Civil Engineer Expert

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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 Work to renovate the congested Oxford Circus crossing on London’s busiest street begins today, to create diagonal crossings designed by Atkins similar to those at Tokyo’s iconic Shibuya crossing.

Atkins project manager Chris Greenwood, said: “By using the latest 3D modelling techniques we were able effectively to put 5000 people into the redesigned crossing area to see what would happen.

“The results we got indicated the design changes should have a massively beneficial effect.

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 The main artery for travelling in and out of Toronto, Ontario, is Highway 401, a thoroughfare that expands to 12 to 14 lanes at its widest. And at over 350,000 vehicles per day, including 45,000 trucks, Highway 401 is exceeded in terms of traffic volume only by the Santa Monica freeway in Los Angeles.

“It’s world-class congestion. It comes to a grinding halt at rush hour virtually every day,” Brian Marshall, of the Canada Transportation Development Centre, said.
Traffic is a growing problem in almost every city in the world. The average American motorist spends 36 hours in traffic delays every year. The cost of traffic congestion just in the United States is $78 billion, representing the 4.5 billion hours of travel time and 6.8 billion gallons of fuel wasted sitting in traffic. Billions more dollars have been spent on electronics and systems to alleviate this logjam.
Government transportation agencies are seeking out new, cheaper technology to replace the high-priced loop sensors and other invasive technologies that have been used in the past. In this article, we will drive on the freeway of the future and see how ubiquitous digital devices will aid in easing our traffic woes.

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Highway curves are designed so that safety and comfort of the driver is maintained. There is a gradual change from a tangent to the start of a circular curve.

The outer edge is raised first until the outer half of the cross section is level with the crown (point B). Then, the outer edge is raised farther until the cross section is straight (point C). From there on, the entire cross section is rotated until the full super- elevation is attained (point E).

Superelevated roads are typically employed on curves of rural highways and urban freeways. Rarely you will see them on local streets in residential, commercial, or industrial areas.