one another and it is hoped that the following notes may be a help in the elucidation of the subject.

On Rock Remains in the Bed of the English Channel An Account of the Dredgings carried out by ss. “Oithona” in 1906

In the programme of work for the summer of 1906, it was decided by the Director that a series of cruises should be carried out by the Association's steamer Oithona to investigate the fauna of the deeper waters of the English Channel. The bearing S.W. ½ S., Magnetic, = S. 23° W., True,* from the Eddystone Lighthouse was chosen as a baseline, and the work was to be carried out with special reference to points at 10-mile intervals along this bearing. The fauna was to be investigated as fully as possible, and bottom-deposits, particularly stones, were at the same time to be carefully recorded and collected. In all, eight cruises were made, the work being extended nearly as fer as the 50-mile point.

“Fox-shark” or “Thrasher” (Alopecias vulpes) in the English Channel

ON July 2 a fine specimen of this shark was captured several miles south of the Eddystone Lighthouse by fishermen in search of mackerel. The fish was taken at a depth of about 40 fathoms, and did a large amount of damage to the mackerel nets before it could be hauled on board and killed. The shark was brought to the Plymouth Museum and purchased for the collection.

On a Tornaria found in British Seas

Before 1888 no specimen of Tornaria, the well-known pelagic larva of Balanoglossus, had been taken off the English Coast. But on August 9th of the past year Mr. Weldon, using the surface net near the Eddystone Lighthouse, took several young specimens of Tornaria, and subsequently the same gentleman, during a cruise of a week's duration towards the end of August, captured many larger and more mature specimens of the same larva. Other specimens were taken by us up to September 21st, and in the month of August, Mr. Rupert Vallentin found several specimens in the vicinity of Falmouth.The specimens taken on these occasions form the subject of the present memoir, and their anatomy is detailed at some length, both because of the interest attached to a form bitherto unknown to England, and because it is in some respects of morphological importance.The specimens taken by us came from the offing, and were not taken within four miles of theshore; Mr. Vallentin's Tornaria were found close to the shore at Falmouth. As he was able to bring his back alive and preserve them at leisure in his laboratory, they are better preserved than those taken by us, since we were obliged to preserve our catch in a somewhatrough manner out at sea. An examination of Mr. Vallentin's specimens leaves me no doubt that the larva is Tornaria Kröohnii, aspecies found in the Mediterranean. The different forms of Tornariahave not been with certainty referred to their adult forms, but T. Kröohnii must belong to one of the Mediterranean species of Balanoglossus, that is to say, to B. Kowalevsltii, B. minutus, or B. claviger, species which have not hitherto been recorded from the English Channel, unless we suppose that the larva of B. salmoneus v. sarniensis, which occurs in the Channel Islands andat Roscoff, is identical with Tornaria Kröohnii.

Story of the old Eddystone lighthouse

Story of the old Eddystone lighthouse