Re: Remember "Bit-Slice" Chips ?

On 12/22/24 5:09 AM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

On 22/12/2024 06:50, 186282@ud0s4.net wrote:

I wonder if different materials might make zeps safer ?
   Graphite rods, carbon-fiber supports, something that'll
   give more under stress than simple rigid aluminum ?
   Could go 'meta' ... INFLATABLE, ADAPTIVE, extra supports
   you can work pneumatically or whatever. Then the thing
   is more like a dolphin or whale, dynamically adaptable
   to stresses in the short timescale.
>

 We may have got better strength to weight ratio materials, but that simply allows a slightly bigger structure..

   Well ... 'slightly bigger' than the Graf or Hindenburg may
   be "big enough" ......
   The TRICK though is safety - and large things like zeps,
   at least the cigar-shaped ones, can pose a problem there.
   Strong wind gusts can basically pull the nose and tail in
   different directions, snapping the thing. With the large
   surface area the forces become considerable.
   Dynamic 'profile/rigidity morphing' as I proposed COULD
   be a useful tool in the box.
   While 'cigar-shape' seems most logical, 'rounder' may be
   the trick to reducing such mechanical stresses. The things
   don't move THAT fast anyway, 'rounder' won't be MUCH slower.

The real demise in my book was not the zeppelin hydrogen fire, but the USS Shenandoah, which was literally torn in half by bad weather.

   Yep. The surface area * wind stress issue.

"While passing through an area of thunderstorms and turbulence over Ohio early in the morning of 3 September, during its 57th flight, the Shenandoah was caught in a violent updraft that carried the ship beyond the pressure limits of its gas bags. The turbulence tore the airship apart, and it crashed in three main pieces near Caldwell, Ohio. Fourteen crew members, including Commander Zachary Lansdowne, were killed. Lansdowne and eight crew members in the control car (except for Lieutenant Anderson, who escaped) died when the car detached and fell from the airship; two men died after falling through holes in the hull; and four mechanics who fell with the engines were killed. There were twenty-nine survivors, who succeeded in riding the three sections of the airship to earth. The largest group was eighteen men who made it out of the stern after it rolled into a valley. Four others survived a crash landing of the central section. The remaining seven were in the bow section which Commander (later Vice Admiral) Charles E. Rosendahl managed to navigate as a free balloon. In this group was Anderson who—until he was roped in by the others—straddled the catwalk over a large hole. "
 Not my idea of a luxury cruise.

   It was a bad disaster.
   Modern avionics might have avoided it - a clear view
   of storms/winds.
   In any case, anyone with the right sim software should
   look into 'rounder' - more 'blimpy' - (US) 'football'.
   Carbon-based structural members also would not 'snap'
   or 'buckle' so readily under stress as 1930s aluminum
   struts.
   In short they CAN be done, better, these days. But can
   you SELL people on them ? You'd have to start well ahead
   of time and 'build a romance' so to speak.

The problem is that the airships of the day were barely faster than a ship or a train and really wouldn't pass today's safety tests at all.

   Well ... you're selling 'exotic' here, selling to
   the upper class, selling a certain 'style' and
   'image' of luxury. Speed isn't as important as
   LOOKING GOOD.

They were and would be simply too big to be safe or too small to be profitable except in very niche applications.

   ONE corp could do it and make a profit ... but don't see
   room for more.