Seepage Cutoff Wall Installed Through Dam is Construction First
A new construction technique has been developed which provides a permanent solution to the foundation problems at Wolf Creek Dam. Muddy flows and sinkholes discovered in 1968 led to a...
Faults in Swedish and American Tunnel Practice: A Fable
Swedish and American practices in dealing with unanticipated geological conditions encountered during tunnel construction are contrasted. Swedish practice, illustrated with an actual example,...
Steel Plate Shear Walls Resist Lateral Load, Cut Costs
Two new buildings have a seldom-used stiffening system�� steel plate shear walls. Reasons for using them, rather than reinforced concrete shear walls or steel or concrete rigid frames,...
Highway History: Modern Turnpike Era Recounted
Early history of the development of revenue bond financing of transportation projects is outlined including advances in engineering technique and policies. The origins of the original...
Ontario Writes New Bridge Code
In 1976, Ontario's Ministry of Transportation and Communications decided to write its own bridge design code, breaking away from the AASHTO code, because: (1)It wanted a metric...
Top-to-Bottom Construction in High-Rise Buildings
This top-to-bottom construction method, called jackblock is a cousin of lift-slab. The main components are the jack and concrete block, hence the name. The top story of a building is constructed...
Design and Construction of Long-Span Metal Culverts
Long-span metal culverts are built of corrugated-metal plates bolted together. They have spans exceeding 15 ft. Principal applications include use as drainage structures, grade separations,...
World's Tallest Offshore Platform Stands in 1025 Ft of Water
During the summer and fall of 1977 and 1978, Shell Oil installed the world's deepest drilling and production platform in water. Located in 1025-ft of water at the Cognac tract...
Construction Risk: Who Pays�
A report is given on the January 1979 Construction Risk and Liability Sharing Conference sponsored by ASCE's Construction Division Committees on Contract Administration and...
Nuclear Waste Disposal: Is there a safe solution?
Will fission nuclear power play a major role in the American power industry during the next 50 years? Whether or not it does will largely depend on whether the federal Department of Energy...
Underground Buildings Save Energy
While properly designed underground buildings use less energy for heating and cooling, that's not always the reason they're underground. For example, San Francisco's...
Washington METRO: A People's Eye View
Much has been written about the technical aspects of this 101 mile, 86 station system. But as important in Washington, D.C. were the political aspects. Backed by Presidents; scrutinized...
Largest Inverted Shell Houses Two Theaters
A meeting center in Albany, New York, has such a complex shape that it took months just to design its surface mathematically. Perched on a pedestal, it is nearly elliptical in plan. From...
Modern Engineering Saves Troubled Dam
A badly deteriorated and potentially unsafe dam has been recycled. The 135-ft-high, 300-ft-long LaPrele Dam is a concrete slab-and-buttress structure. Its sloping face slab has leaked...
Coming This Year: Reusable Link with Space
Scheduled for launch in early 1980, the Space Shuttle is the first reusable space vehicle. It will reduce space flight cost, saving an estimated $11.2 billion between 1980 and 1991. This...
Building Skyscrapers in Orbit
NASA plans to build a host of large structures (communications antennas, remote-sensing radiometers, solar power satellites, etc.) in space. Three ways to build them are: (1)Fabricate...
Has Metrication Run Out of Gas�
The U.S. is the only major country not to have adopted the International System of Units (SI) as its official measurement system, but the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 established official...
New Use for Filter Fabric: Highway Construction
A growing area of filter fabric use is road construction, both secondary and superhighway. The article focuses on one case history in Cambridge, Maryland where, after a one-year test,...
Stub Girders Cut Steel Use
One innovation in steel building construction, now 10 years old, is the steel stub girder floor framing system. By using a girder that is a composite of steel girder, metal deck and lightweight...
Harrisburg Pioneering Codisposal of Refuse and Sludge
Harrisburg, Pa. is doing something that sounds like common sense yet which has been done by very few communities in the U.S.: disposing of both its municipal refuse and sewage sludge in...
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