Civil Engineering Technology

(2019-2020)

Submitted by: Issue date: 23rd January 2020

Unit tutor: Dr. S. Tovi Submission date: 15th April 2020

Table of Contents

Introduction......................................................................................................................................4

Methods and techniques for earthworks and Substructures............................................................5

Equipment and techniques...........................................................................................................5

Methods to create complex foundations, piling and drainage.....................................................5

 Shallow foundations:............................................................................................................5

 Deep foundation:..................................................................................................................5

 Driven piles:..........................................................................................................................5

 Cast-in-situ piles:..................................................................................................................6

 Driven and Cast-in-situ piles:...............................................................................................6

 French drain:.........................................................................................................................6

 Footing drain:........................................................................................................................6

Construction of culverts and underpasses....................................................................................6

Complex earth moving operations and deep excavations............................................................6

Ground and slope stability...........................................................................................................7

Safety plan risk assessment and methods statement for a given civil engineering activity.............8

Hazards, risks, and safety arrangement for excavations..............................................................8

Safety plan, risk assessments and method statements for the given case....................................8

Health and safety legislation and codes of practice.....................................................................9

Site safety plan, risk assessments and method statements justification.......................................9

Civil engineering problems and purpose a solution......................................................................10

Introduction

The findings of this report are methods and techniques that are used in civil engineering to build
an industrial complex. This report is on a site located at a place 12 km away from the
international airport at lies in the outskirts of the mega city of London. This includes how to deal
with many challenges like how to archive the stability on earthworks and substructures like slope
stability and come up with a proper safety plan assessment. This includes the methods to
interconnect the infrastructure to the couple of expressways 4 km away from the site with a
running river in the middle of 20 m and to alternative highway which lies on the other side of the
site around 6 km away.

This includes methods and techniques used in culvert and underpass construction as such
office blocks has deep basements. This also includes the complex earth moving operation and
deep excavations. This report also includes the identification of risks and suggests sufficient
safety measures during the construction. This also includes the management of the divide the
time properly to meet the deadline for positioning. This report also includes the evaluation of the
environmental, quality, geotechnical and economic problem and proposes a viable solution. This
also includes the analysis of the key criteria and key geotechnical parameters to create bridge
foundations and flexible highway construction.
Methods and techniques for earthworks and Substructures

Equipment and techniques

Equipment used in earthworks is heavy duty because they are used for digging foundations or
moving/lifting heavy building materials. This includes bulldozers, JCBs, Crain, etc. for
earthwork we have to clean the area by removing any unwanted object on the site that includes
trees, roots, any construction which is not part of the project, rocks, etc. Then we are going to
start excavation by forming proper road way and drainage to excavate dirt and groundwater. We
have to provide strength to the excavation wall and take care of lose soil and provide it some
strength to prevent any accident like land slide, wall of excavated land can collide, etc.

Methods to create complex foundations, piling and drainage

Foundation is the lowest part of the structure on which the whole structure builds there are two
type of foundation:

 Shallow foundations: Shallow foundation is the foundation which is on

the ground level. This is used to provide the strength to the structure which
has no basement. This type of foundation is used in small constructions. It
consists of various types like spread footing, grillage foundation, raft
foundations, stepped foundation, invested arch foundations.

 Deep foundation: Deep foundation is the foundation which has some

deep below the ground level support by the means of some type of piles,
wells, etc. it can be classified further as pile foundation, well foundation
and caisson foundation.

There are three type of piling which are as follow

 Driven piles: These piles are made up of steel, concrete and timber. These
piles are being constructed off the site and then bring to site and driven
into the ground by pile hammer
  Cast-in-situ piles: These are made up of concrete. These are casted into
the ground as deep as needed and filled with concrete. They are reinforced
by steel as required.
 Driven and Cast-in-situ piles: In this method of piling a steel shell is
driven into the ground of diameter of pile. Then mandrel from the shell is
removed and filled with the concrete.

Foundation drainage is the drainage system covering the outer area of the foundation and collects
any excessive water and drains it to the underground drainage storage tank or sent it to a water
body nearby. There are two type of drainage:

 French drain: In this the drainage pipe is laid besides the foundation wall
and the slope of the pipe is kept away from the structure. It uses the porous
materials to drain out the water
 Footing drain: In this the drainage pipe is laid around the walls of the
foundation at level of the footing. It collects the water which gets leaked
from the top to bottom and drain the water away from the foundation.

Construction of culverts and underpasses

Tunnel digging is the most efficient method used for construction of underpasses and we can use
some heavy pushing and pulling jacks for fitting the culverts. There are various types of culverts
that include corrugated steel pipe, structural plate CPS, open bottom CSP, concrete pipe,
concrete boxes (precast or cast at the site) and polymer pipe. There are three main types of
underpasses that are precast concrete units, in situ concrete, thrust-bored units.

Complex earth moving operations and deep excavations

Earth moving can be complex process for which heavy equipment are required like JCBs,
bulldozers, trucks, trollies, etc. Firstly the top soil is being removed from the area of
construction. Then deep excavation includes the excavation of soil and rocks present in about 15
ft. of dept. Deep excavation is very risky and to prevent any accidents to happen one has to
manage proper design and planning. These planning includes proper road mapping for
excavation of soil and dirt via trucks and trollies. Design should include proper support to the
walls of excavation.
Ground and slope stability
Ground and slope stability is most important. This is analyzed by soil and rocks. The soil should
not be loose and amount of rock should be more in order to achieve more stability. Slope
stability can vary on basis of load and mass movement.
Safety plan risk assessment and methods statement for a given civil
engineering activity

Hazards, risks, and safety arrangement for excavations

There are different types of hazards related to excavation for instance loosen soil at sides of
trenches and pits, falling of worker into pits, workers can get buried into ground, exposed
electrical connections or leaking gas/oil pipelines etc. There are huge risks in excavations like
landslides, collapse of walls, blast in leaking oil/gas pipelines, and electric current flow from
exposed non insulated electrical wires. Proper support should be provided to the walls of the
excavation area. For safety there should be proper guard rail and signs should be placed near the
open pits with proper escape root at end. Soil heaps excavated from the ground should not be
placed anywhere near (less than 1.5m or dept. of the pit whichever is greater) the edge of the pit.
Proper analysis of buried utilities should be done before and then one should ask for the
permissions of excavation from the authority of the utilities. Excavation should done manually
and locate the utilities before running heavy equipment.

Safety plan, risk assessments and method statements for the given case

Proper safety plan, risk assessments and method statement is purposed before stating the
excavation process. Proper sign and lights are maintained to locate the pits. Pits are provided
with a couple of entry/escape. Pits are surrounded with guard rails. Employs are within specified
height and should have no health issues like breathing problem, asthma, etc. Employ should not
be claustrophobic. Removed soil and dirt will not be collected near the site. Heavy vehicles are
not allowed to work anywhere near the excavation site and will work with the safe distance (at
least 2m) from the excavation area. Slope is maintained properly like it is not to deep not too
broad it is in ratio 1:1. All buried utilities are identifies and located before stating excavation. All
permission are taken by the authorities related to the utilities before stating the excavation
process. All utilities are located manually and dogged by hand before using the heavy machinery.
All basis safety measures are arranged from the start like ambulance, fire brigades and all other
required safety equipment.
Health and safety legislation and codes of practice

There are various health and safety legislation and code of practice:

 General safety and health provisions:

 Safety training and education
 Recording and reporting of injuries
 First aid and medical attention
 Fire protection and prevention
 Housekeeping
 Sanitation
 Personal protective equipment
 Acceptance certifications
 Access to employee exposure and medical records
 Employee emergency action plans

Site safety plan, risk assessments and method statements justification

Proper sign and light are maintain near open pits to prevent any employee to accidently fall into
it. Pits are equipped with a couple of entry and exits for emergency case. Proper guard rail are
maintain around pits to prevent any accidents to happen. Proper measures of safety are in count
in terms of size of employee and proper health conditions are recorded because precaution is
better than cure. Removed material is not placed near excavation area because it can cause earth
collapse which can cause burring of employee and they can suffocate to death. Again the heavy
vehicles are not allowed near the excavation area for the same reason. Slope is maintain in ratio
of 1:1 because more dept. or width can cause slipping of heavy vehicles which can cause some
major accidents. All buried utilities are identified and located before running heavy equipment
because it can blow away any underground pipes or electrical connections which can cause some
serious injuries or death. Ambulance and fire brigade are present for any in case emergencies.
Civil engineering problems and purpose a solution

Evaluate the environmental and geotechnical problem and its solution for given case study

There are mainly two problems related to the soil at construction site

Geotechnical and structural: Here soil is evaluated for structural strength and support. Here soil
is being tested on basis of compressive strength and determined the water table beneath the
construction site and the layers of soil under the construction site is also evaluated. This will help
us determine whether to install sallow foundation (piles not so deep and is relatively at the
ground level) or deep foundation (piles are deep all the way deep to bed rocks or enough to
provide the required support to the structure by facing resistance from the soil existence). It also
helps to determine whether to use drive piles (it is pre-casted piles which are driven into ground
with drive hammer), cast-in-situ piles (in this piles are casted at the site) or driven and cast-in-
situ piles (in this a shell is driven into the ground and then shell is being filled with concrete).

Sphere and environmental: Here the shallow sanitation field should have enough distance from
the existing ground water level so that filtration can take place from the enough soil particle to
get contaminate free water from sanitation field to ground water.

In the given scenario soil is evaluated by taking boring sample and soil sample is tested for
structural support. As a result deep foundation is required with the driven and cast-in-situ
because it provide more stability and soil resistance. And percolation test is conducted to
determine the minimum required distance between the sanitation field and the ground water level
to avoid contamination of ground water. Local jurisdiction also is also considered to know the
allowable and restrictive distances.

Illustrate how the environmental, geotechnical problem are addressed

Environmental and geotechnical problems can be addressed through various soils test and
examine the soil sample in the lab to know the ability of soil for structural support and strength.
Most common test is soil bearing test by plate load test. This test can help determine the depth of
the foundation and structural height. Then percolation test are conducted for the determination of
the safe distance between sanitation field and the ground water level. Then the layer of soil is
being tested to determine the presence of rock underneath the construction site to determine
whether the soil is able to provide the structural support by soil resistance and to what extent.
Design a proposal for a new infrastructure project (550 words)

Methods and techniques used in highway construction (275 words)

There are several methods and techniques used in road construction.

Earth road method: In this method as the name suggest raw material is earth itself. For this some
heavy roller and excavators are used to settle the unsettled way and make it even. This method
does not require much skill to construct. However it is not an ideal way to construct highways
because it cannot bear such heavy traffic and it becomes slippery during rain.

Gravel road: In this method the earth road is spread with a layer of gravel onto it to make it more
efficient but it is still not an ideal way to construct highway.

Bituminous road: In this method key material is bitumen. This method is flexible. It is made up
by four layers of bitumen. It has elastic properties which help to acquire the shape shifting
property according to the load above it. It can handle heavy traffic and it is also water proof. The
only downside to it is that it is costly and time consuming method.

Water bound macadam: In this method broken aggregates are interlocked and seal with the help
of filler material and water. It is cheaper as compare to the bitumen method and provides a good
quality because of its compacted mass.

Concrete road: It is build using Portland cement and asphalt. It can handle heavy traffic flow. It
can handle any weather. It is very long lasting construct with minimal maintenance cost. It is
expensive as compare to other methods. It is most ideal way to construct a highway.

Methods and technique used for bridge foundations with flexible highway foundation (275

words)

To build a foundation for a bridge there are number of unique problems like protecting piles
underwater from rust and corrosion. There are various methods and techniques used for
constructing bridge foundation.
Battered piles: In this method battered piles are consist of various twisted fork like structures.
Then these piles are driven into mud form a barge which help in weight distribution and help
achieve the maximum support. This type of foundation is used for small bridge construction.

Cofferdam: In this method several thin sheet piles are driven into the mud to form a water tight
chamber known as cofferdam. Then water is pumped out of that chamber and tower is being
constructed in that dry cofferdam. This gives a strong foundation for a long lasting bridge
construction. It can be risky during its build.

Slurry drilling: The soil at the bottom of the water body is soft and loose. In this method to
achieve rigidness to drill into the soil at bottom some sort of muddy mixture is added. Then the
piles are driven into the soil to form a foundation.
Conclusion (150 words)
Reference