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The Leaning Tower of Pisa

The Leaning Tower of Pisa. What went wrong?!. So What Will We Talk About?. A brief history of the tower. Why the structure failed. The reason it still stands. The attempts to straighten the tower. The reason it still leans. . The History.

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The Leaning Tower of Pisa

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  1. The Leaning Tower of Pisa What went wrong?!

  2. So What Will We Talk About? • A brief history of the tower. • Why the structure failed. • The reason it still stands. • The attempts to straighten the tower. • The reason it still leans.

  3. The History • In Italian, it is called the Torre Pendente di Pisa • It is the bell tower of the town’s cathedral. • Today it is 186 ft tall, with a 13 degree tilt.

  4. History (cont’d): the construction • Construction began in 1173 and continued off and on until 1372. • Political crises caused breaks. • Used multiple architects. • First began tilt in 1178 with 3rd floor.

  5. So… What happened • Engineering was often trial and error due to lack of technology. • The foundation was poorly constructed and was only about 3 meters thick. • Built on an ancient riverbed just 6ft above sea level, made up of weak sand and clay.

  6. The first lean of the tower was South. • After trying to even the floors, it leaned North.

  7. This is an over exaggerated picture of the plan to make it straight

  8. Why hasn’t it fallen down? • The soil compacted and settled due to the length of construction • Without the break the tower would have fallen. • It was built of limestone, which can handle more stress than most stone.

  9. Attempts to Straighten the Tower • Mussolini drilled and filed holes in the base with concrete, this made it tilt worse. (1934) • Became unstable forcing the Italy government hired several engineers to stabilize it. (1964)

  10. Problems… • Was forced to close in 1990 due to increasing tilt. • Later, it was stabilized by removing 40 cubic meters of soild from the raised end. • Reopened to the public in 2001.

  11. Why is it still leaning? • Engineers decided not to straighten the tower for tourists. • Instead, they gave it the relatively stable tilt of 13 degrees. • It is believed to stand for at least another 300 years.

  12. So, We talked about: • The history and construction. • The poor foundation which lead to the lean. • That the solid compacted over time letting it stand. • It still leans for a reason

  13. The End Thank you

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