Muscle Made of Carbon Fiber
Carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) extends service life and increases load-bearing capacity when applied to concrete structures. CFRP is less expensive than traditional strengthening...
Over the Top Concrete
The 60-year-old Tongue River Dam in southeastern Montana is undergoing extensive dam safety and reservoir enlargement modifications. Major features of the project include a 60,000 cfs...
Securing the Stone
To prevent spalling at edges on thin stone veneer, engineers who design stone cladding pay special attention to the connection details. Kerf clips, 100-150 mm long, that distribute load...
When the Levee Inflates
Rubber dams�long, flexible tubes, anchored to a concrete base and abutments and inflated with air or water�have been used since the 1950s, but installations have risen as technology has...
A Tale of Two Bids
In early 1992, the Escambia County Utilities Authority determined that its 2 mgd Avondale Wastewater Treatment Plant should be expanded to 8 mgd to meet the growing needs of the Pensacola,...
Rebuilding Bosnia
A civil engineer serving in the U.S. Army Reserve on deployment in Bosnia-Herzegovina gives a first-hand account of construction in a war-torn country. As a member of the Environmental...
Defying Gravity
Vacuum sewers, a technology once used only in areas unsuitable for standard gravity sewer systems, are coming into mainstream use in highly developed areas as reliability improves and...
Downtown Goes Uptown in Stainless Steel
In an unusual urban planning endeavor, a business district in Houston upgraded infrastructure, and added stainless steel design elements to unify the area. About $11 million was raised...
A Merger Manual
Mergers and acquisition business deals continue to proliferate in the consulting engineer and construction industry. There are many important issues on both sides of the table, and the...
Balancing Act
The cable-stayed $69 million Glebe Island Bridge in Sydney was built using a combination of one rolling frame and one form traveler instead of a more orthodox two or four form traveler...
A Corps Chief Looks at Rising Tide
A former head of the U.S. Army corps of Engineers reviews a book about the Great Flood of 1927. The book, entitled, Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How it Changed...
A Stockholder's Story
A former partner in an engineering consulting firm tells about what happens when a firm goes public. His view is that while it benefitted financially, the firm changed for the worse. The...
Concrete Change
The concrete industry has an array of options when it comes to recycling. Incorporating glass, chicken feathers, palm fronds, sludge, crushed computer casings or other recycled materials...
Inviting Trouble Downstream
When dam-building advocates, representing power generation, irrigation and flood control interests, get their project built, flood control ranks third in priority. Soon, development encroaches...
Record Spans in Japan
The Japanese bridge authority was tasked in 1970 with overseeing a vast project to link to two main islands of Honshu and Shikoku. The project, scheduled for completion in 2000, comprises...
Interest in Deposits (available only in Geoenvironmental Special Issue)
Sediment accumulating in reservoirs worldwide is gradually reducing storage capacity, posing a long-term threat to supplies of drinking and irrigation water. The buildups also highlight...
Probing Pipelines (available only in Geoenvironmental Special Issue)
Inspecting underground pipelines has become easier, more effective and less intrusive through use of sonar, radar, lasers and seismic and acoustic testing. To replace simple visual inspection,...
Deep Diagnosis (available only in Geoenvironmental Special Issue)
Contaminated sediments in the world's waterways present a variety of problems, both economic and environmental. The two basic problems are waterways which need maintenance...
Floodplain Management
On July 28th, 1997, the City of Fort Collins, Colorado, experienced devastating floods on Spring Creek that resulted in property damage and loss of life. As part of the local floodplain...
Out of Sight, Out of Time
A 10-year grace period for complying with an EPA regulation mandating that all underground storage tanks have spill, overfill and corrosion protection runs out on December 22, 1998. Hundreds...
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