Why are pieces of stones used to cover the ground at electric switchyards instead of just having a concrete floor ?
In: 4541
My first job was at the Centralia hydro project, it goes beyond gravel but that’s 16ft of gravel. Keep in mind those *wires* are 2inch by 12inch flat copper *wires*. A massive amount of juice goes thru that switch yard. A guy got melted wearing a full arc suit but lived due to his PPE. Our safety manager had one arm, burned completely off. The lineman in every state who handle storms are completely unsung heros.
It’s cheaper than concrete, requires almost no maintenance, drains well, compacts well for moving heavy gear and trucks, and there is usually a grounding grid built underneath the whole substation which requires the whole area to be dug subgrade and backfilled, for which gravel is a good material.
This is the kind of very odd and specific question and answer that makes me super suspicious
The grave is much cheaper than a slab, as well as providing the benefits others have noted.
You need to get to what’s underneath for maintenance/repair.
It’s easier to dig up some rocks than it is to break up concrete.
Water drainage and insulation are a couple of reason.
Don’t want to be walking through muddy ground or puddles of water when you have 150K Volts above you head.
What hasn’t been mentioned as well is there is often asset replacement/addition going on. It’s a lot easier and cheaper to dig up gravel and dirt to lay new cables than it is to break up concrete.
Also, concrete needs a grid of rebar to keep it from collapsing under its own weight and cracking/ shifting. I can’t imagine that being a good thing at an electrical switchyard..
Gravel is pervious and drains water whereas concrete is not. So the latter is more expensive
Along with all the valid reasons listed, Ive also heard that snakes love that soothing 50Hz vibration (60Hz in the US) that emanates from HV switch gear – so much so that they’ve been known to wrap themselves around transformers causing it to short out. The jaggedly ass ballast rock acts as a deterrent since they don’t like crossing it.
I like this explanation but I haven’t had much luck in trying to verify how true it is, so it might be bullshit.
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