sandbag

Building a sandbag dike along the Skagit River in anticipation of a flood, October 2003.

A sandbag (floodbag) is a sack made of hessian/burlap, polypropylene or other materials that is filled with sand or soil and used for such purposes as flood control, military fortification, shielding glass windows in war zones and ballast.

Advantages are that burlap and sand are inexpensive, and that the bags can be brought in empty and filled with local sand or soil.

Usage

Sandbags may be used during emergencies when rivers threaten to overflood, or a levee or dike is damaged. They may also be used in non-emergency situations (or after an emergency) as a foundation for new levees, or other water-control structures. Sandbags are not always an effective measure in the event of flooding because water will eventually seep through the bags and finer materials, like clay, may leak out through the seam. After usage, dry sandbags can be stored for future use. Wet bags need to be disposed in a landfill as they may be contaminated by chemicals and fecal matter.^{[citation needed]}

The military uses sandbags for field fortifications, or as a temporary measure to protect civilian structures. Because burlap and sand are inexpensive, large protective barriers can be erected cheaply. The friction created by moving soil or sand grains and multiple tiny air gaps makes sandbags an efficient dissipator of explosive blast. The dimensions and weight of sandbags used in fortification are carefully calculated so that the bags can be interlocked like brickwork and are not too heavy to lift and move around. They may be laid in excavated defences as revetment, or as free-standing walls above ground where excavations are impractical. As plain burlap sandbags deteriorate fairly quickly, sandbag structures that are meant to remain in place for a long time may be painted with a portland cement slurry to reduce the effects of rot and abrasion. Cotton ducking sandbags last considerably longer than burlap and are hence preferable for long-term use. However, the vast majority of sandbags used by modern militaries and for flood prevention are made of circular woven polypropylene. The easy availability to military personnel, size and construction of the bags has also led to the use of sandbags as makeshift hoods for prisoners of war.

Other uses

Sandbags are also used for disposable ballast in gas balloons, and as counterweights for theatre sets.

Sandbags have been used since at least the late 1700s.^{[citation needed]} They have traditionally been filled manually using spades. Since the 1990s, machine-filling has become more common, which allows the work to be done more quickly and efficiently.

During the Second World War, sandbags were also used as extemporized "soft armor" on American tanks, to help defeat German anti-tank rounds.^[1]

Sandbags are also used in weight training, either homemade or commercially obtained. Another common use of sandbags is to put them in the trunk of rear wheel drive cars to increase traction in inclement weather.^{[citation needed]}

In games and various kinds of adversarial settings, the term sandbagging refers to the practice of purposely placing oneself in a weaker position so as to give the deceptive impression that one is less skilled than one truly is.

A often unknown use of sandbags includes panel restoration and recreation. The sandbag being used behind the panel as it is beaten by a hollowing hammer to create initial angles and curves.

In slang

"Sandbag" can also refer to a simple weapon consisting of a small bag filled with sand for use as a cudgel typically by criminals, or to the act of striking a person on the head with such a weapon. This usage is obsolescent in normal speech, appearing mainly in legal codes. However the verb form is extended metaphorically in several slang expressions.^{[citation needed]}

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sandbags

• Hesco bastion
• Sandbagging

References

1. ^ Hunnicut, R.P. "Sherman: A History of the American Medium Tank" ISBN 0-89141-080-5

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2008)

External links

• A Directory of UK local council sandbag policies.
• California Department of Water Resources and the California Conservation Corps - How to fill and place sandbags.
• US Army Corps of Engineers Sandbagging pamphlet (PDF)
• US Army Corps of Engineers - How to use Sandbags (PDF) (HTML)
• Uline-Where to buy sandbags in an emergency.