Composting: Computing the Right Recipe
A pinch of this and a pinch of that is an adequate instruction for most good cooks. But for composting, facility managers need a recipe that specifies the right ingredients and exact amount,...
Connecting With DOTs
Want to bid on projects from state departments of transportation? First make sure your firm can translate computer-assisted drafting (CAD) drawings into different computer file formats....
Unit Pricing and Unbalanced Bids
Unit price contracts were meant to provide a simple and equitable way to pay contractors. However, to offset the uncertainties inherent in construction, contractors unbalance bid items....
Setting Standards in San Diego
Most engineering firms have developed specifications and standards that become the bible for project-related design issues�and no two firms are the same. On complex, large-scale projects...
Breaking Down the Barriers
The structural engineering of multistory buildings is a complex and time-consuming chore, but new design and analysis tools can greatly simplify the task. The article traces the development...
LRFD: Still Waiting
Introduced in 1986, load and resistance factor design (LRFD), has a way to go before it becomes standard practice for steel design. LRFD-based design typically results in savings on gravity...
Portland's New Approach to Maintenance
The traditional if it ain't broke don't fix it approach to maintenance was not working for Portland, Oregon's two wastewater treatment plants. By...
CADD for Export
By using sophisticated structural design software and high-speed PCs, engineers in Pittsburgh overcame myriad problems when designing a highrise industrial tower in India. First, they...
Probing the Golden Gate
The Golden Gate Bridge has just come through the most detailed analysis ever attempted in its 53-year-old history. This analysis was squeezed into a desktop computer that calculates twice...
Pumped Storage Promise
With many utilities facing potential shortfalls in generating capacity, pumped storage hydro plants could be a key to meeting peak-period energy demand in the 1990s. Pumped storage plants...
Hydroproject Risk Analysis
Traditionally, feasibility studies performed for potential hydropower sites have included either no uncertainty or at best an ad hoc value associated with estimated benefits. However,...
Monte Carlo Simulation Techniques for Predicting Annual Power Production
The problem of the creation of a simulation model utilizing the Monte Carlo method at a single site is addressed. The result of the analysis is a picture of the production at the site...
Probabilistic Analysis of Modernization Options
Benefit-cost analysis is a standard procedure for reaching planning decisions. Cost overruns and benefit shortfalls are also common occurrences. One reason for the difficulty of predicting...
The Impact of Drought on Hydropower Generation-Case Study of Bureau of Reclamation Hydropower Plant
The paper explores the effects of extended drought on power generation at Shasta hydropower plant, a Bureau of Reclamation facility in Northern California. Statistical measures of water...
Economic Evaluation of Minimum Flow at Rockton
The Rockton Hydroelectric Project is a two-unit, 1,100 kW plant operated by South Beloit Water, Gas & Electric Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Wisconsin Power & Light...
Renovation and Uprating of Seven Hydropower Plants in Java
The Indonesian Power Authority is planning to renovate and uprate seven hydropower stations in Java to expand plant life expectancy, ensure operating safety and reliability, and increase...
A Case for Modernizing the Funding and Repayment of Regional Water/Power Projects
Several regional water/power projects authorized by Congress remain unfunded and therefore uncompleted year after year. In this paper examples of such uncompleted projects are examined....
Evaluating the Dynamic Operating Benefits of Hydro Power Plants
In 1986, the Electric Power Research Institute asked Decision Focus to develop a new planning model to quantify the dynamic operating benefits of power technologies that offer operating...
Improving the Assessment of Instream Flow Needs for Fish Populations
Instream flow requirements are one of the most frequent and most costly environmental issues that must be addressed in developing hydroelectric projects. Existing assessment methods for...
Evaluating Hydro Relicensing Alternatives?Impacts on Power and Non-Power Values
The relicensing of 300 hydroelectric plants in the next decade involves a total capacity of about 4,000 MW - a $10 billion value. A methodology recently developed by Decision Focus Incorporated...
Return to search