For more information, contact:
Brenda Romano, Executive Director
Construction Innovation Forum
Phone: (248) 409-1500, Fax: (248) 409-1502
E-mail: info@cif.org, www.cif.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 15, 2001FIVE CONSTRUCTION INNOVATIONS RECEIVE 2001 NOVA AWARDS
ANN ARBOR, Mich., March 15, 2001 - The Construction Innovation Forum (CIF)
honored five construction innovations tonight with the organization's
prestigious NOVA award that honors innovations that have proven to improve
quality and reduce cost of construction.
The NOVA Award were presented to the following:
Side-Grip Pile Driver
The Movax Side Grip Pile Driver (SGPD) is a vibratory pile driver that is
mounted on any standard backhoe. It was developed through collaboration of
university research faculty, machine manufacturers, and contractors to
make pile driving quicker, safer, and more efficient over a range of site
conditions. It grips sheet pile and pipe and H-beam piles from the side to
perform all operations, including lifting, driving, and extracting piles
and compacting. The SGPD operator can control the direction of a pile and
drive it at any angle. Pile length is not limited by lifting height of an
excavator, as with traditional pile driving methods that grip the top of
the piles. The SGPD is simpler to operate, and it increases productivity
and safety.
This is an innovative way of handling and installing
piling that reduces project costs and time by 50% or more; reduces pile
driving crew size by more than half; reduces the need for such supporting
equipment as compressors, forklifts, and cranes; allows driving in much
tighter quarters such as inside buildings and under bridges; reduces
ground vibrations and noise; and dramatically improves safety of the
working environment.
The SGPD provides almost instant pile driving
capability on projects when an unplanned need for such service arises
because of its reduction in setup time, breakdown time, and supporting
equipment. The system is used throughout the world on all types of
vibratory pile driving projects including sewer-lines, railways, highways,
bridges, and buildings. Contact: Yrjö Raunisto, Unisto Oy,
Tölkkimäentie 11, 13130 Hämeenlinna, Finland , Phone: +358 3 616
1655, Fax: +358-3-616-1641, Web:
www.movax.com, or Hercules Machinery Corp., 3101 New Haven
Avenue, P.O. Box 5198, Fort Wayne, Indiana 46895, Phone: 219-424-0405, or
1-800-348-1890, Fax: 219-422-2040, Email:
drf1599@ctlnet.com, , Web:
www.hercules-mafco.com
Laser Scanning 3D As-Builting
The innovation consists of a laser scanner driven by a laptop
computer. The scanner is aimed at the physical object to be scanned, and
the laser beam is directed over the object in a closely spaced grid of
points. By measuring the time of laser flight (the time for the laser to
travel from the scanner to the object and back again) the scanner
determines the position in 3D space of each scanned point on the object.
The result is a “cloud of points” - thousands of points in 3D space that
are a dimensionally accurate representation of the existing object. This
information is converted into a 3D CAD model that can be manipulated using
CAD software, and to which the design of the new equipment can be added.
Laser scanning as-builting solves the most difficult
problem that has always been associated with design and construction of
new equipment at an existing facility: how to accurately interface with
the existing facility and avoid interferences during construction. This
problem is almost always exacerbated by the fact that the drawings for the
existing facility are not completely accurate, if they exist at all.
Based on its longtime involvement in the Construction
Innovation Forum, DTE Energy included contractor innovation as a primary
criterion for the incentive-based fee in its time and materials contract
to retrofit the four-unit Monroe Power Plant with selective catalytic
reactors. The Washington Group was awarded the contract, and laser
scanning 3D as-builting is one of the innovations it employed to satisfy
the contract's innovation criterion. A major portion (both inside and
outside) of four electric power-generating units was scanned so the large
systems for reducing nitrogen-oxide air emissions could be designed and
installed. Use of laser scanning as-builting on the Monroe Power Plant
saved DTE Energy $10 million. This project is shown in the original NOVA
Award Nomination. Contact: Ben Kacyra, Cyra Technologies, 8000 Capwell
Dr., Oakland, CA 94621, Phone: 510-633-5000, Fax: 510-633-5009, Web:
www.cyra.com, or Roger W. Lane, DTE
Energy, 2000 Second Avenue, Room 574 WCB, Detroit, MI 48226, Phone:
313/235-8576, Fax: 313/235-0223,
laner@dteenergy.com, or Bruce Klein, Washington Group Intl., Inc., 510
Carnegie Center, P.O. Box 5287, Princeton, NJ 08543-5287, Phone:
609-720-2568, Fax:
609-720-2361,
bruce.klein@wgint.com
Pothole Patching Truck
The truck-mounted pothole patcher provides an extremely safe
environment for patching in heavy traffic or after dark. The one-person
operation is completely controlled from the driver's position, in the
comfort and safety of the truck cab. It uses spray pothole patching, the
breakthrough process of filling a pothole or sealing and filling a damaged
road surface by blowing liquid asphalt and aggregate into the void. The
major appeals of this technology are its simplicity, quality, and cost.
Machine operation by a single person, can be compared
to conventional throw-and-go methods that use two or more workers. The
spray patching method increases the strength and life of the patch while
also decreasing the time and cost of patching. It allows year-around
patching of roadways (temperature must be above 0 degrees F). It is
the most cost-efficient method of roadway repair, saving 45 percent of
cost compared to conventional throw-and-go patching with edge seal.
The NRC's Strategic Highway Research Program in Washington,
DC, found that spray pothole patches can be put in place more quickly,
they are less costly, and they last much longer than conventional roadway
patching methods. Rosco was the first manufacturer to offer the pothole
patcher in a working model as a main-line product for customer use, and
its pothole patchers are increasingly popular. Contact: Steve Simons,
Rosco Manufacturing Co., 1001 SW 1st Street, Madison, SD 57042, Phone:
605-256-6942 or 800-658-5499, Fax: 605-256-0240, Web:
www.roscomfg.com, or Scott Kleiger,
Patch Management, Inc., 2986 Galloway Rd., Bensalem, PA 19020, Phone:
877-FIX-ROAD, Fax: 215-604-1016, Web:
www.fixroad.com
Pallet Barrier Flood Fighting
The Pallet Barrier Flood Fighting system is an innovation for
temporary protection against floods up to 1.8 m (6 ft) in depth. The
system uses simple folding steel supports, standard wooden pallets, and a
waterproof sheet material. A few people quickly assemble it without using
heavy equipment. Pallet Barriers have been used in fifteen serious floods
in Sweden, Germany, and Holland. It is quickly becoming the method of
choice in Europe, and it has already protected several areas that
otherwise would have been abandoned and left to the mercy of the rising
water.
The heart of the Pallet Barrier system is its foldable
metal support, which is fabricated from sheet steel. Supports weigh 8.3 kg
(18 lb) and are easily handled by one person. They are anchored through
friction between the bottom of the support and the ground surface. They
support standard EUR-pallets, used throughout Europe for transportation
and storage. The inexpensive pallets withstand heavy loads and are
available in large quantities on short notice. The waterproof sheet is
reinforced high-density polyethylene coated with light density
polyethylene plastic.
The major advantage of the system is its
simplicity. The relatively light pallets and pallet supports cause little
damage to lawns and gardens compared with sandbags. All components are
reusable. After the flood subsides, the barrier is taken down and stored
in preparation for the inevitable next flood. Pallet Barriers are
assembled by inclining each pallet against its supports so they form a
line in the desired direction. The barrier can follow ground contours
vertically and horizontally. One person can easily assemble 200-300 meters
(650-1000 ft) in a day. Contact: Sten-Magnus Kullberg, , Geodesign AB,
Teknikringen 1, 583 30 Linköping, Sweden, Phone: +46-13-211955 or
+46-705-515455, Fax: +46-13-211958, Email:
kullberg@geodesign.se, Web:
www.geodesign.se
Effluent Outfall Tunnel Ventilation
The Effluent Outfall Tunnel is a deep-rock 24-ft diameter
tunnel that extends from Deer Island 9.5 mi east to a dead end 230 ft
below the seafloor in Massachusetts Bay. Now completed, the tunnel
discharges treated effluent through 55 diffusers that sit at the top of
30-in. diameter 240-ft long riser pipes, on the sea floor 110 ft below the
water surface, near the tunnel end. During construction, diffusers were
sealed to protect the tunnel from flooding. A temporary safety plug at the
base of each riser provided a second level of protection against
accidental flooding.
Safety plug removal was the final construction in the
tunnel, to be done using bottled air after the electric power and
ventilation used in building the tunnel were removed. Disaster struck when
two workers died from air system failure after having removed safety plugs
from the three outmost risers. Worker safety required that the remaining
safety plugs be removed under fully ventilated conditions. However,
reinstalling the 9.5-mi electric power and ventilation would have cost
$8-$30 Million and added 9-12 months work, without protection from safety
plugs.
The innovative and daring solution was to install a vent pipe
on one of the three cleared risers, under 110 ft of water in Massachusetts
Bay, and cross-ventilate the full 9.5-mi tunnel. An offshore oil-drilling
platform was installed above diffuser 3. A 140-ft long 7-ft diameter
cylindrical steel cofferdam with internal 48-in. ventilation pipe,
designed and fabricated to rest on the concrete base of a diffuser with a
watertight seal, was installed from the drilling platform. A 35,000-CFM
exhaust fan mounted on the platform quickly ventilated the length of the
tunnel. One team of workers at a time then entered the tunnel at its shaft
and removed the remaining 52 safety plugs in eight days, which provided
minimum exposure to accidental flooding. Contact: Kenneth S. Chin,
Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, 100 First Avenue, Boston, MA
02129, Phone: 617-788-4949, Web:
www.mwra.state.ma.us |
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