—_- ay re ae p 0 evi ENGINEER » ENGINEER YOU’D NEVERWELCOME TO IAMCIVILENGINEER —rcmencincer| novemser, 2015 | nnn neenettreeeeeteeeee A MESSAGE FROM A CIVIL ENGINEER Dear Civil Engineer, Welcome to a whole new Dimension ! The magazine you have in your hands is not just a piece of paper containing some information, news but is a new step ahead towards innovation and modernization. The internet, social media and electronic media has its own dimensions but nonetheless they have failed to replace completely magazines and newspapers. “Tameivilengineer ~ The Magazine” is a digital as well as printed property of iamcivilengineer.com — the premium civil engineering website. The theme of “Bridging the gap, filling the voids” clearly shows our intension. We have put forward this effort in order to have an organized set of information, derived from genuine sources and present them ina digital rollercoaster that can touch your heart. Here you will see news updates from around the globe, interesting facts and figures that make you “woo”, technology and research that can open-up a whole new dimension in your life as a civil engineer. This is the first edition of the magazine, despite of troubles and problems we are facing, but yet our intension is to provide with you a hallmark that can win your heart. This is just the introductory version of the magazine, and thus we have an appeal :~ “Please do tell us, your feedback, your opinion, because after-all its YOU that matters to us. Do like us, follow us, share it with your friends and colleagues” (Eng/Saad Iqbal) Team IAMCIVILENGINEER IMPORTANT Don't forget to hit by:- Our website http://www.iamcivilengineer.com Like us on facebook:- http://www.facebook.com /iameivilengineerdotcom Follow us on twitter: http://www.twitter.com /iameivilengs, Email us your feedback: admin @iameivilengineer.comPOPULAR ON IAMCIVILENGINEER.COM rw civ enaineer| novemeer, 2015 | 01 For these articles and other content, visit iamcivilengineer.com oa) fl 15+ Important Points for Grouting of Post Tensioning, Tendons - Backfill Grouting Pre-tensioning and Post-tensioning is one of the widely used methods to enhance the load carrying capacity of the concrete structures like bridges, flyovers, dam spillways etc. After completing the pre- stressing the ducts .... HEAVEN - LINKING AVENUE, HUNAN = CHINA - THE BIG GATE ROAD ? China has many breathtaking natural landscapes to explore but when incredible man made structures intervene with... @ Asa Mauvosin Dam Switzerland, The dam of dreams Catch your subscription TODAY !! ‘Mauvoisin Dam is a concrete variable radius arch dam across the Val de Bagnes on the Dranse de Bagnes stream, in the canton of Valais, Switzerland. Initial construction on the dam commenced in 1951 and was completed in 1957, with the reservoir filling by 1958. Stay in touch with all the updates, reports, researches, news, stories and alot more just in affordable rate. To know more about your subscription logon to iamcivilengineer.com and hit by the GREEN CONCRETE, ALL THE FACTS YOU SHOULD Subscription link. KNOW Geopolymer concrete, or green concrete, is part of a For any queries feel free to contact us movement to create construction materials that have Yb a reduced impact on the environment. It is made from a combination of an inorganic polymer and 25 to 100 percent industrial waste. Here is a list of 4 admin@iamcivilengineer.com benefits to using green concrete for your next project. iCONTENTS 02 I'M CIVIL ENGINEER| NOVEMBER, 2015 ON THE COVER , EARTHQUAKES GIVE INSIGHT INTO CHANGES BELOW EARTH’S SURFACE tis well known that an earthquake in one part of Bavarian Molasse north of the Alps..... GREEN TECHNOLOGY ‘N GEO-POLYMER CONCRETE - A CONCRETE WITHOUT CEMENT Geopolymer cement is an r @)n/ innovative material and a real alternative to conventional Portland cement for use in construction. ... FROM THE GLOBE Buy DRONES TO , AUTONOMOUSLY bell REPAIR - h THE CITIES OF FUTURE ~ ~ A lot of time and effort goes into keeping our cities in working order. Potholes need filling, power ... INNOVATIVE RESEARCH ap 3D SEISMIC SURVEY FOR GERMANY Hydrogeothermal usage for sustainable energy supply (heat, (electricity) from low-enthalpy resources (temperature gradient of about 30 °K/km) at 3-5 km depth is common practice in hot limestone aquifers in the the world can trigger others thousands of Kilometers away....>>>READ MORE FROM THE GLOBE MOROCCO TO LAUNCH SOLAR SUPERPOWER - MEGA PROJECT The Morocean city of Ouarzazate is nicknamed the QUALITY CONTROL AND SAFETY CONCERNS IN CONSTRUCTION Weak quality control leads to defects or failures in constructed facilities, thus result in very large costs. Even with minor defects,....CONTENTS HERE COMES FUN INTERESTING, AMAZING AND FUNNY America consumes more energy on cooling and refrigration than whole of the world. This shows how americans are addiced to cooling... STRUCTURE PROFILE THE GARUACHI DAM The Caruachi Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Caroni River in Bolivar state, Venezuela. The dam supports a hydroelectric power facility with a 2,160 megawatts (2,900,000 hp) capacity. CHESAPEAKE BAY BRIDGE he Chesapeake Bay Bridge (commonly known as the "Bay Bridge") is a major dual-span bridge in the U.S. state of Maryland. Spanning the Chesapeake Bay, it connects the state's rural Eastern Shore region with the more urban Western Shore. The original span opened in 1952 ARCH ARCHITECTURAL TECHNOLOGY A research team from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has developed Cloud ArchTM, an innovative, ultra-light architecture that will revolutionise the way large open public spaces, such as market, airport, stadium, concert hall, factory, are built. I'M CIVIL ENGINEER| NOVEMBER, 2015 03 TECHNOLOGY BUZZ’ HOW TO MAKE STRONGER, ‘GREENER’ CEMENT Concrete is the world's most-used construction material, and a leading contributor to global warming, producing as much as one-tenth of industry-generated greenhouse-gas emissions... AMAZING NEWS !!! FREE PROFESSIONAL EMAIL GET YOUR ( - OWN ‘toy gournane Qiancivilengixcer, com be professional be a civil engineer just signup on www.iameivilengineer.comCOVER STORY 04 I'M CIVIL ENGINEER| NOVEMBER, 2015 EARTHQUAKES GIVE INSIGHT INTO CHANGES BELOW EARTH’S SURFACE TRENDING THIS MONTH - Saad Iqbal Editor-in-Chief Earthquakes occur when stress builds up along a tectonic fault. This stress causes the two surfaces of the fault, which had previously been stuck together due to friction, to suddenly move, or slide, releasing energy in the form of seismic waves. De CHARYBDIS is an inverted fountain designed by William Pye. t is well known that an earthquake in one part of the world can trigger others thousands of kilometers away. But in a paper published in the journal Science Advances, researchers reveal that these triggered earthquakes are just one outward sign of far more widespread changes taking place below the Earth’s surface. Earthquakes can fundamentally change the elastic properties of the Earth’s crust in regions up to 6,000 kilometers away, altering its ability to withstand stresses for a period of up to a few weeks, according to Kevin Chao, a postdoc in MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences and a member of a research team led by Andrew Delorey at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The research demonstrates that the Earth is a dynamic and interconnected system, where one large earthquake can create a cascading sequence of events thousands of kilometers away, Chao says. Earthquakes occur when stress builds up along a tectonic fault. This stress causes the two surfaces of the fault, which had previously been stuck together due to friction, to suddenly move, or slide, releasing energy in the form of seismicwaves. These waves take the form of both body waves, which cause the shaking movement that does so much damage during a quake, and surface waves. Surface waves can travel thousands of kilometers beneath the ground. Surface wave propagation When a surface wave from an earthquake some way off passes through another fault region, it changes the balance between the frictional properties that keep the surfaces locked together, the elasticity that allows the crust to withstand strain, and the stress state that can cause it to fail, Chao says. “When surface waves pass through, all of these properties rearrange and change,” he says. “If a fault with high stress is ready to fail, it will accumulate more stresses in the fault, meaning an earthquake could occur at any time.” To demonstrate these changes, the researchers studied the 2012 earthquake off the coast of North Sumatra in the Indian Ocean. The earthquake, which had a magnitude of 8.6, is known to have been followed by two earthquakes in Japan with a magnitude greater than5.5. When the researchers studied data from strain meter readings, GPS equipment, and information on seismicity — or the number of small-magnitude earthquakes — in the region, as well as the migrationCOVER STORY " a at The Aqueduct includes 75 single arches and 44 double arches (or 88 arches when counted individually), followed by four single arches, totalling 167 arches in all. The construction of the aqueduct follows the principles laid out by Vitruvius as he describes in his De Architectura published in the mid- (first century. apes Share with me your thoughts on innovation. ednin@iamcivilengineercom rM cL ENGINEER| NOVEMBER, 2015 I 05 of the earthquakes, they found that the two triggered quakes with a magnitude of greater than 5.5 were part ofa cluster ofactivityin the area in the days after the Indian Ocean event. “When the Indian Ocean earthquake occurred, the surface wave passed through the northeast of Japan, and the seismicity in the region was suddenly triggered,” Chao says. “During that time of increased seismicity, there were three triggered earthquakes in the region with a magnitude of greater thang.5,” hesay ‘This region of the Barth’s crust was already critically stressed following the major Japanese earthquake of 2011, so the additional stress, albeit temporary, caused by the surface wave passing through, was enough to trigger another cluster of quakes. When a fault fails and an earthquake occurs, it also pushes into the neighboring region, reducing the available space and compressing the crustin thisarea. So the researchers also looked for signs of compressive stress in this region of Japan following the Indian Ocean earthquake. They found signs that cracks in the rock under the Japanese mainland were closing as a result of compressive st increasing the shear strength of the crust. Pervasive deformation While the research will not in itself allow us to predict earthquakes, it does help to increase our understanding of how they are triggered, as well as how the Earth’s crust behaves, Chao says. “We still cannot say that there will definitely be another earthquake after the first one has struck, because although we know there will be changes, we do not know the existing stress conditions in every region, so we cannot predict anything with certainty,” Chao says. “But one important thing we can say is that we know earthquakes do interact with each other, because surface waves can travel thousands of kilometers, and change the elasticity in another region,” he adds. The research is extremely interesting, says John Vidale, a professor of Earth and space sciences at the University of ‘Washington. In particular, he says it is surprising to see so many signals of transient deformation caused solely by the stressing of a distant event. “It is also a surprise to see indications that the deformation might be pervasive rather than limited to the immediate vicinity of the Earth’s surface ora single fault,” Vidale adds. ‘The clear observation of an increase in rock stiffness, beginning at the time of the distant earthquake, is a new observation, Vidale says: “The weeks-long progression of small earthquake activity, material change, and motion are just the latest in a line of geophysical stu indicating that the Earth moves much more irregularly than we suspected just a decade ortwo ago.” INTERESTING The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) is using a conveyor bridge to transport conerete over Interstate 15 to construction workers in the middle of the freeway. The conveyor eliminates the need for a driver to truck the concrete to the construction site, saving nearly 15 to 20 minutes in the proce:FROM THE GLOBE FOLLOW @/AMCIVILENGG " Sees e Warka water tower- These 10 meter tall towers might one day provide remote villages in Africa more than 25 gallons of clean drinking water everyday. WHAT YOU THINK? Most of the perso thinks this erack is a shear crack that might be because of non-provision of lintel beam, poor masonry work, What you think? ELS Share with me your thoughts on innovation. cdmin @iamcivilengineer com rM cL ENGINEER|| NOVEMBER, 2015) 06 DRONES TO AUTONOMOUSLY REPAIR THE CITIES OF FUTURE RESEARCH - AN INNOVATIVE IDEA lot of time’ and effort oes into keeping our cities in working order. Potholes need filling, power lines need maintaining and street light globes need replacing when blown. But a new initiative led by the University of Leeds could soon see these labor-intensive tasks taken care of by an army of drones that keep a watchful eye over our streets, tending to cracks in our urban environment the moment they begin to appear. The £4.2 million (US$6.4 million) research project carries the overarching aim of ushering in "self-repairing cities." That is, the goal is to develop a team of small robots that detect problems with infrastructure as soon as the pop up, to prevent them developing into inconvenient roadworks or other larger repair projects. "We want to make Leeds the first city in the world to have zero disruption from street works,” says Professor Phil Purnell, from the university's School of Civil Engineering. "We can support infrastructure which can be entirely maintained by robots and make the disruption caused by the constant digging up the road in our citiesa thing of the past.” The research is broken down into three areas, each pertaining to a specifickind of machine to perform a specific kind of task. Dubbed perch and repair,” the first arm ims to develop drones that can perch on structures just as birds do, swooping in to repair things like busted street lights. Meanwhile, "perceive and patch" will involve the development of drones that keep watch over the city streets, autonomously detecting and repairing potholes in roads, whereas "fire and forget” is looking to develop robots that can function independently and indefinitely inside live utility pipes, carrying out inspections, repairs, metering and reporting tasks." The critical part of this project is being proactive rather than reactive,” said Dr Raul Fuentes, from the university's School of Civil Engineering. "This is crucial to ensuring we have sustainable and resilient infrastructure. We will target our interventions so that they are invisible to the human eye, before they become a real problem."Having only just announced the project, a lot of questions remain as to how exactly drone technology can be advanced so the machines can safely tackle these problems in densely populated areas. Robotics researchers at ETH Ziirich'sFROM THE GLOBE FOLLOW @/AMCIVILENGG " 'M CIVIL ENGINEER| NovEMBER, 2015] O7 BEREREEREREREREREREREREEE aw 3D SEISMIC SURVEY FOR GEO - THERMAL EXPLORATION IN GERMANY RESEARCH - BY: Dr. Ewald Liischen ydrogeotherm al usage for sustainable energy supply (heat, electricity) from low- enthalpy resources (temperature gradient| of about 30 °K/km) at 3-5 km depth is common practice in hot limestone aquifers in the Bavarian Molasse north of the Alps. However, hardrock (petrothermal) reservoirs hold a much higher geothermal potential in Germany than these conventional hydrogeothermal reservoirs. The latter contain in-situ hot water, while petrothermal reservoirs are characterized by dry heat at depths (hot dry rock’) where coldwaterneeds to be injected first. The aim of the 3D seismic survey was to image and characte steeply dipping fault and fracture zones in granites and the outeropping crystalline rocks of the western Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains) in Saxony where cold water could be injected into a naturally fractured fault zone. The target depth is 5-6 km where temperatures between 150 °C and 180°C can beexpected. Application and experience regarding 3D seismic measurements in the crystalline environment are different compared to the sedimentary environment. There is normally no stratification as in sedimentary basins, where seismic exploration for oil and gas reservoirs is best practice since a long time. Unconventional und novel ea actor is pictures explains why Depth of beam is important in moment of inertia Ou Dr. Ewald Liischen is a senior geophysicist at the Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics at Hannover, Germany. Heis responsible for three-dimensional seismic exploration of aon Share with me your thoughts on innovation. cdmin @iamcivilengineer com s are required in data ion and data processing. Therefore, the second aim was to test the 3D seismic technique under these challenging conditions. A feasibility study suggested the are: Aue-Bad Schlema-Schneeberg as a deep petrothermal project, mainly based upon favorable temperature conditions and the huge amount of knowledge available from mining activities. The 3D seismic me performed using the technique and consisted of source and receiver lines spaced nominally at 400 m with 3o m station spacing within a 10 km x 12 km area. Three simultaneously acting 27 t vibrators were used as a seismic source with a 12-96 Hzsweep signal of 10 s length, with 8 sweeps per source point. A patch of up to 6000 recording channels was moved in role-along mode over thearea fora total of 8146 recording stations. There were 5348 vibrator points, giving a nominal common-midpoint (CMP) coverage up to 250 in the centre of the area for abinsizeofismx15mFROM THE GLOBE FOLLOW @/AMCIVILENGG Sais Approximately 500 students attend the school in Andranovory, Madagascar, and since 2013 Sika has been supporting the project to rehabilitate and expand the school building. Sales EE From the consideration of maximum daylight, the windows in the room should be located in: aeast b)west e)north south Sais Find answers at the end. share your questions. din @iamcivilengineer.com I'M CIVIL ENGINEER] NOVEMBER, 2015] O8 GEO-POLYMER CONCRETE - A CONCRETE WITHOUT CEMENT TOWARDS GREENER EARTH eopolymer| cement is) alternative’ to conventional Portland cement for| Fl!” use in construction. | It relies on minimally processed natural materials or|/ industrial byproducts to significantly reduce carbon footprint by 70%. The main constituent of geopolymers source of silicon and aluminium which are provided by thermally activated natural materials (e.g. kaolinite) or industrial byproducts (e.g. fly ash or slab) and an alkaline activating solution which polymerizes these materials into molecular chains and networks to create hardened binder. It is also called as alkali- activated cement or inorganic polymer cement. Advantages of GPC: - GPC cures more rapidly than Portland-based cements. They gain most of their strength within 24 hours. - GPC sets slowly enough that they can be mixed at a batch plant and delivered in a concrete mixer. PC also has the ability to form a strong chemical bond with all kind ofrock-based aggregates. ~The drying shrinkage is much less compared to cement concrete, making it well suited for thick and heavily restrained concrete structural members. -This concrete are found to possess very high acid ance when tested under exposure to 2% and 10% sulphuricacids. - GPC has very low chloride permeability, thus providing better protection to reinforcement. There is often confusion between the meanings of the two terms ‘geopolymer cement’ and 'geopolymer concrete’. A cement is a binder whereas concrete is the composite material resulting from the addition of cement to stone aggregates. In other words, to produce concrete one purchases cement (generally Portland cement or Geopolymer cement) and adds it to the concrete batch. Geopolymer chemistry was from the start aimed at manufacturing binders and cements for various types of applications.FROM THE GLOBE FOLLOW @/AMCIVILENGG De Interchange of U.S. Highway 101 (locally known as the Bayshore Freeway) and Interstate 280 as viewed from Bernal Heights Park - San Francisco, California... INTERESTING Arial View of Hoover SSL Water Tank Foundation I'M CIVIL ENGINEER) NovEMBER, 2015] QQ MOROCCO TO LAUNCH SOLAR SUPERPOWER - MEGA PROJECT MOROCCO POISED TO BECOME SOLAR SUPERPOWER — ~~ The Moroccan city of! Ouarzazate is now the trading city, nicknamed the “door of the desert”, is the centre for another blockbuster — a complex: of four linked solar mega-plants that, alongside hydro and wind, will help provide| nearly half of Morocco’s electricity from renewables by 2020 with, it is hoped, some spare to export to Europe. The project is a key plank in Morocco’s ambitions to use its untapped deserts to become a global solarsuperpower. ‘When the full complex is complete, it will be the largest concentrated solar power (CSP) plant in the world , and the first phase, called Noor 1, will go live next month. The mirror technology it uses is less widespread and more expensive than the photovoltaic panels that are now familiar on roofs the world over, but it will have the advantage of being able to continue producing power even after the sun goes down. ‘As engineers put the finishing touches to Noor 1, its 500,000 crescent-shaped solar mirrors glitter across the desert skyline. The 800 rows follow the sun as it tracks across the heavens, whirring quietly every few minutes as their shadows slip further east. When they are finished, the four plants at Ouarzazate will occupy a space as big as Morocco’s capital city, Rabat, and generate 580 MW of electricity, enough to power a million homes. Noor 1 itself has a generating capacity of 160MW. “We are not an oil producer. We import 94% of our energy as fossil fuels from abroad and that has big consequences for our state budget,” el-Haite told the Guardian, “We also used to subsidise fossil fuels which have a heavy cost, so when we heard about the potential of solar energy, we thought; why not?” Each parabolic mirror is 12 metres high and focussed on a steel pipeline carrying a ‘heat transfer solution’ (HTF) that is warmed to 393C as it along the trough defore coiling into a heat engine. There, it is mixed with water to create steam that turns energy- generating turbines. The HTF is made up of a synthetic thermal oil solution that is pumped towards a heat tank containing molten sands that can store heat energy for three hours, allowing the plant to power homes into the night. The mirrors are spaced in tier formations, to minimise damage from sand blown up by desert winds.FROM THE GLOBE FOLLOW @/AMCIVILENGG Interchange of U: Highway 101 (locally known as the Bayshore Freeway) and Interstate 280 as viewed from Bernal Heights Park - San Francisco, California... Na What you say about this? :-) SSL Water Tank Foundation I'M CIVIL ENGINEER] NOVEMBER, 2015|, 10 QUALITY CONTROL AND SAFETY CONCERNS IN CONSTRUCTION ATRUE CONCERN FOR A PROJECT MANAGER eak quality| control leads| to defects or| failures in constructed| facilities, thus result in very large costs. Even with| minor defects, re- construction may be required and facility operations impaired. Increased costs and| delays are the result. In the worst case, failures| may cause personal injuries or fatalities. Accidents during the construction process can similarly result in personal injuries and large costs. Indirect costs of insurance, inspection and regulation are increasing rapidly due to these increased direct costs. Good project managers try to ensure that the job is done right the first time and that no major accidents occur on the project. As with cost control, the most important decisions regarding the quality of a completed facility are made during the design and planning stages rather than during construction. It is during th preliminary stages that component configurations, material specifications and_ functional performance are decided. Quality control during construction consists largely of insuring conformance to these original design and planning decisions. While conformance to existing design decisions is the primary focus of quality control, there are exceptions to this rule. First, unforeseen circumstances, incorrect design decisions or changes desired by an owner in the facility function may require re~ evaluation of design decisions during the course of construction. While these changes may be motivated by the concern for quality, they represent occasions for re-design with all the attendant objectives and constraints. As a second case, some designs rely upon informed and appropriate decision making during the construction process itself. For example, some tunneling methods make decisions about the amount of shoring required at different locations based upon observation of soil conditions during the tunneling process. Since such decisions are based on better information concerning actual site conditions, the facility design may bemorecostefiectiveasa result. With the attention to conformance as the measure of quality during the construction process, the specification of quality requirements in the design and contract documentation becomes extremely important. Quality requirements should be clear and verifiable, so that all parties in the project can understand the requirements for conformance.FUN ALL ARROUND LOG ON TO: WIWWIAMCIVILENGINEER.COM I'M CIVIL ENGINEER] NoveMBER, 2015] 11 HERE COMES THE FUN!! :-P INTERESTING, FUNNY AND AMAZING ror Pe = 2 America consumes more j energy on cooling and refrigration than whole of the ; as world. This shows how americans are addiced to cooling. Pe Gleaner = = Dubai Eternity What you think of this . ; Tower, Dubai, UAE door??? :-) :-D Be Yt ns Pn sf This pictures show [: Z construction of a dam, in which RCC is being poured. RCC here is not Reinforced This is hoover dam bypass Cement Concrete but it is roller bridge. compacted concrete. Des A straddle carrier is anon road going vehicle for use in port terminals and intermodal yards used for stacking and moving ISO standard containers. In the picture they are used for box girder launching... CT Most of the Bridges are build as pre-cast due to at-sit difficulties.STRUCTURE PROFILE LOG ON TO: WWWW.IAMCIVILENGINEER.COM I'M CIVIL ENGINEER) NOVEMBER, 2015] 12 THE GARUACHI DAM 2,160 megawatts CAPACITY downstream from the Guri Dam belonging to the "Central Hidroeléctrica Simén Bolivar" and about 35 kilometres (22 mi) from where the Caroni and Orinoco rivers meet at Ciudad Guayana Z | An amazing Aerial View of Spillway he Caruachi Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Caroni River in Bolivar state, Venezuela. The dam supports a hydroelectric power facility with a 2,160 megawatts (2,900,000 hp) capacity. The facility is located about 59 kilometres (37 mi)STRUCTURE PROFILE FOLLOW IAMCIILENGG IM CIVIL ENGINEER] NovEMBER, 2015] 13 Wy. BEB’ BBBREEEEE’ BEEBE BEEEEE CHESAPEAKE BAY BRIDGE Opened in 1952, witha length of 4.3 miles he Chesapeake Bay Bridge (commonly known as the "Bay Bridge") is a major dual-span bridge in the U.S. state of Maryland. Spanning the Chesapeake Bay, it connects the state's rural Eastern Shore region with the more urban Western Shore. ‘The original span opened in 1952 and with a length of 4.3 miles (6.9 km), was the world’s longest continuous over-water steel structure; the parallel s dded in 1973. The bridge is named the "Gov. William Preston Lane, Jr. Memorial Bridge" after William Preston Lane, Jr. who, as Governor of Maryland, initiated its construction in the late 1940s after decades of political indecision. The bridge is part of U.S. Routes 50 and 301, and serves as a vital link in both routes. As part of U.S. Route 50, it connects the Baltimore- Washington Metropolitan Area with Ocean yland and other coastal touri ‘U.S. Route 301, it serv as part of an alternate route for Interstate 95 travelers, between northern Delaware and the Washington, D.C. area. Because of this linkage, the bridge is busy and has become known point of traffic congestion, particularly during peak hours and summer months.STRUCTURE PROFILE " ey First-of-its-kind, light-as-cloud architectural technology boasts lower setup cost and time, and is set to revolutionize long-span architecture and construction. m™ CIVIL ENGINEER| NOVEMBER, 2015 | 14 BBBEBEBEBEEEEEBEBEEBEEEE ULTRA LIGHT-WEIGHT CLOUD ARCH ARCHITECTURAL TECHNOLOGY Long-span construction: research team from the National University of ngapore (NUS) has veloped Cloud Arch'TM, an innovative, ultra-light architecture that will revolutionise the way large open public spaces, such as market, airport, stadium, concert hall, factory, are built. This patent-pending technology is jointly developed by a research team led by Japanese architect Assistant Professor Shinya Okuda, who is from the NUS School of Design and Environment, and Professor Tan Kiang Hwee from the NUS Faculty of Engineering, in collaboration with structural engineering consultancy firm Web Structures. Cloud ArchTM is a new generation of architectural technology that harnesses ultra-light materials to meet the construction needs of sustainable future. The first prototype debuted as one of the two winners of Archifest 2014 Pavilion Competition that was held in Singapore from May to June 2014. Cloud ArchTM was on display from 26 September to 11 October 2014. Assistant Professor Shinya Okuda, who is from the NUS Department of Architecture, said, "Shed is one of the most primitive forms of architecture. We are interested in creating column-free space in a way that saves materials and time, by using ultra lightweight materials. We decided to use Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) foam, a widely used packaging material More than 95% of this material is air, and its composite can be fire- resistant. After two years of prototyping and structural testing, we successfully developed a technique to control the composite material and applied it for the construction of long-span structures. This novel technology has been granted a provisional US patent." "We have also developed several prototypes -- starting from a mere 4-metre span, to the current design comprising two sets of 14-metre span in the form of the Pavilion. As the design looks like a floating cloud, we called it Cloud ArchTM," added Asst Prof Okuda. Cloud ArchTM: Lightweight, scalable, reduces costs and setup time Elaborating on the merits of Cloud ArchTM, Asst Prof Okuda said, "Structurally optimised forms are often doubly curved. By applying digital fabrication technology on the EPS foam, we could shape complex forms in a fast and cost- efficient manner. As the material is extremely lightweight, we could achieve significant savings in terms transportation cost as well as the time taken to set up and dismantle the structures. With Cloud ArchTM, we hope to reduce the construction cost by one-third and construction time by half, compared to conventional construction materials, such as concrete.” Professor Tan Kiang Hwee, who is from the NUS Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, added, "EPS foam has almost similar compression strength to weight ratio as concrete andSTRUCTURE PROFILE " PR es The word skyscraper originally referred to a type of sail on a sailing ship. is currently used as landfill for landscape works. We are also testing its composite properties when reinforced with bonded fabric as a possible material for permanent construction. Dr. Hossein Rezai, Director of Web Structures, which has been conducting structural simulations of the Cloud Arch commented, "A very encouraging fact is that, we have barely needed to increase the EPS composite thickness for the longer spans, but only to reinforce its composite strength. This implies that Cloud Arch's advantageous ultra-lightweight, will be further realised when the target spans get longer. The research team’s next step will be to develop a 24-metre span factory roofing prototype. This project is supported by the NUS- JTC Industrial Infrastructure Innovation (13) Centre, which was set up jointly by NUS and JTC Corporation in 2011 to promote the development of innovative and sustainable industrial infrastructure solutions in Singapore. Other possible applications of the technology include developing longer spans for airplane hangars. Mr Da ‘Tan, As nt CEO of JTC Corporation's Development Group, said, "JTCis glad to support the project through the NUS-JTC 13 Centre. We hope that the Centre will continue to push the boundaries of innovation and explore new possibilities in sustainable industrial infrastructure solutions, land intensification, planning and design, and systems integration and optimisation, to support the transformation and growth of Singapore's industrial landscape." Mr Theodore Chan, 54th President of Singapore Institute of Architect and Chairman of the Jury Panel for rM cL ENGINEER| NOVEMBER, 2015 I 15 the Archifest 2014 Pavilion competition noted in the competition's announcementletter dated 4 July 2014, "A breakthrough in technology, the patent-filed struetural-foam of Cloud ArchTM intrinsically lends itself to a statement of true architectural form. The innovative use of fire- resistant structural foam coupled with technological research and rigorous testing, is a commendable effort on the part of the architect- designers behind Cloud ArchTM. ‘The efficiently spanned arched roof immediately achieves a ‘wow' factor together with relative ease and speed of construction. In today's context of the industry's drive towards enhanced productivity and buildability, Cloud ArchTM represents great promise in material technology advancement.” On his vision for future applications of Cloud ArchTM, Asst Prof Okuda said, "zoth century visionary R. Buckminster Fuller once envisioned his invention Geodesic dome to cover 3km radius over the Manhattan in the 1960's for the energy efficient built environment. We hope that the Cloud ArchTM could make such a great impact on the sustainable built environment in the 21st Century.”TECHNOLOGY BUZZ " ey Concrete is the world's most-used construction material, and a leading contributor to global warming, producing as much as one-tenth of industry- generated ions. Now a new study suggests a way in which those emissions could be reduced by more than half — and the result would be a stronger, more durable material. m™ CIVIL ENGINEER| NOVEMBER, 2015 | 16 BBBEBEBEBEEEEEBEBEEBEEEE HOW TO MAKE STRONGER, ‘GREENER' CEMENT Aresearch from MIT joncrete is the world's most- used construction material, ‘and a leading contributor to global warming, producing as much as one-tenth of industry- generated greenhouse-gas emissions. Now a new study suggests a way in which those emissions could be reduced by more than half -- and the result would be a stronger, more durable material. ‘The findings come from the most detailed molecular analysis yet of the complex structure of concrete, which is a mixture of sand, gravel, water, and cement. Cement is made by cooking calcium-rich material, usually limestone, with silica-rich material -- typically clay -- at temperatures of 1,500 degrees Celsius, yielding a hard mass called “clinker.” This is then ground up into a powder. The decarbonation of limestone, and the heating of cement, are responsible for most of the material's greenhouse-gas output. ‘The new analysis suggests that reducing the ratio of calcium to silicate would not only cut those emissions, but would actually produce better, stronger concrete. ‘These findings are described in the journal Nature Communications by MIT senior research scien Roland Pelleng; professors Krystyn Van Vliet, Franz-Josef Ulm, Sidney Yip, and Markus Buehler; and eight co-authors at MIT and at CNRS in Marseille, France. "Cement is the most-used material on the planet," Pelleng says, noting that its present usage is estimated to be three times that of steel. "There's no other solution to sheltering mankind in a durable way -- turning liquid into stone in 10 hours, easily, at room temperature. That's the magic of cement." In conventional cements, Pelleng explains, the calcium-to-silica ratio ranges anywhere from about 1.2 to .2, with 1.7 accepted as the tandard. But the resulting molecular structures have never been compared in detail. Pelleng and his colleagues built a database of all these chemical formulations, finding that the optimum mixture was not the one typically used today, but rather a ratio of about 1 ‘As the ratio varies, he says, the molecular structure of the hardened material progresses from a tightly ordered crystalline structure to a disordered glassy structure. They found the ratio of 1.5 parts calcium for every one part silica to be "a magical ratio," Pellenq says, because at that point the material can achieve "two times the resistance of normal cement, in mechanical resistance to fracture, with some molecular-scale design." ‘The findings, Pelleng adds, were "validated against a large body of experimental data." Since emissions related to concrete production are estimated to represent 5 to 10 percent of industrial greenhouse-gas emissions, he says, "any reduction in calcium content in the cement mix will have an impact on the C02." Infact, he says, the reduction incarbon emissions could beasTECHNOLOGY BUZZ De ea The world’s largest office building by floor size is the Pentagon in Virginia, USA, with over half of its 6500000 square foot (604000 square metre) floor area used as offices. muchas 60 percent. In addition to the overall improvement in mechanical strength, Pelleng says, because the material would be more glassy and less crystalline, there would be "no residual stresses in the material, so it would be more fracture- resistant.” The work is the culmination of five years of research by a collaborative team from MIT and CNRS, where Pelleng is research director. The two institutions have a joint laboratory at MIT called the Multi- Scale Materials Science for Energy and Environment, run by Pelleng and Ulm, who is director of MIT's Conerete Sustainability Hub, and hosted by the MIT Energy Initiative. Because of its improved resistance to mechanical stress, Pelleng says the revised formulation could be of particularinterest to the oil and gas industries, where cement around well casings is crucial to preventing leakage and blowouts. "More resistant cement certainly is something they would consider," Pellengsays. So far, the work has remained at the molecular level of analysis, he says. "Next, we have to make sure these nanoscale properties translate to the mesoscale" — that is, to the engineering scale of applications for infrastructure, housing, and otherus I'M CIVILENGINEER| NOVEMBER, 2015 17, COMPACT, SIMPLE CONSTRUCTION CAMERAS INCREASE OPTIONS FOR JOB OVERSIGHT The revolution in easy-to-use job site cameras continues with anew entry that claims to make it quick and easy to record job site activities. The Brinno Construction Camera, otherwise known as Brinno’s TLC200 1.2 model, offers subcontractors, and others on construction sites, the chance to easily record activities on the fly. Many construction sites have cameras these days, but they are often controlled by the GC, owner or CM. That leaves specialty and subcontractors dependent on others for footage and images related specifically to their own work. You ean put these little cameras up with just a heavy duty clip or bungee cord and capture the action over a period of minutes, hours, days, or months. ‘The company claims the battery life is 2.5 months when shooting ata 30 minute time interval. It takes AA batteries. The camera captures still frames and converts them into a time lapse video when you want to view the action.Grow with us !!! iamcivilengineer.com is a potential civil engineering magazine and website that have a reach of thousands of civil engineers around the globe. If you thinks your business is related to us. Why not have a relation, lets grow with us. This space and a lot others are reserved for our fellows like you. Don’t worry about the rates we can have a formal talk Just write to us admin@iamcivilengineer.com Or callus +92-347-9231525 WUURREREREREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE IAMCIVILENGINEER the Magazine of iamcivilengineer.com [i iameivilengineerdotcom Hi iameivilengg LW iameivilengineer.com