The Kallanai Dam was “[built] during the second century AD by Karikalan, a king of southern India's old Chola Dynasty” and “is also one of the oldest irrigation systems in the world that is still in use” (Agoramoorthy and Hsu, 2008). “The purpose of the dam was to divert the waters of the Kaveri across the fertile Thanjavur delta region for irrigation via canals. Since the English arrived in the eighteenth century, the Kallanai has been tampered with and other hydraulic structures have been added nearby. It is therefore difficult to extrapolate from the current situation into the past to understand the workings of the anicut” (Bijker, 2007). Approximate Year of Completion 200 AD.The exact location of the Kallanai is in the Trichy District. Construction details ...
Arulmozhivarman, a Tamil emperor who was popular as Rajaraja Chola I laid out foundations of Brihadeeswarar Temple during 1002 CE. It was first among other great building projects by Tamil Chola. Main purpose of building this temple was to grace throne of Chola Empire with compliance of one command Rajaraja Chola I receive in a dream. Grandeur and scale is in Chola tradition. A symmetrical and axial geometry rules layout of this temple. Temples from same period and two following centuries are expressions of Tamils Chola power, artistic expertise and wealth. Emergence of these types of features, such as multifaceted columns along with projecting signals of square capitals signifies arrival of Chola style, which was new at that time. Brihadeeswarar Temple’s build was like one royal temple for displaying emperor’s vision for relationship and power to universal order. This temple was one site of pr...
Earthquakes are one of the most destructive forces of nature. Structures and infrastructures suffer the most when an earthquake strike a seismically active region in the world. Seismic loadings must, therefore, be taken into account when designing structures especially those that are considered as skyscrapers. Let’s roam around the world together and discover the top 5 earthquake proof structures and learn how buildings can be designed to resist extreme seismic loadings. How do earthquakes happen? As an engineer, it’s important to initially understand what the problem is to make the solving part easy. So, what exactly is an earthquake and how do they happen? Everyone knows about the existence of tectonic plates and how they influence the movement of the Earth’s crust. Earthquakes happen when these tectonic plates collide with each other and produce large magnitudes of energy measured using the Richter scale. The movement of these tectonic plates can be attributed to one simp...
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