After New York, Chicago would be at risk of getting bogged down due to the impacts of underground heat on the basement.
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According to a new study published in the scientific journal “Communications Engineering”, the ground of the city of 2.7 million inhabitants is deformed due to the heat produced by underground structures.
This phenomenon is considered a “silent risk” and also concerns cities all over the planet.
If in May scientists warned that New York could sink under the weight of its own buildings, which weighs 1.68 billion pounds, Chicago’s problem is quite different.
The results of the study show that “the ground deforms due to temperature variations, and no existing civil structure or infrastructure is designed to withstand these variations”, explained the study’s lead author Alessandro Rotta. Loira, an assistant professor at Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering, reports Live Science.
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Chicago’s buildings are not on the verge of collapse, but the study results show the challenges it will face over the next few years if nothing is done.
Chicago’s clay soil can contract when heated. Due to rising temperatures underground, many downtown foundations are experiencing a kind of unwanted settlement, which happens slowly, but continuously.
The researchers found that temperatures underground under downtown Chicago are often 10 degrees Celsius warmer than temperatures under Grant Park, located 80 km outside the city. In some places, the ground is 25 degrees Celsius warmer.
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The study author found that warmer temperatures can cause soil to swell and expand by up to 0.5 inches (12 millimeters). The weight of a building can also cause the ground to contract and sag up to 0.3 inches (8 mm).
“It is very likely that the underground climate change caused excessive cracking and settlement of the foundations which we did not associate with this phenomenon because we were not aware of it”, explains the author of the study.
Several solutions can be put in place: isolate underground structures, and use geothermal technologies.