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Tethering 1 km high structures is not child's play, either. Assuming your guy wires are at, say 45 deg, the top ones have to be 1,414 m long. While it is working, the chimney will be +/- a constant height, but the wires will vary considerably between temps of say -10 deg C and +40 deg C. Then, when the system is taken out of service for maintenance, the chimney will slump by a metre or two as it contracts. It would require some pretty hefty servo-control systems to keep the guys effective.
Then there is the problem of shear winds. The wind at the top may be in the diametrically opposite direction to that half-way down (ever see clouds scudding in a different direction to the wind on your cheek?).
These problems are not impossible but they do require good engineering, considering that this structure, if it sees the light of day (or should I say heat of day
), will be over twice the height of the Petronas building in KL or the one in Taipei they are proposing.
I wonder how it would behave with the violent updraughts and downdraughts when a thunderstorm passes over it??? Coming to think of it, a violent hot updraught from the chimbley may even trigger weather patterns!!!
Then there is the problem of shear winds. The wind at the top may be in the diametrically opposite direction to that half-way down (ever see clouds scudding in a different direction to the wind on your cheek?).
These problems are not impossible but they do require good engineering, considering that this structure, if it sees the light of day (or should I say heat of day
), will be over twice the height of the Petronas building in KL or the one in Taipei they are proposing.I wonder how it would behave with the violent updraughts and downdraughts when a thunderstorm passes over it??? Coming to think of it, a violent hot updraught from the chimbley may even trigger weather patterns!!!
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