My wife is an avid gardener; however, she picks up on many of the things in my world of engineering. She has heard me say the Bernoulli Equation enough that she plans to name our next cat “Bernoulli.” Last week, she was checking her smartphone news feed and noticed an article about “tetra pods”, not four-limbed vertebrates. She thought I’d be interested, and I definitely was.
As you can see from the first photo, the real benefit of a group of tetra pods is their interlocking ability to resist the age-old problem of coastline erosion. Yes, each tetrapod allows a free flow of water around the circular cross sections, however, their shape allows for an incredibly stable system to resist the relentless forces of crashing waves.
Since their invention in the early 1950s, as you can imagine, all variations on the basic tetrapod theme have evolved as shown in the second photo.
I highly recommend this article from Wikipedia and suggest checking out videos on their manufacture and placement. A simple 3D shape is being used to solve an age old problem. – Dr. Tom
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