by James Bowery
Copyright July 2006
Something strikes me as fun to try even if it wasn't intended by the builders of Stonehenge:
Quoting Dr. Christopher L. C. E. Witcombe
The Sarsen Circle, about 108 feet (33 metres) in diameter, was originally comprised of 30 neatly trimmed upright sandstone blocks of which only 17 are now standing. The stones are evenly spaced approximately 1.0 to 1.4 metres apart, and stand on average 13 feet (4 metres) above the ground.Quoting L.M. Michaud, inventor of the Atmospheric Vortex Engine:
A medium size vortex power-station could be 300 m in diameter, and the perforated rotating screen could be 50 m high... Some dust devils are less than a metre in diameter. Under optimal conditions, it should be possible to start a self-sustaining vortex to demonstrate the concept with a station 30 m in diameter.So here's the wild idea:
The Atmospheric Vortex Engine height to diameter ratio is 1:6 and 30 meters is the minimum diameter believed to create a self-sustaining vortex (presuming a humid hot day like mid summer would produce). Stonehenge's primary structure is about the same diameter and height to diameter ratio as that required for a minimal self-sustaining vortex.
Moreover, the AVE people in building a much smaller scale model have discovered that ambient winds can be used to start a vortex by flexibly closing off the leeward parts of a circle while guiding the incoming wind with movable windward-side surfaces to impart angular momentum to the wind entering the circular structure.
Furthermore, another technique used by the AVE people to start a vortex is fire to force an updraft and suck air in the sides of the vortex-generating structure. Quoting an AVE engineer: "it will only require a bit of heat to start and then will increase on it's own".
This is a situation that could be created in the Sarsen Circle of Stonehenge with large cloths, such as sails, approximately 4 meters by 1 meter, under control of about 30 pairs of people cooperating to create a vortex. There would, of course, need to be a fire in the center of the circle for "a bit of heat to start".
Here's a picture of such a fire in a test vortex engine: