Igloo Construction Essay

Question

Task: Prepare a detailed igloo construction essay by relying on its civil engineering aspects.

Answer

Introduction
It was in 1970 that S. S. Manhattan was provided with an opportunity to inspect the civil engineering aspects of an igloo. This incident had happened when he was pursuing his voyage in an ice-breaking tanker. The crew happened to trace some Eskimos when they have stalled their voyage for ice tests near the northern coast of Baffin Island. Eskimos were friendly towards the crew and had provided them with the facility to inspect their residential Igloos. Since the construction was built above the snow level, evaluating the civil engineering techniques were much easier to evaluate. The construction above the snow level is very rare among the Eskimos since most of the constructions were built in places with high snowfall and most of the structures were carved out from the large blocks of ice or snow. The floors are even lowered to create extra room in the constructions. The crew has analyzed various attributes of the construction like the density and the actual potency of the material used and the overall building. In this igloo construction essay, the civil engineering and physics aspects of the snow construction are being taken into account.

Arches and Domes
It could be perceived by normal people that the concept of shells is derived out from the modern era construction styles since it is the use of concrete that had made it possible to form thin-shelled structures. The thin shelled structures include some constructive shapes like cones, domes, etc. Though these structures could be dated back to the archaic human history of humans. You could observe that most of the constructions in the medieval era consisted of domes and circular tops which were considered to be a symbol of luxury and prosperity. It should be noted that the domes were built in the era when the architects and specialists had strongly debated the fact that dome created by unskilled masonry has the higher possibility to collapse. The major reason for the collapse of such domes or the circular shapes were the presence of high tensile ring stresses at the bottom section of the construction. The same ideology could be implied in the scenario of igloos since they are in the shape of the upside hollow hemisphere. The sides of the hemisphere should be widened as it gradually moves down, otherwise there would be a larger probability of the construction to crumble down. If the history of the Roman civilization could be taken into consideration, then the prominence of domes could be traced down. These included a variety of masonry buttresses, circumferential iron hoops, chains, etc. The Igloos found in the group of Canadian central Eskimos could be observed to be in the shape of perfect parabolas and hence the mathematical awareness and proficiency of the demography could be ascertained by this. The shape of the upper part of the Igloo could be termed as a catenary, if looked for an accurate terminology. It is a Latin word which would signify the English word chains. The construction made on the top of St. Louis Arch, Missouri, U.S.A is one of the best examples for a catenary. Below is mentioned the expression to find the coordinates for an ideal catenary.

y = a (cosh * x/a - 1)
In this expression, the variable y signifies the height required for the catenary. The variable ‘a’ signifies a constant, whereas ‘x’ signifies the horizontal distance.

 It does not require a special mention that a shelter is required in the freezing temperature of tundra vegetation. It could also be observed the people in tundra region would build a fireplace in the house to keep it warm. In the modern age, these buildings are made by using concrete and wood.

Though if taken the context of the Eskimos or Inuit, it is quite different since they construct their home using snow or ice. You would quite possibly think that constructing houses using ice in the freezing climate of tundra is quite ironical. You could be surprised by knowing the scientific fact that ice is an insulator of heat and would help in keeping the Igloo warm from inside. Apart from igloo, you could also observe some other kinds of ice structures where human dwells. Some of them are snow caves and quinzhee.

Igloos
It is observed in this igloo construction essay  that the igloos could be found in the much northern geographical areas where the community of Eskimos or Inuit majorly dwells. By the popular pictures circulating and the information provided by media, it is quite possible that the reader would get an image of igloo which is made by using rectangular ice blocks. Though it should be understood that there is no strict or common notion that they should be build by using the ice blocks only. If the literal meaning of the igloo is considered, it just signifies the house made of any substance. The ice blocks are constructed in such a manner that a specific angle should be maintained. The resultant figure of the roof would signify a dome. In most of the case, small ventilation is provided on the top of the roof to serve the purpose of ventilation.

Ice Building for warmer interior
It was very surprising that a building that is entirely made of ice is warmer from inside. You could wonder what is the reason behind it while reading this igloo construction essay.

Counter to our imagination it is the ice itself that provides warmth inside the space of the igloo. In most of the observed cases, the igloos are being constructed by using rectangular pieces of ice. The rectangular blocks are being arranged in a manner so that there could be generated a room or cavity inside the juxtaposed blocks. It is after the arrangement if the blocks that the cavity is being revealed and carved out. The igloos are multi-layered and hence lack the presence of the flat surface. The lack of a flat surface could be justified by the scientific fact that the air gets denser the cooler it gets. The same phenomenon happens with the air trapped inside the igloo cavity. In the lower area of the igloo, the air is comparatively denser since it is colder as compared to the air at the upper level. This could create a cold trap at the bottom level of the cavity. You could hence claim it genuinely that the construction of Igloo is done by following the major laws of physics. It has been observed that the temperature inside the Igloo reached a safer level of 61-degree Fahrenheit even when the external atmosphere reached the severity to the level of -49 degrees Fahrenheit.

Construction
As mentioned in the previous section of this igloo construction essay, it is being constructed in the form of an igloo. The walls of the igloo would be leaning towards each other to form a closed shape at the top. To ensure that there is no air passage in between the blocks and hence they are sealed properly, the outer walls are polished in a very well manner. The whole construction does not require any external support and hence has the strength to withstand independently. The snow gets very strong under this form and could even support an average person if he would stand over the ceiling. Though it should be noted that if the igloo is expected to be of larger shape the bottom portion of the construction should be vertical to bear the weight of above lying snow rather than following the shape of a parabola or an arc. In the initial phase of the construction process of an igloo, the ice bricks are arranged with each other in a spiral or circular form. To form an upward spiral, further snow bricks are arranged one on to the top of another. In the end, the whole structure would signify a self-supporting dome that could trap significant space in itself. The readers should understand that fresh snow is very fragile and thus couldn’t retain strength in itself. Hence fresh snow is not used in constructing an igloo. If the snow has very little density, then it would be very hard to build an Igloo by stacking the snow bricks in the shape of a dome. The inner wall of the igloo starts to melt when the human starts to dwell in it. This is because the temperature in the igloo is far higher than the external atmosphere. The melted ice would refreeze when it is not in use. This would further add to the insulation from the outer atmosphere and increases the strength of the construction. An additional layer is formed in the inner layer of the igloo in this particular process. It could be hence understood that though the snow is used to construct the igloo, it is the later formation ice that adds actual strength to the whole building.

From extensive observation in this igloo construction essay, it has been noted that the igloos are constructed majorly in three sizes to serve different purposes. If you find a very small igloo, it should probably be a temporary shelter for a hunter who has to travel a long way for his meal whether it is in the sea or on the land. The igloos which are of intermediate size are also a temporary construction and could house the maximum of two families. It is the medium size igloos which you could find in a village situated in the tundra region. The last type, that is the larger igloos are created by connecting different igloos by using a tunnel, where, some of them are used for dwelling and some of them to carry out some events.

Quinzhee
Different from the construction process of the igloo, quinzhee is prepared by carving or digging into a subsequent amount of snow. The process would provide for a human shelter by generating a hollow cavity. They are built for the temporary stay and hence there is not much significance given for its finishing works. Though if taken the case of an igloo, they are created by using specific snow bricks, and later they are polished to make it semi-transparent. Hence more effort is needed in building an igloo as compared to the construction of a Quinzhee.

As mentioned in the above section of this igloo construction essay, the quinzhees are temporary settlements and hence the requirement of denser snow is not looked after like in the case of the igloo. The construction process of quinzhee is far easier and simpler than that of the igloo. Though the construction process is easy, the quinzhee would not sustain in the harsher conditions and would get collapsed easily as compared to the igloos built by the Eskimos. It is the less density of the snow which surrounds the boundary of quinzhee that increases the possibility of it crashing down in the harsh situations. The aspects like quality and aesthetics are not taken into consideration while creating a quinzhee because of the lack of time and its temporary feature.

Snow cave
The methodology of building a snow cave is to carving through or digging into snow or glacier. The same technology of keeping the entrance much lower than that of the main area is don as in the igloo. This technique would help in trapping warm air inside the cave itself. The snow cave is also a temporary construction as the quinzhee is built. The snow caves can maintain a very good temperature of 32-degree Fahrenheit even if the external atmosphere temperature plunges to the level of -40 degrees Fahrenheit.

Glacier Cave
These are naturally formed caves and hence are not made by artificial means or human interventions. It is by the natural flow of the water under the glaciers that lead to the formation of a glacier cave. The glaciers tend to melt when the temperature varies to a further higher level which gets accumulated into the ice cracks. As the temperature of the melted ice is comparatively higher, the volume of ice crack would gradually start to increase. It is both the process of melting and erosion that would lead to the enlargement of such crevices into a fully developed glacier cave. Though the phenomenal surge in temperature because of global warming has increased the rate of ice melting which lead to the collapse of such naturally existing glacier caves.

Dangers
It doesn’t require to be specially mentioned that the buildings which are created by ice retain a significant amount of risk and danger in it. Both the integrity and strength gets compromised even if a small ventilating structure is being introduced to the ice made structure. The probability of the danger would significantly increase the diameter of the dome surpasses the limit of 10 feet. If the accurate measurements and calculations are not followed while building a dome, the construction would surely get collapsed. It has been observed in this igloo construction essay that the highest probability of being destroyed retains in the case of a quinzhee. Since the surrounding walls of the quinzhee are made of very-low-density snow, they would melt very easily. Whereas the igloos are created by using denser and strong snow bricks which reduces the probability risk. By continuous use, the inner wall of the igloo would get transformed into thick ice which would further contribute to the strength and integrity of the whole building. The statistics of death is very high among the people who live in quinzhees.