After New York, Chicago would be in danger of faltering due to the underground heat’s impact on the basement.
• Also read: New York City is slowly sinking under water and geologists are sounding the alarm
The soil in the city of 2.7 million is being deformed by the heat generated by underground structures, according to a new study published in the journal Communications Engineering.
This phenomenon is considered a “silent risk” and is also affecting cities around the world.
While scientists warned in May that New York could drown under the weight of its own buildings, which weigh 1.68 billion pounds, the problem in Chicago is very different.
The results of the study show that “soil deforms due to temperature fluctuations and no existing structure or infrastructure is designed to withstand these fluctuations,” explained lead author of the study, Alessandro Rotta. Loira, an assistant professor at Northwest’s McCormick School of Engineering, reports to Live Science.
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Chicago’s buildings are not on the verge of collapsing, but the study results show what challenges it will face in the years to come if nothing is done.
Chicago’s clay soil can contract when warmed. Due to the rising underground temperatures, many inner-city foundations are experiencing a kind of undesirable settlement that occurs slowly but continuously.
Researchers found that underground temperatures beneath downtown Chicago are often 10 degrees Celsius warmer than beneath Grant Park, which is 50 miles outside of the city. In some places the ground is 25 degrees Celsius warmer.
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The study author noted that warmer temperatures can cause soil to swell and expand by up to 12 millimeters. The weight of a building can also cause the floor to contract and sag by up to 8mm.
“It is very likely that subsurface climate change has led to excessive cracking and settlement of foundations, which we did not link to this phenomenon because we were unaware of it,” explains the study’s author.
There are several solutions: insulation of underground structures and use of geothermal technologies.