- #1
Eric Willems
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Hi,
For a book that I’m writing, i need to know how to describe the following, if the situation described is ever possible, otherwise I'll have to come up with another scenario.
A surge of high voltage electricity at a gas-insulated switchgear creates a flashover whose Breaker Current Failure Detectors have been deactivated so that the arc is sustained during 37 seconds. The whole installation is secret so it is located underground.
There is a steel tank of water close-by whose capacity is 34 million litres buried 65 meters deep into the ground. It is three quarter full. The ground is rock but if the material matters (it probably will) this can be changed in the scenario. (distance between switchgear and tank should be less than a kilometre). The electricity is diverted into the tank.
The questions are:
How intense should the current be to flash the water into steam, burst the tank and produce a mini earthquake on the surface?
Could it also produce a steam geyser that lasts for a couple of minutes?
Corollary effects will collapse houses on the surface and injure a small population due to steam burns.
Thanks a lot for your answers. I apologize in advance if my request is too farfetched. My formation is not physics. I'm just looking for some believable situations.
Eric
For a book that I’m writing, i need to know how to describe the following, if the situation described is ever possible, otherwise I'll have to come up with another scenario.
A surge of high voltage electricity at a gas-insulated switchgear creates a flashover whose Breaker Current Failure Detectors have been deactivated so that the arc is sustained during 37 seconds. The whole installation is secret so it is located underground.
There is a steel tank of water close-by whose capacity is 34 million litres buried 65 meters deep into the ground. It is three quarter full. The ground is rock but if the material matters (it probably will) this can be changed in the scenario. (distance between switchgear and tank should be less than a kilometre). The electricity is diverted into the tank.
The questions are:
How intense should the current be to flash the water into steam, burst the tank and produce a mini earthquake on the surface?
Could it also produce a steam geyser that lasts for a couple of minutes?
Corollary effects will collapse houses on the surface and injure a small population due to steam burns.
Thanks a lot for your answers. I apologize in advance if my request is too farfetched. My formation is not physics. I'm just looking for some believable situations.
Eric
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