Author: Rachael Dobosiewicz

 

                Rachael back again!  Today’s adventures led us to a winery…. so that begs the question: Does this post belong here or the food page?  Read on to find out why this post is here and not on the food page!

              When in the wine business, you must be prepared to invest a small fortune in land, facilities and equipment before seeing a return.  At the Starosel Winery, they thought ahead and solved a very troublesome problem in a very unique fashion.  In one of the two large fermenting rooms on site, they installed a removable roof structure.  This will allow for them to remove the roof when they need to remove/ replace any of the very large fermenting vats.  They designed a reinforced concrete structure as the facility and literally placed a wooden, truss frame roof on top of concrete pillars.  They secure the roof to the concrete columns with removable bolts.  And since wood is a relatively lightweight material, there is no problem removing it when they need to get machines in to access the large vats. 

                There was not really anything spectacular about the actual design of the wood frames and the trusses; where the ingenuity and beauty of the work is through its purpose.  Many people would build the bones of the structure, install the equipment and then install the roof, never thinking ahead of how the client’s needs might change throughout the course of the life of the building.  However, whoever designed this was thinking ahead and foresaw a problem if they ever needed to replace a vat due to defect or even age and wear and tear.  As engineers, our clients may not always be inclined to think ahead and it is part of our responsibility to think of all possible issues they may have and make suggestions on how to build them a structure that fits their present and future needs. 

                I am not entirely sure the cost of removable roof and if it was more expensive to do this way as opposed to an attached roof, I am not sure how much more expensive it was.  However, in my opinion it was well worth the money because it saved them from major headaches down the road. 

 

              Rachael here!  Today we met with a man that could be considered a developer.  He buys land and builds mixed use high rise buildings under the business of Gerbera Ltd.  They usually contain commercial stores at the ground level with basements for the stores use and condos on the remaining floors.  The number of floors ranges, we saw the construction of a twelve story mixed use high rise.  Once he is done building the structures, he will sell each individual space to a company or family, however he fronts all the money himself first.  In this way, he is essentially the owner and sells his property.  At the beginning of his business, when he did not have such capital, he would have the eventual owners pay in increments beginning at the design phase all the way through to the signing of ACT 16 (certificate of occupancy). 

                He has a unique way of organizing and operating his business.  First, all the construction crew members are his own employees and he groups them into specific jobs.  There will be a crew that does all the ground zero work (up until the ground level), another group that does floor slabs, another that does stucco, etc.  And he will not pay them until 100% of the work in that building is completed.  In handling it this way, he has found that the groups push one another to work efficiently and to stay on schedule because if one group is going slow, then the other group cannot start their job and therefore they cannot get paid.  He also keep different projects at different construction phases.  One building will be at the ground zero phase, another at the floor slab phase, another at the stucco phase, etc.  This allows for there to always be at least one complete team working at all times.  Usually they start one building and then the ground zero crew starts another and so on.  There is one crane that is set on railroad tracks and is used as the crane for all the different buildings in the lot.  In this fashion it is very efficient that the crane does not have to be repositioned for every building.  He has about 20 high rise structures being constructed at one time.  The only job that he contracts out is the roofing work because that is a very delicate and involved process. 

                Since it is high rise building, the process of construction can take a very long time.  There is foundation work, column work, floor slabs and a great deal more area to construct.  Gerbera Ltd has come up with an ingenious way to save time.  They call it a drawer system.  It is where they frame out a floor slab, pour the slab, wait the 11 days to get early strength, then slid the forms out with a crane and place the forms (still intact and constructed) on the next story.  They entire process takes about 14 days and therefore they are able to pour two stories a month.  This is possible because they make each floor a beamless slab and if they do need a beam, they invert it.  This requires more reinforcement but it saves time so the cost more than likely balances out.  They have no way of making the columns more efficient; they must have two columns that run the entire height of the structure in both directions to help brace the system since it is not a steel braced structure. 

                Another cool feature of the buildings is that they keep a 20 cm gap between each and fill it in with light weight foam to protect against earthquakes.  Therefore, each building’s foundation is independent from the buildings adjacent and in the event of an earthquake, all the buildings would move in the same direction but they would be independent from each other. 

                We also visited a concrete plant and were able to see the operating room and stockpiles of materials.  This particular plant had 10 recipes that varied for use like foundation, walls, high strength, etc.   They are also able to create a custom recipe based on client request and in that event they would make a sample batch and test it before sending any concrete to the site.  They have their own testing facility at the plant and they make cubes (not cylinders like the US) and cure them in a lime bath.  They also do breaks at 7, 14 and 28 days.  They also test once daily each class of concrete they make.  The density of their concrete is usually 2.3 ton/cubic meter.  Their machines can mix 3.5 cubic meters of concrete at a time, the trucks can carry between 7.5-9 cubic meters and they maximum productivity of the plant is 110 cubic meters per hour.  They also source the stone and sand from two different quarries just in case there are any problems with the materials from one quarry.

                The operation of Gerbera Ltd was very different than the operation of Marinski and it was very interesting to see both.  But then again, they specialize in two different kinds of structures, high rises and low rises so naturally there will be some differences.         

Hello All! Rachael here again.

We had the fortunate opportunity to talk with the head engineer and the superintendent for a very big and extremely important cross continental project; the upgrade of the railways to allow for bullet trains to pass through Bulgaria.  The current rail paths only allow for speeds of 130 kilometers per hour and with the upgrades, the rails will allow for speeds up to 200 kilometers per hour.  They have a significant portion already done and during testing, the train was able to reach 220 kilometers per hour and could have gone faster but they ran out of track!  One of the main reasons that trains were unable to achieve speeds faster than 130 kilometers per hour was due to the radius of curvature of the rails.  But there were other upgrades that needed to be completed to accommodate the faster trains like electrical work, conduits, etc.  As aforementioned, this is a cross continental project with the goals to link Europe to the Middle East and eventually all the way to China following the path of the Silk Road.  However, the European Union’s involvement stops at the Turkish border.  One interesting thing that they did was allow for companies to purchase conduit to sell to allow better and faster data transfer between the Middle East and Europe.  So this project is not solely about trains, they have found a way to bring in money as well! 

Phase I of this project was to update one set of tracks in 4 sections of 20 kilometer rail through automatically removing the old rail and preassembling the new rail before automatically placing that.  They placed the preassembled rail in 25 meter increments.  Once they finished the first track, they switched all the trains to the new rail and began Phase II.  Phase II is updating the second set of tracks as well as widening any sections if needed, diverting storm water, building any new pedestrian or traffic overhead bridges, culverts, adding walls for safety and noise control, and updating all the station buildings which includes making them handicap accessible.  They have completed Phase I and are working one Phase II currently.

To remove and update the rail the process is as follows: remove old stone prism until undisturbed earth is reached, remove secondary construction such as drainage, widen the path if needed, prepare the bed and lay the new stone prism, place the new rail and provide an insulation with a concrete base with wire mesh to ensure that no water penetrates.  Removal of the tracks also includes overhead electric and posts.  The stone prism is as follows: a 0-32 millimeter diameter stone fraction layer on top of the undisturbed earth, then a 50 centimeter thick layer of 32-63 millimeter diameter gray stone, and then rail is placed and finally a 20 centimeter thick layer of 32-63 millimeter diameter layer is used to fill in the area. 

Since the European Union is involved and paying for a fraction of the cost of the new rail way, many of the safety and quality control measures are very strict.  It is required of all projects in this area to have technical oversight meetings twice a month to ensure all requirements are being met and to approve each section before they move onto the next section.  There is also a design team meeting once a month that involves the engineers coming to the site.  But perhaps the most fascinating part was the strict regulations on materials.  Samples of all materials must be obtained and the on-site materials are checked for quality and correctness multiple times throughout the project.  Every company that is providing materials for this project must prepare the materials that will actually be sent to the rail project (not just stockpiled materials) and someone is sent to the manufacturers/ producers and check to make sure the materials are right and of good quality.  This stands even of the manufacturers are in another country and even if the project needs two more rail pieces, that means someone has to travel to Italy to check those two rail pieces before they can be shipped here and places.  In doing it this way, they actually find that they spend less money than if they receive a shipment and it is not right and they have to send it back and wait for the right one.  There is a small advanced payment however, 100% of the payment comes when 100% of the bedding is laid, 100% of rail is placed, etc.  They will not pay until every material is done and tested to satisfaction. 

In addition they have some advanced safety precautions such as trains using the updated Phase I rail way must reduce their speeds to 60 kilometers per hour along the length of the four sections and even further reduce their speed when entering where the crews are actually working for that day.  There are safety instruction meetings every morning and the crews must sign in however there is no drug or alcohol testing here. 

We also visited one of the quarries that supplies part of the stone fraction bedding for the project.  They mainly source limestone but are converting the facility to other stones as limestone is becoming obsolete.  They produce about 1 million tons per year but they only excavate on a request/ client/ order basis.  They do however work year round.  The stone comes in four European standard sizes: 0-4 mm which is used for stucco, 4-11 mm which is used in asphalt, 11-22 mm which is used in the base layer of asphalt and large stone which is used for decorative purposes in walls.   

This project was easily one of my favorites (so far) because I have traveled on the bullet trains in Europe and absolutely love them.  I think that the Europeans do a fantastic job with their train systems and would love to see the US adopt a similar system!

Hello All! My name is Rachael Dobosiewicz and I am urrently a senior civil engineering student at Syracuse University, who is interested in specializing in structural or architectural engineering. Myself and eight other students are here in Bulgaria for two weeks to tour various historical sites as well current project sites. We had the great opportunity to visit one of the very limited universities in Bulgaria and speak with faculty and students about the structure of the school. Things are done a little differently here as opposed to America. For example, their equivalent of a Bachelor’s degree is five years whereas ours are typically four or less. Also, here students are expected to specialize right away; there are no broad categories such as civil engineering that encompass a multitude of different disciplines. Instead their programs are very specific: gas supply, plumbing for buildings, etc. That could be beneficial if you are absolutely sure that is what you want to do, but if you are a first year just trying to figure out your niche, that could not work in your favor. If you switch to a similar major some of your credits will transfer however, if you transfer from another school, then you will have to start from year one.  They offer master’s degree programs as well as PhD’s just as the US does but the fields of interests are more specialized than ours.  Another difference in education here is that specialized school begins at the high school level; there are high schools that focus on sciences that many students were enrolled in prior to starting at this university.  In our visit to the university, we were only privileged to see the hydraulics lab but it was very modern and contained relatively new amenities. They had a pipe line constructed with every single possible connection to help understand the uses of each.  Overall, it was very nice to discover parallels and differences between our education system and theirs, but also to see where my own professor was taught!