I can upgrade the shelter-Chapter 597 - 495: The Conception of Dome City

The concept of a Dome City is not new; as early as the last century, some architects and science fiction creators had already proposed such an idea.

However, at that time, influenced by various factors such as the environment and technology, despite some attempts, the idea ultimately failed to materialize.

In these people’s vision, the Dome City should be covered by a large dome, isolating adverse weather like rain and snow, while controlling and adjusting factors like sunlight and temperature to construct a perfect living environment.

Such plans and designs are not scarce, but because it requires massive investment and strong industrial and technological strength as support, until now, this concept has remained on paper.

Although there are some buildings that can be called domes, none of these meet Chen Xin’s requirements.

The most important factor among them, of course, is scale.

The domes humans have constructed today are mostly standalone structures. Even if built large, they are generally on the scale of a stadium, an airport, or a station, which is far from the city-level scale Chen Xin envisions.

However, these dome structures have given Chen Xin a lot of references.

In fact, one significant reason restricting the emergence of Dome Cities is that technologically, this option doesn’t have much use in normal circumstances.

While a giant dome enveloping a city, blocking rain and snow and other disaster weather sounds wonderful, the subsequent other effects must also be comprehensively considered.

Combined with factors such as construction cost, construction difficulty, and the fact that the larger the city, the larger the dome required, this seemingly wonderful, futuristic thing becomes less practical.

As for another important factor, that is the dome itself.

The dome used at Chen Xin’s Research Center was originally made of a steel structure and glass curtain walls. Though using new materials, the overall weight is still not lightweight.

Fortunately, the Research Center isn’t too large, so the steel structure and glass curtain walls can support it, along with snow removal measures on the outer walls, there is no risk of being overly heavy and collapsing.

But if the dome is to be expanded to cover an entire city, the total weight of the steel structure and glass curtain walls would reach an astonishing level.

Therefore, to actually build the dome, careful consideration and design of the dome’s materials and structure are required.

A simpler method would be to lower the height of the dome, enlarging its curvature to make it a flat arc like the Research Center’s dome, rather than a true hemispherical cover.

This could save materials and lighten the dome, making it feasible to support a city-covering dome under current conditions.

An arched dome can effectively prevent snow accumulation, and with the right snow removal system paired, the dome itself need not worry about the possibility of snowfalls and collapses.

But even so, Chen Xin does not plan to continue using glass curtain walls as the outer walls for the dome.

The first reason is naturally the weight problem of the glass itself, and to construct a dome covering a city would require an astonishing amount of glass, he doubts whether it is possible to gather such a quantity of glass meeting construction needs.

Moreover, using a glass dome comes with construction difficulty and construction period challenges that need to be seriously addressed.

In comparison, another material undoubtedly appears more suitable.

This material is ETFE film, more formally known as ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene copolymer film. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

As a crystalline polymer, ETFE film has a melting point of 256~280°C. It is self-extinguishing when burning. It possesses high shear mechanical strength, and its low-temperature impact resistance is the best among existing fluoroplastics, maintaining high impact strength from room temperature to -80°C, with stable chemical properties, and good electrical insulation and radiation resistance.

It is arguably the ideal material for making domes among all materials available at this stage.

In the 1990s, this material began to be used as a covering or awning material.

One of the main venues of the 2008 Olympics in Flame Country, the Water Cube, also used this material for its outer walls.

If this material is used to make domes, it can achieve the lightest mass while ensuring sufficient strength.

As for insulation and warmth preservation, simply covering the outer layer of the ETFE film with a layer of insulation material can solve this issue.

With such a large dome capable of insulation and warmth preservation, people can leave underground shelters and restore life on the surface as it was before the disaster in the areas covered by the dome.

After all, it has been two or three years since the disaster struck. Although meteorites still fall from the sky, their frequency has significantly decreased, and the surface is no longer as dangerous. The safety of the Dome City is adequately ensured.

Moreover, even if impacted, the repair of ETFE film damage is undoubtedly simpler than glass curtain walls, making maintenance and repair more convenient.

After solving the dome issue, the remaining problem of city construction itself doesn’t require much concern, as the city builders of Flame Country have ample experience to solve all these issues.

Upon calculating all these, Chen Xin finds the conditions for constructing a Dome City are actually met; there is no technical hurdle to overcome.

If the dome can be constructed, with the dome blocking external cold, even without large heating facilities like the Energy Tower, the internal temperature of the dome would not be too low.

As long as the internal heat is preserved, the environmental temperature inside the dome can be maintained within an acceptable range, allowing people who would otherwise need to hide from the cold in underground shelters to return to surface life.

Not to mention, just erecting an Energy Tower within the dome can make the internal temperature as pleasant as Chen Xin’s Research Center, like spring all year round, even supporting the basic needs for restoring the ecosystem that once existed.

With these thoughts, Chen Xin can’t contain his ideas anymore. He quickly organizes them, planning to report them to the state to promote the construction of the Dome City.

However, before reporting, Chen Xin feels he should first come up with a complete set of design plans, rather than submitting just a rough plan.

Although the construction of the Dome City is theoretically feasible, such a large dome will have significant impacts, the construction difficulty will be very high, whether it can be successfully completed in the current environment, where to build it if it is to be built, and how to complete the construction are all matters to consider.

Thus, after some hesitation, Chen Xin decides to first perfect the entire plan, at least complete the feasibility study before reporting.