How about replacing seawalls made of granites with rubberised structures to stop marauding waves from encroaching coastal regions of the State during monsoon?
Incredible, one may think. But the judges at the regional level CBSE science exhibition held in Bangalore last month found the idea — developed by Aparna Sanjay and Vimal Sugunan, both Class XI students of Bhavan’s Vidya Mandir, Girinagar — innovative.
Their project named X-Breaker 2100, which proposed to develop an effective and long lasting breakwater barrier based on the principle of fluid dynamics, was among the 15 selected from 200-odd projects for the national level CBSE science exhibition to be held in New Delhi from October 4 to 6.
“We are the only team from the State to be selected for the national contest. We have initiated formalities for securing patent for our product,” said Aparna, beaming with pride.
The team successfully demonstrated how a seawall can be made of used rubber tyres, rubber sheets and concrete. Six rubber tyres of equal diameter are used to form six sides of a cubical structure. The eight vertices are then covered on the interior with rubber sheets so as to form a concave surface. These cubes can then be arranged in a step-like manner to form a seawall.
Cheaper alternative
“The rubberised seawall is cheaper than the present granite walls. A contractor we spoke to said while laying one-km-long granite seawall costs about Rs.1.50-2 crore, the alternative we suggested costs only about Rs.12.80 lakh per kilometre,” Aparna said.
The team named their product X-Breaker 2100 for a reason. The Roman numeral ‘X’ signified ten advantages of the product while 2100 was indicative of the 21st century, Vimal said.
He cited capacity to prevent soil erosion, biodegradable nature, elimination of the need for quarrying, reduction of land reclamation and effective waste management among the advantages of their product.
Aparna said their innovation had its genesis in a report that appeared in The Hindu about the need to develop an alternative to the conventional seawall.
“Our senior Jamie in Class XII sprang the idea and a group of six students from Classes XI and XII worked on developing it. Our Physics teacher, Jose, also helped us,” she said.
