Civil Engineer Expert

The four project scheduling techniques widely used in construction projects are:

. Bar Charts and Linked Bar Charts
. Network Analysis and Critical Path Method
. Line of Balance
. Q Scheduling

These are briefed below, in which Q Scheduling is now a new technique increasingly applied in construction project management.

1- Bar Charts and Linked Bar Charts;

Bar Charts are the easiest and most widely used form of scheduling in construction management. Even with other scheduling techniques the eventual schedule is presented the form of a bar chart. A typical Bar chart is a list of activities with the start, duration and finish of each activity shown as a bar plotted to a time scale. The level of detail of the activities depends on the intended use of the schedule.
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There are many definitions of project management. This post try to pisk out some most common that widely accepted and understood. Also listed here the job description and main activities that project management job must cover.

Definitions of Project Management:
* PMBOK (Project Management — Body of Knowledge as defined by the Project Management Institute — PMI):“Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements.“

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The report recommendations may support proceeding with a project or project stage as a result of the study. In this case the Project Proposal should be prepared. Both documents should be submitted to the governing authorities for approval.

Feasibility Study Request

The Project Proposal Template may be used to request funding to conduct a Feasibility Study, which in turn is used to provide an analysis of the objectives, requirements, and concepts of the proposed work, including justification, schedule, and deliverables. Its main purpose it to determine the technical and financial viability of a proposed change as well as to assist in identifying or clarifying activities, cost, timeframes and/or requirements (system and/or business). During the analysis, the objectives of the proposed work are defined based on the needs identified.

Depending on the project, the Feasibility Study may be Stage 1 of a large project. The Feasibility Study may also be used to conduct a preliminary part of project where it is unclear how to quantify the resources or if the product/system/process to be implemented needs to be identified before progressing to complete a Project Proposal.

The outcomes of the study must be considered and planned for. This means that the Feasibility Study Report requirements should be kept in mind at all times during the Planning Phase and throughout the life of the study. The output from the Feasibility Study is a report detailing the methodology used, the evaluation criteria, the study findings and recommendations.

Once the study is completed a Feasibility Study Report is required as the outcome for the work undertaken. If the study recommends continuing with the project idea then a Project Proposal for a new project should be completed and submitted either with the Feasibility Study Report or soon after.

Feasibility Study Report

The Feasibility Study Report template is used to provide information about the outcomes and success of a feasibility study. The report should include details on methodology used, the evaluation criteria, options analysed with findings and recommendations resulting from the study. Supporting documentation may be included as appendices.

The report recommendations may support proceeding with a project or project stage as a result of the study. In this case the Project Proposal should be prepared. Both documents should be submitted to the governing authorities for approval.

From civilengineerblog.com

The term Contract used in the Construction management can be defined as: “An agreement entered into by two parties under the terms of which one party agrees to perform a specific job for which the other party agrees to pay.

Definition of a construction contract

The term Contract used in the Construction management can be defined as: “An agreement entered into by two parties under the terms of which one party agrees to perform a specific job for which the other party agrees to pay. Contract documents attached to and/or stated in the agreement form integral parts of the contract”.

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Explosive users should take steps to minimize vibration and noise from blasting and protect themselves against damage claims.

Vibrations caused by blasting are propagated with a velocity V, ft/s (m /s), frequency f, Hz, and wavelength L, ft (m), related by

L = V / f

Velocity v, in/s (mm/s), of the particles disturbed by the vibrations depends on the amplitude of the vibrations A, in (mm):

v = 2 p f A

If the velocity v1 at a distance D1 from the explosion is known, the velocity v2 at a distance D2 from the explosion may be estimated from

v2 ? v1 ( D1 / D2 ) 1.5

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 The countdown to the Eurocodes changeover has begun. So we ask – how prepared are you?
Are you are a structural engineer and unaware of what Eurocodes are by now? If so, it is unlikely that you will have been working at the hard end of design. The clock is ticking and there is now only a year left until compulsory implementation of Eurocodes on public projects. If designers fail to get up to speed soon, they could well end up left on the shelf when it comes to winning work.

Eurocodes are causing the biggest shake-up in engineering since the UK went metric. They are a set of new building codes that will replace British Standards by March 2010. These codes are supported by national annexes which give country specific values and published documents (PDs) that contain guidance included in BritishStandards but not in Eurocodes. The full set of Eurocodes is now published, as are the majority of annexes.
“For engineers working on public projects, it seems there will be little choice but to use the Eurocode on projects procured after March 2010 under the requirements of the [European Union] Public Procurement Directive,” says Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB) director of bridge and structural engineering Steve Denton. “There has been a huge effort to finalise the UK National Annexes and provide other supporting information such as PDs and companion BSI British Standards Published Documents.

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 Consultant URS and contractor Progressive Contracting Inc (PCI) are to be sued by victims of the fatal I-35W Bridge collapse in Minneapolis, their lead attorney said last week.

URS was Minnesota State’s checking engineer for the bridge and PCI was carrying out resurfacing and joint replacement work on the bridge at the time of collapse in August 2007, which killed 13 people and injured 145 (NCE 9/16 August 2007).

Official investigations by the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) blamed an inadequately designed gusset plate for the collapse (NCE 19 November 2008). But consultant Thornton Tomasetti working for the collapse victims has claimed that the fracture of a key gusset plate was not the sole cause of the collapse.

Victims representative and Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi lawyer Chris Messerly, said Thornton Tomasetti had concluded that a chord on the bridge had buckled because of heat stress.

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