hollow structures, hence no visible placement exterior to the columns is needed whatsoever.
Thermite reaction is indeed chaotic in it's spread through the reactive mass, however the super heated iron liberated segregates extremely rapidly into a homogeneous pool at the bottom of the containment while the aluminum oxides form a slag roof which serves to retain the majority of liberated heat energy in the lower Fe pool.
No super sophisticated device is required to breech the walls of the box beam columns from within, simply a conical or pyramidal shaped refractory floor under the charge which will force the Fe pool to rest against the inside of the column walls as it forms. Igniting the charge from that lowest perimeter point will greatly enhance the effect of such a charge on the walls of the columns. If strip or string ignition is used at that lowest point the reaction will progress up through the mass of the charge, so that from the initial formation of liberated Fe it is in optimal placement for effect on the beam structure.
Notice that there is needed only a simple flooring containment to maximise the effect, and the strength of that flooring is the only immediate limit on the weight of charge which can be placed above the refractory, none of which is visible from outside the column.
If we're going to argue technicalities, lets try to keep it accurate and logical.
TigerStatistics: Posted by WhiteTiger — 26 Oct 2009, 20:48
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