How Flood Tunnels Work

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Published 2023-06-06
Who doesn't love a good tunnel?

Many cities across the world maximize the use of valuable land on earth’s surface by taking advantage of the space underneath for bypassing floods. This video discusses some of the challenges and solutions to these massive projects.

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Practical Engineering is a YouTube channel about infrastructure and the human-made world around us. It is hosted, written, and produced by Grady Hillhouse. We have new videos posted regularly, so please subscribe for updates. If you enjoyed the video, hit that ‘like’ button, give us a comment, or watch another of our videos!

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DISCLAIMER
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This is not engineering advice. Everything here is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Contact an engineer licensed to practice in your area if you need professional advice or services. All non-licensed clips used for fair use commentary, criticism, and educational purposes.

SPECIAL THANKS
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This video is sponsored by HelloFresh.
Stock video and imagery provided by Getty Images, Shutterstock, and Videoblocks.
Music by Epidemic Sound: epidemicsound.com/creator
Tonic and Energy by Elexive is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License
Source:    • Elexive - Tonic and Energy [Creative ...  
Video by Grady Hillhouse
Edited by Wesley Crump
Script Edit by Ralph Crewe
Production Assistance from Josh Lorenz
Graphics by Nebula Studios

All Comments (21)
  • I love this channel because it legit tells me about these cool civil engineering systems and areas if study I had no idea actually existed...
  • @Taladar2003
    I think one important consideration that isn't modelled in your model is that the bottom of building basements and subway tunnels is significantly below the point where river banks overflow so even just a few centimeters above the bank can fill up whole basements.
  • @RealEngineering
    I was at a concert in waterloo park last week and was wondering this exact thing
  • @Z4G.
    Grady, these vids are the reason you are in a league of your own. No one is able to explain in such detail from experience and have the handy-ness to build something to visualize what you are talking about. Top notch effort my man, you deserve all the success.
  • @speeddaemon6557
    They had to build something similar to the Tokyo system here in Dallas when they rebuilt hwy 75 during the 90s. The highway got moved from the surface down into a huge concrete canyon that can collect rainwater faster than any feasible storm drainage system could handle. There are massive underground caverns 100ft below Uptown to store it until it can be safely released into the storm drainage system (Cole Park Storm Water Detention Vault). It's so well hidden that basically no one knows it exists.
  • @johnfrian
    This is the only channel that can make a 15 minute video about an underground tube, and keep me captivated from start to end.
  • @shanebusch8102
    I am a mechanical engineer and I hated my civil engineering courses in college but man do I love these videos. Keep up the great work Grady 😁
  • @hansisbrucker813
    Thank you for mentioning the metric units too. It really helps 😊👍
  • @tehlaser
    Ok, that mica powder was an inspired addition to your garage model. Really helps make it visible what’s going away from the surface.
  • @josiahcox7313
    Top quality content as always! I really love the discussion of real world examples coupled with your home-made example creations! If anyone out there is wondering, Grady's book is similarly awesome!
  • @stephan5279
    As a person who lives in Vienna, I suggest you have a look how we figured out to manage floods from the danube river... ;)
  • Interesting, thanks. I have driven through the Kuala Lumpur SMART tunnel in Malaysia which is a multi-use tunnel allowing water and traffic movement and I believe has proven to be of great value since its commissioning.
  • @davidfalterman8713
    I know learning about infrastructure is the point, and it’s still mainly why I enjoy this channel, but I also have to say, I love the glimpses we’ve gotten of your family growing in the Hello Fresh ad segments over the years too. What a lovely little household you have, Grady!
  • @DanPeacock
    I trained as an Electrical Engineer (focusing on computers) but I am ALWAYS interested in how stuff works. I come at these with an eye to find some nugget of knowledge and I am never disappointed.
  • @lateoclock4281
    The sparkly water in the demo is so cool and pretty! It makes it easy to see the flow and turbulence too. Thanks for the video :)
  • @talkingdot
    Tokyo's underground thing is SO AMAZING if you ever take a trip to Japan you have to do a video on it because it is amazing
  • @Charles-hq7ce
    I dont know why but ive always liked water drainage systems. Most kinds of engineering are cool, but theirs something special about structures that control water. It always just reminds me of when i was 5 in my gravel driveway, digging channels from one flooded pothole to the next and watching it flow, then trying to see how many rocks i needed to plug the stream or make it take a route i wanted. If i had acrylic models like yours when i was 5, I'd probably be studying civil engineering rather than history right now lol.
  • @brianjgraf
    This is awesome. My dad was the District Engineer for the Corps of Engineers when San Antonio was building their tunnel. It was awesome to get lowered by a crane in a man cage down the bore and see the TBM. Very cool stuff. Thanks for the memories!
  • @Maniacalcoin
    Since you talked about this, can you talk about the red river flow-way in Winnipeg? "duffs ditch". It's been described as a modern marvel of engineering and is basically just a big ditch to prevent flooding. Fargo in ND are working on something similar now.