Ethics underlying learning from our mistakes

Hello readers,

This week, I would like to discuss the problematic ethics in regard to the potential loss of life and expanding our capabilities with bridge and building designs.  Throughout the advancement of the Human potential, we become more and more intelligent beings (hopefully), we add depth to our cultures, color to each others' lives and our structures stretch for the stars.  All of these steps forward have not come without a few steps back, however.  As we expand our abilities, whether it be converting from wooden ships to steel or any similar advancement, some of our structures are doomed to fail.  And in their failures, humans lives have been lost.  We have mourned, we have learned why the structures failed, recalculated, rebuilt and moved on.  My discussion is in whether or not the human lives were acceptable losses in the better interests of the further advancement of the Human race as a whole.

Over the course of our human advancement, we have stretched our abilities ever further, to try and beat each other out on the tallest buildings, the fastest automobile, the largest dam.  However, some of our structures did not work out the first time around.  The Tacoma Narrows Bridge is a good example of this.  The bridge was to be the third longest suspension bridge (main span) at the time, spanning 2,800 ft.  Upon its completion on July 1, 1940, the bridge moved slightly in the breeze.  As the months went on, engineers tried many different ideas to decrease the sway of the bridge, but to no avail.  The Tacoma bridge collapsed on November 7, 1940, after severe twisting in the span in 40 mph

winds; an effect later called aeroelastic flutter.  Although no lives were lost when the bridge collapsed, the collapse of the bridge gave engineers insight of the effects of our structures and the natural world around us - the Tacoma Narrows bridge was built with large, flat, solid sides, that did not allow for the winds to pass through them, and as a result, the concrete and steel bridge blew through the breeze like a sail, until it's collapse.  This information has helped bridge designers for decades to come to account for bridges that can breathe in high winds, thus advancing the Human intelligence that much farther.  In this situation, at least, there is not ethical debate on whether or not the cost of a few human lives are worth the advancing knowledge of the rest of the world.  Not all structure failures are as harmless, however.

In more recent times, we had the tragic I-35 bridge collapse in Minneapolis, MN, on August 1, 2007.  The bridge, as many people know, collapsed during the evening rush period, killing 13 people and injuring 145.

After thorough investigation into why the bridge collapsed, officials placed the blame on failed gusset plates, excessive loading on the bridge, and poor maintenance.  Through the tragedy, several lives were lost, however, engineers became more aware of a growing problem with American bridges.  Also a federal division, the National Transportation Safety Board, was created to led a national investigation into the structural state of every bridge in America, to prevent future potential failures.

In conclusion, there is an argument that losing a few human lives are a reasonable trade to gain further insight on how to fix our current structural problems.  From one point of view, it is not so bad to lose a few lives now, to figure out how to build structures that will stand without doubt; from another point of view, there is no situation that would ever justify the deaths of fellow human beings, and far beyond a situation where lost lives are acceptable.  That is fine, I understand that point of view, it is reasonable, it is protective of ever human life.  However, it is my opinion that our human population is expanding at such a rate that if we plan to support ourselves, we must build larger, better structures.  In actively following that belief, some projects may fail, and lives lost, but if we can learn from our mistakes, then the few lives lost early on will not die in vain.  In addition, it would make sense to lose a few lives at first rather than lose potentially more lives later.  To quote an old, logical character, "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."

Thanks for reading!

~Civil Biz

Transportation system of the future?

Hello everyone,

There is some big hype going on in Arnhem, Netherlands these days.  Decades after first being conceived, construction on the Arnhem Centraal Transfer Hall is now underway under the leadership of Prorail - the company that deals with much if not all of the commuter rail networks throughout the Netherlands.  The transportation hub was originally designed in 1990, yet it did not start construction until much later and is expected to be completed in 2015.  At the time it was originally planned, the Hub was to be cutting-edge designs for the area and times, which would bring much pride, prestige and tourism to the area, especially since the designs for the hub were based off of the rolling hills of Arnhem.  However, now that construction has finally started, the designs are less cutting-edge, if not still an impressive addition to the transportation of the area.

The Arnhem Centraal Transfer Hall is a unique, multi-transportation hub.  The designs for the station are suppose to replace the existing railway station with an updated high-speed rail, be a large transfer station for buses (both regional and local), cars, taxis, bikes and pedestrians;

 with different entrances and exits for each form of transportation.  On the inside of this massive transportation hub, one would find a large, spacious lobby that would have easy directions mapping out where the train station would be at one end of the station, the bus depot at the other.  One would also find large corridors leading to each the trains and bus stations.  With two below-grade levels for bicycle storage and car parking, there is plenty of room for passengers on almost every form of transportation to enter the Arnhem Centraal Transfer Hall, leave or store their previous vehicle, and leave the station on a different form of transportation.  The purpose for this station is quite simple: to get everyone in the direction they need to go, on the best form of transportation to their own individual destinations, as well organized as possible.

The station is not only meant for transportation, though.  In this modern day of consumerism, retail shops and restaurants have been added to the spacious lobby, as well as two office building attached to the transportation hub.  In addition, service area for tickets and other related operations will be located in the main lobby so travelers may purchase their tickets to trains or buses.  The idea behind putting all of these shops and food location in the transportation hub is to tie everything that a traveler may need on his or her travels.  The average traveler will probably be taking one of the two main forms of transportation in the Netherlands: train or local bus, and while waiting for the bus or the train to arrive, one can buy a coffee, or walk through different retail shops.  Adding these shops to the transportation hub will no doubt boost sales withing the hub, and injecting more cash into the Netherlands economy as well.

To highlight the structure's unique, twisted form, designers originally planned to build the transportation hub out of concrete.  However, the designers had a difficult time finding a contracting company that had the skill or will to build such an unique structure out of concrete.

The contractor's main issues were concerns of whether or not the concrete would cure correctly - failure for concrete to cure correctly would lead to large, structure-threatening cracks, resulting in the contracting company needing to come back and do the pour again.  In the end, the design team settled on a contracting company that propose that a steel structure would allow for construction crews to recreate the twists and curves that were present in the designs throughout the structure.

Though much of the structure is complete, the Arnhem Centraal Transfer Hall is expected to be completed in 2015.  Below is a link to an artist's concept art of the transportation hub, for more information on the new Netherlands transportation hub, go to www.asce.org and type 'Transportation Hub back on track in the Netherlands' into the search bar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jjEAZjRpSz4

Thanks for reading this week!

~Civil Biz

New Tech - Terrestrial Laser Scanner

Hello Engineers!

Thank you and welcome back to this week's post on the Civil Biz, this week I would like to talk about the new surveying tech - the RIEGL Terrestrial Laser Scanner.

Throughout the history of surveyors, there have been instruments used to measure distances (Gunter Chain, Total Station and even GPS).  Each were designed to measure the distance from point A to point B accurately for the time that each instrument was used.  Now, there is yet another generation of more-advanced surveying technology coming onto the playing field: RIEGL's Terrestrial Laser Scanner.  With every new piece of tech that comes out, people will want to play with it, see how it works; but for businesses, they will want to know how the product really performs, so they can best decide whether or not to purchase this new product.  In this post, I will look into this next generation of surveying equipment, and try to identify the best and worst qualities within the system.

The Terrestrial Laser Scanner (TLS) was originally developed

back in the late 1990s, as a mere glimpse into what the instrument would become.  Like all prototypes, the first generation instruments (like the one shown on the right) were bulky, the power and data storage both separate from the instrument, making mobility a hassle and set-up and tear-down times lengthy.  The measurements were constrained to a mere 50 to 200 meter range, on a frequency between 1-5 kHz.  Additionally, all models of this first generation TLS were all pulse based.  All in all, the instrument was designed to get a rough 3-Dimensional data image of objects from a reasonable distance away.  The downsides were the amount of baggage a single instrument had as well as the processing speed of the information.

Thus far, there have been four generations of terrestrial laser scanners, and just with the progression of all technologies, the flaws of the first TLS were continuously improved as each new generation came out.  The second generation (2002) saw faster data processors integrated into the Scanner, however, the battery and data storage were still outside of the instrument.  The third generation (2007) brought select models of TLS that had power and data storage integrated into the instrument, as well as the range and processing speed had improved.  Another progression of the third generation was the incorporation of digital images, focused centering systems and reflectors were added to the TLS as a means to allow for closer cooperation with more traditional instruments of surveying (instruments like the total station).

In the fourth generation or the Terrestrial Laser Scanner, the data storage and

power packs are now fully integrated into the instrument, giving the user much more mobility when out in the field.  In addition to mobility, the fourth generation TLS has received an upgrade in measurement speed and range (up to 6,000 meters!) once again.  The new system is also outfitted with the "Full-Wave-Form Analysis", which allows the instrument to detect multiple echos from it's pulse when taking a measurement.

Obviously, the Terrestrial Laser Scanner was designed to map out objects to great detail from greater distances away.  This scanner is primarily used in mining operations, detecting where miners have already dug, while helping to plan out future directions of mining.  The company RIEGL boasts that their scanner can map objects with a variance of error of only twenty-five (25) millimeters.  In my experiences using surveying equipment in class-settings as well as in the field, I have learned that, if anything, one needs to be as close to dead-on accurate to get the desired results.  To get the best odds of recording the most precise information, I would place my bets on an instrument that is accurate within twenty-five millimeters.

Another important benefit of the new generation of RIEGL Terrestrial Laser Scanners is the versatility that the instruments can be used with.  RIEGL has designed several different forms and models of its' TLS, so that consumer companies and industries will be able to modify an automobile, sea-bearing vessel or even unmanned aerial vehicles fitted with terrestrial laser scanners.  The benefit of this is that companies/industries will now be able to take company vehicles out and survey locations without leaving the vehicle - kind of like what Google did with Google Maps.  With this modification, companies/industries will be able to survey surrounding landscape/waters or collect aerial maps of construction/mining sites with ease.  The concept is very intriguing and leaves me wondering how long it will be until the human element of surveying is phase out all together?

All together, RIEGL has finally redesigned their Terrestrial Laser Scanner to something that I think would be beneficial for all companies to use.  The scanner is versatile, capable of being easily moved from location to location; the efficiency of the scanner has grown exponentially, now being able to process vasts amounts of data very quickly; also, RIEGL has expanded the practical uses of their scanner to the uses of being modified to land, sea and air vehicles.  To whatever the task, RIEGL's Terrestrial Laser Scanner is your best bet to a quality job.  For more information, one should investigate RIEGL's website at: http://www.riegl.com/nc/products/terrestrial-scanning/.

Until next week!

~Civil Biz

Welcome to Civil Biz!

Hello everyone!  I've started this blog to illuminate the wonders of civil engineering to the world as well as to eliminate some misconceptions of the field.

Civil engineering is the second oldest engineering disciple, second only after military engineering, and is focused on the technical design, construction and maintenance of civil projects.  What do I mean by "civil projects"?  I mean buildings, infrastructure and water resource projects.  Civil engineering is a large discipline that is broken up into many smaller, sub-disciplines; some of which are

• construction,
• environmental,
• geotechnical,
• municipal,
• structural,
• transportation and
• water resource.

Each sub-discipline focuses on a different branch, but most of them are self-evident from their titles (construction, transportation and structural, for example) whereas others are not so obvious.  Municipal engineering may be a term that you are unfamiliar with, however, thanks to dictionary.com (because I'd hate to get called out for plagiarism!) municipal directly translates into "pertaining to a town or city", so right there one would assume that municipal engineering would refer to something within a city.  You would not be wrong!  Municipal engineering is focused on designing, constructing and maintaining city streets, sidewalks, street lights, water supply and solid waste removal.  These engineers also have a hand in designing and constructing everything from underground railroads, bike paths and the local distribution networks of electrical and telecommunication services.  All in all, municipal engineering is a part of your every day travels to and from work; from the flow of traffic on the streets you drive on, the system that distributes electricity to the street lights that light your way, even the design of the road that allows rain water to collect toward the edge of the road and then into the sewers.  Municipal engineers have a hand in everything!  Everything in your city, that is.

A more evident sub-disciplinary aspect of civil engineering is transportation engineering.  Transportation engineering specializes in designing, building and maintaining everything that gets people and consumer goods from point A to point B.  There are many ways of getting people and products to and from, some of which are roads, highways, rail, water and air.  But wait--didn't I say that roads were a municipal engineer's job?  Yes, I did, however, the many disciplines of engineering may cover a broad variety of subjects, but they also overlap to some degree, with one discipline being more proficient at a subject than another.  For example, municipal engineers cover everything about a city street: the road, the drainage, the lights, the sewers, the electricity distribution and the water mains; whereas transportation engineers cover roads, highways, interchanges, bridges, international rail system, ports, airports and canals.  Both disciplines cover roads, but municipal engineers would specialize on roads within the city, where transportation engineers would specialize more on roads outside of the city.  Now, transportation engineers also cover more than just roads and concrete.  Another aspect of transportation engineering that may be less common in the US is water transportation of people.  In European countries, water transportation is much more important since it is a form of transportation used every day.  An example of a transportation engineer's work in the water transportation field is the Falkirk Wheel in Scotland.

The Falkirk Wheel helps connect passenger barges from the Forth and Clyde Canal to the Union Canal by an unique system of rotating wheels elevating boats directing up to a man made canal that leads to the higher-elevation Union Canal.  This engineering feat made it possible for the first time for boats to travel from the Forth and Clyde Canal to the Union Canal.  To see a full rotation, just follow the link and watch a short 50 second clip!
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fX6kJKjg4y0)

If you look, you will find that every sub-discipline of civil engineering is as packed full of responsibilities as municipal and transportation engineering disciplines are; not to mention as intertwined with the average day-to-day activities of citizens everywhere.  I hope that through reading this blog, you too will become as fascinated in this field of engineering as I am

Thanks for reading!  Be sure to check in later this week for the next post!

~Civil Biz