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For more information, contact
Jo Ann Nortley, Managing Director
Construction Innovation Forum
734/995-1855 Fax: 734/995-5002
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 12, 1999
Four Construction Innovators Receive Prestigious
NOVA Award
(Ann Arbor, Michigan) The Construction Innovation Forum, Inc.¨ (CIF)
announced today that four outstanding construction innovations were
honored with the CIF's prestigious NOVA Award at the CIF's Tenth Annual
Innovation Celebration Banquet.
The keynote speaker was Carleton Jones, Vice President, Bentley Systems
Incorporated, San Francisco, California. His presentation was entitled,
"E-Constructors: Regional Innovation Ð Global Value". Bentley, the largest
privately held PC software company, provides enterprises the software
foundation for planning, designing, engineering and managing buildings,
airports, plants, bridges, highways, utilities and other large-scale
infrastructure around the globe.
The NOVA Award, which is referred to as the "Nobel Prize" for construction,
is awarded annually to revolutionary construction solutions, processes
or products that improve the quality, efficiency and cost effectiveness
of construction. A total of 31 NOVA Awards have been presented since
1990.
This year's winners were selected from another record-setting 38 nominations
coming from four different countries and twenty different states. All
of the nominees participate in an exhaustive four-phase competitive
process before being selected by a distinguished panel of ten judges.
The four winners for 1999 include Amir the Asphalt Multi-Integrated
Roller for asphalt pavement compaction, EcoSystemª affordable, environmentally-friendly
elevator, Humboldt Stiffness Gauge, Tru-Frameª designed to reduce earthquake
damage to steel structures.
The Construction Innovation Forum is an international non-profit corporation
that rewards innovation in construction. Each year innovation is recognized
with the NOVA Award. The next NOVA Awards ceremony will be held during
the 11th Annual Innovation Celebration on March 11, 1999. The event
will be held at the Laurel Manor in Livonia, Michigan. Tickets are $200
per person, $1,400 per table of eight. Please contact the CIF at (734)
995-1855 for a reservation form, or print one directly from the web
site at www.cif.org.
The winners of the 1999 NOVA Awards:
AMIR
The Asphalt Multi-Roller (AMIR) is a new compactor designed to compact
Asphalt paving mixes in the field. Its design is based on a theory that
explains the phenomenon of construction induced cracks in asphalt pavements.
It applies its compaction energy to the asphalt mix in a way that differs
from existing vibratory, pneumatic, or static steel rollers. The AMIR
compactor was originated in Ottawa, Canada, and since 1987, a number
of integrated field trails and laboratory experiments have been carried
out. Comparative test results have been performed on asphalt specimens
from conventional and AMIR compacted sections. These results show quite
significant improvements in density, tensile strength, fatigue life
and resistance to moisture damage. AMIR has been used Australia, Canada,
Egypt, and Sweden.
EcoSystemª
In April 1998, Montgomery KONE introduced the EcoSystemª elevator, a
new family of products for vertical transportation. Members of the family
include EcoSpaceª and MonoSpaceª, products that are used for simplex
or duplex installations that have 2 to 10 landings, up to 80 feet of
travel, and operate at 200 fpm. EcoSpaceª has its controller closet
located adjacent to the hoistway at the top elevator landing, and MonoSpaceª
has its controller closet built into the front wall of the hoistway
at the top landing. The compact EcoDiscª hoisting machine is an AC gearless
motor of axial synchronous design with an integrated traction sheave,
brake flange, rotor. Compact and light weight EcoDiscª, requires no
penthouse or large machine room. As its name suggests, EcoSystemsª is
ecologically responsible. Unlike hydraulic elevators that may eventually
develop leaks and harm the environment, the system uses no hydraulic
fluid. The system also uses less electricity than hydraulic and traction
elevators. EcoSystmª, products features better space utilization for
the building owner, simplified installation for contractors, and faster,
smoother rides for passengers.
The Humboldt Stiffness Gauge
The Humboldt Stiffness Gauge (HSG) is a field instrument that has been
developed to nondestructively measure soil stiffness and soil modulus.
The HSG vibrates, imparting small forces to the soil through a ring-shaped
foot, and causes small soil deflections. The instrument determines the
soil stiffness as the ratio of these small forces to small deflections.
It assumes a value of PoissonÕs ratio and derives Young"s soil modulus
from the stiffness. HSG measures soil stiffness in just over a minute.
Soil stress and strain are determined by HSG at levels commonly found
in soil application (3 to 5 psi). Because it vibrates from 100 Hz to
200 Hz, HSG filters out soil deflection caused by nearby equipment.
By using soil stiffness measured with HSG along with statistical quality
control, the current over specification and over compaction of soil
can be greatly reduced, thereby reducing compactive effort by approximately
30%. When soil is compacted for pavements, pipe bedding, backfills,
and foundation, soil density is used almost exclusively by the construction
industry to specify, estimate, measure and control soil compaction.
However, soil density may not be the desired engineering property, instead,
the desired engineering property is the soil modulus or soil stiffness.
Development of the HSG began four years ago with an FHWA contract to
BBN Technologies of Cambridge, Massachusetts in cooperation with CAN
Consulting Engineers of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The purpose of this
contract was to adapt the U.S. ArmyÕs proven technology for the detection
of non-metallic land mines to soil evaluation application for the construction
industry. Successful proof-of-principle demonstrations were performed
and Humboldt Mfg. Co., of Norridge Illinois, was recruited to commercialize
HSG.
Tru-Frame ª
Tru-Frameª is a moment resisting steel truss frame design that reduces
earthquake damage to steel structures. The design is based on "A Draft
Guide for Designing Special Moment Resisting Steel Frames" that resulted
from a University of Michigan study. This truss systems contains several
diagonal elements that are designed to absorb seismic energy and yield
at prescribed stress levels.
After a quake, the diagonals are easily accessible for repair or requires
ultrasonic testing. This is eliminated when using the Tru-Frameª system
since its connection requires only a single pass fillet weld at the
bottom chord that does not need preheating nor a full penetration moment
weld. This advantage is achieved by moving the inelastic deformation
of the frame to a special link element at the midspan of the truss.
Since all Tru-Frameª connections are single pass fillet welds and tension
control bolts, they can be visually inspected any time after completion
without the need for additional testing. Tru-Frameª has striking advantages
over the traditional moment frame structures and offers both substantial
cost and time savings while providing a high level of performance.
More than, 600 construction industry representative from throughout
the world attended the Tenth Annual Innovation Celebration Banquet held
on March 11 at the Laurel Manor in Livonia, Michigan. Sponsors of the
Celebration this year included; DTE Energy, Bentley Systems Incorporated
for dinner, Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters for the cocktail
reception, and the Associated Builders and Contractors and Michigan
Cat for the hors dÕoeuvres.
The Construction Innovation Forum is an international, non-profit organization
established in 1987. Roger Lane of DTE Energy is the organizationÕs
Chair. The year 2000 NOVA Award Celebration will be held March 16 at
the Laural Manor, Livonia, Michigan.
For nomination forms, ticket sales or information about the CIF please
contact:
The Construction Innovation Forum, Inc.
350 South Main Street, Suite 350
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104-2131
Telephone: 734/995-1855; fax: 734/995-5002
e-mail: info@cif.org;
web site: http//www.cif.org
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