ABSTRACT
Hydrodemolition is a new word that, borrowing two terms from ancient Greek and Latin, has been created to describe a process as old as the earth itself: the destruction of rock and materials harder than concrete by the relentless force of falling and surging water. The wearing force of water is well known. Over aeons of geological time the Colorado River carved the Grand Canyon, and the Niagara River the famous falls. In practice the hydraulic power of a waterfall of about 10000 m, 150-300 litres/min, has been harnessed to produce equipment to remove concrete. Hydrodemolition technology, in essence, compresses time from centuries to seconds by speeding water flow to real-time cutting force, to demolish the bonds uniting the concrete aggregate. But let us pause here to give a history of the discovery and development of hydrodemolition.
