Abstract of the Future City of Abington
Our Lady Help of Christians School
Abington, a future city located adjacent to north Philadelphia, was first settled around 1700. By 2005 it was a community of approximately 60,000 citizens facing two major challenges: 1.) an expanding population without any buildable space and 2.) the need to solve growing traffic problems.
Adding ultra-high density zoning solved Abington’s housing problems. These state-of-the-art, residential hi-rise apartments are complete intergenerational communities, which include foster families and senior apartments. Other residential areas include mid-density and low-density housing. Abington offers its citizens diverse choices in housing styles and neighborhoods, including historically preserved residences, dating back from the 1700s to the 1950s.
Abington’s engineers have developed an enclosed, subterranean transportation system, the ZAMway (Zero-Resistance Automotive and Mass transit system). Initially designed to ease traffic on a major thru street, it is now used for travel within and between megalopolises countrywide. When using the ZAMway, Abingtonians either travel as a passenger or in their personal vehicles. After the large ZAMcars are loaded with passengers, personal vehicles, and cargo, they enter an airlock where a vacuum is created. The ZAMcar then accelerates down an onramp onto a maglev system. With ZAMway, its only fifteen minutes to New York and forty minutes to Boston. At 450 mph, Disney World is a mere two-hour excursion.
Abington’s infrastructure is unsurpassed. Abington’s major power source is solar energy, supplemented with cold fusion, and methane from gas hydrates. These efficient, economic, and environmentally friendly resources amply meet Abington’s residential, industrial and commercial needs.
Local Multipoint Distribution Service, is our wireless communication system. With LMDS communications, both data and voice transmissions are first sent to the ACN Tower, which relays the signals to transceivers mounted on various buildings in Abington. The transceivers rebound the signals to individual communicators.
SPS Industries, the developers of GlasSteel, and Abington Medical Research and Treatment Facility are Abington’s leading employers. GlasSteel, an important material used in building the ZAMway, is very strong, yet amazingly lightweight. Abington Medical, a major research and treatment provider, is a part of a medical consortium that includes the Mayo Clinic and John Hopkins. Abington Medical leads the nation in developing DNA based medications. Abington’s award-winning educational system continues to draw new, hi-tech industries to the region.
Our recreational facilities provide something for everyone. In addition to acres of preserved parkland, Abington is home to the Willow Grove Shopping and Recreational Center. The “Grove” includes virtual, electronic, and reality shopping, as well as, numerous recreational facilities. One of its swimming pools is the world famous Magna-Diving Pool, which allows competitors to train by slowing gravitational acceleration. “The Grove,” also houses the John Phillip Sousa Historical Center, which contains artifacts from when he entertained at the original Willow Grove Park. In fact, visitors to “The Grove” can enjoy a digitally created, holographic concert performed by the March King himself. Abington’s heritage is rooted in the past, while ZAMWay propels it to the future.
Abington Essay
The ZAMway
Efficient Use of Aggregate Materials in Futuristic Transportation System
Our Lady Help of Christians School
In any city, rapid mass transit is important for both personal travel and industry. Abington’s futuristic transportation system, the ZAMway (Zero-resistance Auto Mass-transit), is useful for transportation of people and goods throughout the country. The ZAMway is an enclosed, tubular transportation system. The bottom two-thirds of the ZAMtube is below ground and constructed from aggregate materials; the upper third is a clear polymer archway.
When using the ZAMway citizens can travel as a passenger or while riding within their personal vehicle. The large ZAMcars, which have been loaded with passengers, personal vehicles, and cargo, enter an airlock using a conventional rail. Once a vacuum is achieved within the ZAMtube, the vehicle is accelerated down an onramp using a Segmented Rail Phase Induction Motor adapted from technology developed at Sandia National Labs for the Star Wars defense program. During acceleration, the ZAMcar becomes levitated over a maglev system. The vacuum in the ZAMtube eliminates wind resistance and the levitation eliminates friction due to normal force on the axle and track. After achieving zero friction resistance, ZAMcars can maintain great speeds using little fuel.
The system is designed for efficiency. The electricity required for the maglev system is collected from photovoltaic cells located on the clear polymer arch of the ZAMtube. Energy is also conserved during deceleration. The ZAMcar’s momentum is transferred to a flywheel located on the off ramp. This recaptured energy is used to activate turbines, which produce electricity to supplement the solar cells.
While en route, passengers may remain in their personal vehicle or enjoy luxurious accommodations inside the ZAMcar lounge, featuring a snack bar, comfortable seating and flat screen TVs. The clear polymer roofs of the ZAMcar and the ZAMtube naturally light the lounge. Manufactured goods and raw materials being shipped to their market destination are stored below the deck.
The ZAMtube’s vacuum must be maintained to insure energy efficiency. Our structural engineers, working hand-in-hand with our material engineers, determined that aggregates would be the best building materials to maintain that vacuum. Aggregates are not only economical and environmentally friendly; they also afford the proper balance of rigidity and ductility to withstand a variety of environmental stresses, in addition to the stress of the vacuum.
While aggregate materials are low cost, and the supply is vast, it is also finite. Therefore, when building the ZAMway, our structural engineers chose to use recycled aggregate, mostly from replaced and recycled roadway. Our recycled aggregates were comparable with natural aggregates on both price and quality. More importantly, using the recycled aggregates lessened the need for landfills.
Our ZAMway structural engineers specified using rebar with specific properties, which would increase the ductility properties of our aggregate material. Normal steel rebar was unacceptable because it was not corrosion resistant. Therefore, corrosion resistant stainless steel rebar was used. This rebar is made from low carbon steel with an invisible chromium oxide film.
At the turn of the millennium, however, William Johnson, a materials professor at Caltech, helped to develop an entirely new class of materials that can be used to build lighter, stronger rebar. These glassy, amorphous metals can be formed like a plastic. So instead of laboriously making sheet metal and then cutting, machining and forming the rebar, it can be injection molded in one piece. This rebar material is a cut above both metal and plastic.
Our structural engineers enveloped our ZAMtube in a fiberglass-graphite composite wrap. This lightweight four millimeters wrap is non-corrosive, energy-absorbent, low-cost, and increases the structure’s strength more than four-fold. Even if the concrete within the wrap cracks, the covering will hold the ZAMtube together long enough for repairs to be made. Whether facing earthquakes in the West, floods in the Great Plains, hurricanes in the Southeast, or the snow and frost heaves of the North, the ZAMtube will emerge unscathed.
When applying the ZAMtube wrap, we embedded organic, digital microsensors. These microsensors instantly alert authorities in the case of a ZAMway breakdown. The microsensors also help with day-to-day operations, including daily maintenance, surveillance, detection of climate conditions and routing analysis.
Our safe, efficient, high-speed system improves long distance transportation for people and businesses throughout the nation. The ZAMway is propelling Abington into the future.
Bibliography
Antlauf, Walter. “Fast Track.” Civil Engineering. 11 2004: pp. 37-43.
Gennaro, Julie, Personal Interview on the Role of a Structural Engineer. 12/15/04
Jones, Rhys. A Future Set in Plastics. Monash. 12/15/04. www.monash.edu.
Lemley, Brad. “Glassy Metal.” Discover. 4 2004: pp. 46-51.
U.S. Department of the Interior. Natural Aggregates - Foundation of America’s Future.
USGS Fact Sheet FS 144-97. Reprinted February 1999.
