Omaha daily bee., 1907-01-14
STRENGTH OF CONCRETE TRIED
Remarkable Leaning and Restoration
of Five-stOry Building in
Tunis,


Since the establishment of the French
protectorate over the Beylik of Tunis, its
capital of the same name has never ceased
TO grow in size, population and wealth.
While the original Arab city occupied and
still occupies the higher and finer ground.
the new French extension spreads from
this in the direction of the Bahira or Lake
of Tunis, to the modern port, which, by
means of a canal constructed at a cost of
many millions Of francs. traverses the
shallow and sitting lake and debouches in
the sea at Halg eli Dued La Goulette, the
former port. This fiat stretch of land
some miles broad on which the French
town is built, is in the last degree marshy
and unstable, a terror to architects and
builders, and wonderful are the directions
from the perpendicular and the horizontal
which many of the structures, for the
most part temporary exhibit, collapsing
into X-like or bullying into O-like forms.
A recent example, however, on this
marshy ground, far exceeding in Importance
any of the numerous and previous in
stances, and which offered for a few days
a modern analogue to the we'll known
leaning towers OF Pisa or of Saragossa, de-
serves record. The Societe des Minorteries
Tunisennes has had in construction for
many months past three large buildings
for the storage OF wheat and -four which
Tunis now. as Carthage aforetime, ships
In abundance to Europe a central and two
lateral blocks, the latter separated from
the central one by some little distance.
One of the latter was observed to be grad
ually deviating from the perpendicular to-
ward the central block, without, however,
losing its rigidity, and this movement con-
tinued en- masse for several hours, until
an angle of about twenty-five degrees was
attained. The mass gradually displaced it
self as a whole, a monolith, as 1t were, but
the fall of the block was pronounced on
all hands imminent. The engineer and con-
tractor. he Sever, however, took heart of
grace and, confident in the cohesion OF
the reinforced concrete, set about restoring
the immense mass to the vertical.
This was duly effected. in less than a
fortnight. The floors on the elevated side
of the building were weighted. This coun-
terpoise consisted of some 1000 tons OF
sand in sacks on the ground or basement
floors and 1000 tons on the upper stories.
Excavations were also made alongside the
| foundations on the high side so as to allow
OF the soil giving way more easily. The
result was all that could be desired under
the circumstances. The edi1ce returned tc
the vertical in a few days and was then
| completed.
The settlement has been very considera-
BILE for the building now stands some hf-
teen or eighteen feet below its intended
| level. The site is, OF course, in the last
resort responsible for these accidents, which
have been source of no little expense
| delay and vexations. The ground, however
was declared sufficiently solid by the en-
gineer whose plans were followed. The
displaced building remains whole and H.
: parts undisturbed, a wonderful testimony
of the cohesion and tenacity OF these con
crete structures. The reinforced concret'
ls OF course, in consequence lauded to thu
| skies, but there are those who maintain
| that in such situations the better course
would be, at whatever expense, to adop
| the American system Of building upon I
foundation Of piles.-Engineering News.