Action Plan
An Enhanced Building Technology Evaluation Process
Prepared by the Partnership for Building Innovation of CERF. Sponsored by CERF; National Institute of Standards and Technology; U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; U.S. Department...
Base Isolation Gets Its Day in Court
After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, the 1905 U.S. Court of Appeals and Post Office Building in San Francisco was closed. The owner, General Services Administration Pacific Rim Region,...
Out of Control?
Once heroes in a popular battle against villainous despoilers of Mother Earth, to a growing chorus of observers environmental groups, EPA and other regulatory agencies have begun to look...
Raising the Roof
For years, the Mobile County government contemplated placing both county and city governmental services under one roof. Although there were many obstacles -- political, financial and land...
Functional Highway Design
In the past, the common highway design development process used by government agencies has often failed to incorporate the lessons learned from operational experience and research. However,...
Toxic Air Emissions from Wastewater Treatment Facilities
Triumphant Arches
This year's Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award of Merit goes to the Natchez Trace Parkway Bridge in Tennessee, the first precast concrete segmental arch bridge...
Capping with Fiber Clay
Landfill-cap construction is expensive and often results in economic hardship, especially for small towns. Costs for conventional clay or geomembrane caps for municipal solid-waste landfills...
Oklahoma City Aftermath
The explosion that ripped through the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City shortly after nine a.m. on April 19 killed 168 people, injured more than 500 and damaged more than...
Flood Control Doesn't Have to be Ugly
The recently completed flood control project in Rochester, Minn. shows how innovative engineering combined with aesthetically-sensitive design can integrate flood protection into an urban...
A Primer on Micropiles
A major study of micropile technology has recently been funded by the Federal Highway Authority and completed by the authors. The subject is defined as a drilled and grouted, cast-in-place,...
The Foundation for a New Approach to Implement Building Innovation
Prepared by the Partnership for Building Innovation project, which is sponsored by CERF; National Institute of Standards and Technology; U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development;...
Strong-Motion Data Processing
Processing of strong-motion earthquake accelerograms is now carried out routinely on a world-wide basis. Two international workshops have given participants the opportunity to assess their...
When the Levee Breaks
As repairs to the billions of dollars in damages left by the Mississippi and Missouri floods continue, many engineers believe it is time to step back and see if there are better ways of...
Construction Operations on the OUTPOST Platform in Orbit
GLOBAL OUTPOST, Inc., with significant NASA assistance, proposes to place an External Tank (ET) of the space shuttle in orbit for commercial purposes. The OUTPOST Platform is designed...
The Potential for the Department of Defense to Use Space-Based Remote Sensing to Support DOD and Other Government Agencies' Environmental Programs
This paper describes the potential for the Department of Defense (DOD) to support other government agencies in the management of national and worldwide environmental programs. The DOD...
Space Exploration: Getting a Handle on Why?
The two prominent economic issues facing the U.S. today are competitiveness and the huge federal deficit. Economics being the counter-intuitive science that it is, a reasonable exploration...
A Dome For the 21st Century
Putting a circular dome on a square building--the classical architectural design challenge--takes on new proportions at the Federal Building and Courthouse in Charleston, W. Va. The 170...
Engineering R&D Strategy
Accurate data on the levels and focus of U.S. civil engineering-related R&D are important to establish a benchmark from which a knowledge base can be constructed; to highlight...
Understanding ISO
Many U.S. consulting firms are being registered under the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9000 series, which set standards for business conduct to achieve quality....
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