GAETOS, KRISTAN RAE Y

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ESSAY (20 HRS)

MegaStructures – MegaBridges: Denmark to Sweden.

(National Geographic Documentary)

This documentary talks about long span bridges with a single span leaping almost half a
kilometer and a roadway that plunges into record-setting tunnel. The challenge for this project
is intense, and the plan was valorous. This bridge is set to change the map of Europe.
Along the Baltic Sea, a 16 kilometer wide stretch of salt water with extreme weather conditions
that separates Sweden and Denmark. The two cities have a problem, at Malmo, Sweden, it
needs more job or manpower, and at Copenhagen, Denmark, it has cheaper housing or cost-of-
living. If the two cities connects, there will be a rise on their economy. A cable stayed bridge
was the final plan for this project. The problem this project faced was the 16 kilometer stretch,
the engineers decided to make an island on the center of the sea for the construction of the
bridge. The upper part was for cars and under it was for trains. The foundation of this bridge
were made by parts and so is the bridge parts, the materials used were concrete and steel but
the biggest enemy was corrosion. They made a vast system of dehumidifier to keep the air
inside the structure below 60% relative humidity, low moisture means no rust. The biggest
factor in this kind of engineering was the maintenance itself because the bridge was 60 meters
above water level.
The engineers designed the Arizona link where it is hanging at the bottom of the bridge and can
run the entire bridge length, it does not interrupt the flow of the trains and the cars. The bridge
was high enough for ships to pass under and strong enough to carry cars and trains. At first, this
kind of project was impossible but with the minds of great engineers, nothing is impossible.
GAETOS, KRISTAN RAE Y
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ESSAY (20 HRS)

North Sea Pipeline.

(National Geographic Documentary)

This has got to be one of the riskiest project for the industry of gas ever. A hundred thousand
pipes connecting Britain and Norway will be laid, will this project survive the extreme weather
conditions at North Sea?
Ormen Lange, a 40x10 kilometers long that contains 300 billion cubic meters of gas that is
locked 3000 meters below the sea. The Norwegian engineers decided to pursue with this
project because it contains enough gas to supply for forty years up to 20% of the UK’s needs.
This project is so important because in Britain is no longer renewable. The turbines uses foreign
gas to operate and create electricity for homes and factories and it is insufficient for them. The
plan they made was to transport gas 1,200 kilometers in total travelling from Ormen Lange to
Nyhamna Gas Plant and then to Langeled pipeline to the UK. The first problem they dealt was
the storage slide has to scale a 300 meter underwater cliff because the structure of the terrain
is not friendly for pipes. Trenching is the solution for this problem. The engineers had to build a
seabed drill guide that would withstand pressures that even normal submarines cannot and it
has to operate unimpaired for more than forty years. The drill guide gets its power from the
land through 125 kilometers long control cable enough to power 20,000 homes. The concern
for this project is that the pipelines must not damage the reefs where fish feed and fishing
boats work. The Norwegian engineers made this project come to life and performed awesome
engineering.
Building this subsea pipeline requires one third of the world’s combined pipeline production
capacity over one million tons of steel. The engineers have done what seemed the impossible
and built a strong pipeline through the rough underwater conditions. This project represents a
huge leap on underwater engineering.
GAETOS, KRISTAN RAE Y
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ESSAY (20 HRS)

Singapore’s Megastructure
(National Geographic Documentary)

One of the most complex structure in the world is the Marina Bay at Singapore. It composes of
three skyscrapers that carries a sky park the same size of an aircraft. The Marina Bay Sands, a
357 story hotel tower with great slope that they’re in danger of buckling under its own weight.
An even bigger problem is the roof, a 340 meter sky park containing observation deck, pool,
and a garden. The problems this project encountered was the 15 tons mass of steel
centerpiece, a 16 meter high art science museum. The problem is that it is half-baked to
construct because a project this heavy have to be built in water.
Moshe Safdie, a famous architect that is recognized around the world for his use of unusual
geometric patterns for his architectural design, will be the one to design the Marina Bay. His
insights with this project is that you should see all the pieces coming together and think of it as
a piece of city, not just individual piece. Engineers are concerned on how will they implement
Safdie’s vision on this project. The design is sundry and each part is different from one another.
The soil on which this project will lie is a clay where it is very unstable. The engineers built a
diaphragm walls up to 1.5 meters thick and is steel reinforced and was put 50 meters
underground, this serves as a protection for the workers to dig. A 16,500 workers was hired to
build simultaneously because of tight schedule. On site concrete casting were used because of
tight schedule. Their solution to the unusual design of the building was the use of temporary
struts made of pre-stressed high tensile steel. A cofferdam was used to build the foundation of
pavilions and they used sheet piles. At the roof, Sky Park is subject to natural catastrophic
disaster caused by the wind forces and the unusual design of the roof making the three
buildings connected. The solution they made was to put the building on wind tunnels to
accurately predict the wind effects. The engineers quickly came up with a solution and they
made the Sky Park trusses with movement joints that allows movement up to 250 millimeters.
Engineers made an impossible project possible. This kind of project is the proof that
engineering is way more than solving, it is on the creative minds of the person. The Marina Bay
Sands is the proof that visionary design and engineering megastructures can still defy the odds
and fulfill wild dreams.
GAETOS, KRISTAN RAE Y
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ESSAY (20 HRS)

Engineering Disaster: Falling Structure

(History Channel Documentary)

Engineers and architects are pushing for quite some time been fixated on building the tallest
structure on the planet from antiquated pyramid of Khufu which stood his man's most elevated
creation for 43 hundreds of years before being overshadowed by the Eiffel Tower to the
twentieth century high rises which jar for top position as they push ever higher the longing to
be on top looking down is a suffering one be that as it may, all these radiant structures miss the
mark regarding an unmistakable utilitarian tower that ascents up from the fields of North
Dakota to a vertiginous tallness of 2,063 feet.
The KVLY broadcasting tower that stands 2300+ feet high, it is higher than any structure on
earth. The most trademark configuration highlight of broadcasting hours is this lattice
framework which is shot together in 20 to 40-foot areas right to the top. This structure have a
guidelines that consists of high-strength pre-tensioned cables. For engineers, the challenge is to
reduce the risk of failure during the times when the tower is being built. One of the other
engineering failure is that ship tanker and causing oil spill at the sea, human error was there but
the disaster caused the marine life and environmental damage. One of the failure on this ship
was an inadequate radar. At California, earthquakes are the most problem, back on October
17th 1989, the Cypress viaduct collapsed due to 7.1 magnitude earthquake. Failure of columns
because of the intense movement of earth caused a major shear for the columns and forcing it
to collapse. Dam failure causes major damages as it collapsed and unleashing massive amounts
of energy and has flooded the town of Saunders carrying a 132 million gallons of water and a
million gallon of sludge.
All of these incidents have one thing in common, it is the human error. The loss to livelihoods
and cherished property was devastating. The only lesson that I learned here was that a small
mistake can have a huge consequence.
GAETOS, KRISTAN RAE Y
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ESSAY (20 HRS)

Engineering Connections: Earthquake Proof Bridge

(Reel Truth Science Documentary)

The Rion-Anterion Bridge (2007) is one of the most remarkable creation of engineering. It was
built in the Gulf of Corinth were strong magnitude earthquakes always hits. It measures almost
3 kilometers and 28 meters wide, it is considered the longest cable stayed bridge.
Because of the large variety of potentially hazardous, natural conditions in the area, engineers
had to resolve several specific engineering challenges. In addition, in the absence of bedrock
and steep seabed soil, new engineering techniques had to be created for the bridge's
foundations to be installed in mostly loose sediments, at depths between 60-65 m below sea
level. The completely suspended continuous deck is free to adapt in the longitudinal direction
to both thermal and seismic movements. Expansion joints are accessible at both ends. The
approach viaducts are of vital significance to the main bridge's operational success during a
seismic event, and they were designed to withstand the same earthquake strength level as the
main bridge. Although the viaducts on the sides of the Rion and Antirion were built and
constructed differently, their transfer piers-which connect the deck of the cable-stayed bridge
with their respective approach viaducts-use the same form of seismic insulation system. In
addition, specially built sets of restraint units were mounted on the main pylons to reduce the
continuous lateral strain on the deck, caused by the gradual tectonic motions of the expanding
rift underneath the bridge.
The Rion-Antirion Bridge really is a masterpiece of architecture and engineering. It is a mega-
structure, measuring almost 3 kilometers long from end to end and 28 meters in width, it has
the world's longest continuous, fully suspended cable-stay platform. The huge 4 pylons span
220 m from the bottom of the sea to the heads of the pylon and rise to 155 m above sea level
elevations.
GAETOS, KRISTAN RAE Y
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ESSAY (20 HRS)

Sinkholes

Sinkholes are caused by erosion. They could suddenly appear, and have devastating
consequences. Sinkholes are cavities that form in the ground when water erodes an underlying
layer of rock.
There are two types of sinkholes. One arises when a cave's roof collapses, and the underground
cavity opens. The second type is created by water dissolving the rock beneath the ground and
forming an underground chasm. The soil layer collapses without rock to support it, which
creates a crater on the floor. The causes of sinkholes are both natural and human. Land made
up of a porous underground rock sheet, such as rock salt in the Dead Sea or calcareous in the
Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, is frequently filled with sinkholes, because the rock sheet is
quickly eroded. Manmade sinkholes are created when the urban construction damages the
underlying rock's structural integrity. Roads, buildings and other forms of construction may
cause water to accumulate in some areas and wash away the supporting rock layer. Most of the
sinkholes that we are currently seeing are at least produced indirectly by human activity. They
occur only on the sides of human buildings where rain water has been collected in the form of
run-off from roofs and tarmac on a specific patch of land.
Though cover-collapse sinkholes are dramatic in nature, they are not as dangerous as they look.
Their effects are localized, so they can be treated safely once they have emerged. That's not to
say sinkholes are secure by any means though. Sinkholes, due to the fury of this natural
disaster, are a very big threat to Florida. These are caused by a fracturing of the calcareous soil
due to chemical reactions within the earth. Although it is uncommon, sinkholes can be fatal.
When you find a sinkhole, please take extra precautions.
GAETOS, KRISTAN RAE Y
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ESSAY (20 HRS)

Addressing the needs of our aging infrastructure is a growing challenge. Civil engineering
researchers are going to the source to collect load distribution information

Blatnik Bridge construction began in 1958, completed in 2016 and located between Duluth,
Minnesota, and Wisconsin Superior. Blatnik Bridge researchers are trying to determine the
bridge's load power, how high a truck can drive over it and what kind of long-term fatigue
impacts the trucks are getting. Ben Dymond, a professor of civil engineering at UMD (University
of Minnesota Duluth), has cooperated with WSP, a private engineering firm, on the
instrumentation and testing of the Blatnik Bridge in Duluth, and with few undergraduate and
graduate students doing the research. At the start of their study, the major researchers have
brought the University of Minnesota Duluth into their team, which is a good thing because the
Minnesota Transportation Department enjoys collaborating with local universities.
A member of the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) called Sai at the
University and Alex, a graduate student, developed the design for where the sensors are going
on the bridge. The beam used in training would be either the top of the flange bottom or the
top flange bottom, and then the bottom of the concrete bridge. Sai means this work is a perfect
opportunity for the undergraduate student, he can learn anything he needs to know outside
the classroom, get a unique experience, get his feet wet and hands dirty out there which he
really enjoys doing. As for Alex a graduate student, had actually worked for WSP as an intern so
he knew the company, knew what was coming and so for him it was probably even more
unique in that worked for this company and now got to work for them again and kind of help
out his school and the company and enjoyed the experience.
It's certainly a good thing that UMD, a local college, is working on a new bridge that will help
the students and support the city as a whole and find out what needs to be done to strengthen
the bridge or make a bridge better in the future.
GAETOS, KRISTAN RAE Y
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ESSAY (20 HRS)

Big, Bigger, Biggest Dam

(National Geographic Documentary)

On the waters of Yangtze River, China built the biggest concrete structure on the world. A sixty
storeys tall and 3 kilometers wide named as three gorges dam, built by 40,000 workers over 17
years. The Three Gorges Dam can produce over 20,000 megawatts of power. The Three Gorges
Dam owes its power from the three landmark dams named Debdon Damm (4 kW), Mareges
Dam (128 MW), Hoover Dam (1345 MW), Grand Coulee Dam (2000 MW), Krasnoyarsk Dam
(6000 MW). The first task that the engineers first encountered when planning this project was
to divert an almost 2 kilometer wide river. The Chinese authorities pushed through with this
project because this dam would provide cheap electric power for them.
Because the reservoir's large size prompted tremendous upstream displacement, the flood
protection it provides to communities downstream was deemed justified. China evacuated 1.24
million people as 13 cities, 140 towns and 1350 villages either submerged or partially
submerged by a reservoir, around 1.5% of the province's 60.3 million population and 31.44
million Chongqing municipalities. About 140,000 people moved to other provinces. The dam
project's power plant was completed and fully operating as of July 4, 2012, when work began
on the last of the main water turbines in the underground facility. Coupling the dam's 32 main
turbines to power the plant itself with two smaller generators (50 MW each), the dam's total
electric generating capacity is 22,500 MW. The construction of ship locks is intended to increase
river shipping from 10 million tons per year to 100 million tons, resulting in a decrease in
transport costs between 30 and 37%. Shipping is easier, as the gorges are notoriously risky for
navigation.
During the dry season, the dam discharges its reservoir annually between December and
March. This raises the downstream flow rate of the river and provides agricultural and
industrial usage with fresh water. It improves shipping conditions, too.
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RION-ANTERION BRIDGE
INFOGRAPHIC
(40 HRS)
GAETOS, KRISTAN RAE Y
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THREE GORGES DAM INFOGRAPHIC

(40 HRS)
GAETOS, KRISTAN RAE Y
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(NARRATIVE REPORT --- 60 HRS RENDERED)

GACOSCOS CONSTRUCTION (NEW LUCBAN SITE)
On 14th of February 2020, my first day of on-the-job training started. I was tasked by Engr. Dela
Rosa to watch what they are doing and to ask him if there are anything that I do not know. On
my first day, excavation and placement of reinforcement bars are on the process. 15 th of
February 2020, the work on placement of reinforcement bars continues, in the afternoon, I
joined the team of men to dump the excavated soil at Itogon, Benguet. Later that day, concrete
pouring was also on the process. 24th of February 2020, I went to the fabrication site at Sandico
Street, near Megatower residences to get fabricated stirrups. Also, excavation for footing
continues. 26th of February 2020, excavation was done and the workers are getting the correct
measurements and allignments of the rebars. 27th of February 2020, placement of
reinforcement bars for footing continues. 28th of February 2020, reinforcement bars were
placed and reinforcement bars for columns were also placed.
2nd of March 2020, the work for reinforcement of footing continues. 3 rd day of March 2020,
concrete was poured for the column and footings and also the elevator shaft. The next day,
March 4, 2020, placement of beam reinforcement was the task. 9 th of March 2020, excavation
for the middle footing were already started, on the other part of the construction, beam
reinforcement for the first floor was done. 10th of March 2020, placing of reinforcement for
footing at the middle. Sadly this was my last day of on-the-job training and I was not able to go
back because of the pandemic caused by covid-19.
Attached below is my proof of completed hours, online certificate was not issued to me
because I was not able to contact engr. Gacoscos. However, I Kristan Rae Y. Gaetos, pledge on
my honor, that I have rendered 60 hours of OJT. I understand that any false, fictitious, and
fraudulent claims shall be subject to penalties.
Signed this 10th day of May 2020.
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