Providing water and sanitation after a destructive military

“I didn’t think elephants were an engineering problem, but

Find out more in this episode of Engineering Matters.

GUEST

Brittany Harris, CEO, Qualis Flow

SPECIAL THANKS TO

Engineers Without Borders

Engineers

They

They

They

If,

Institution of Civil

The post #15 Engineering Elephants: Brittany Harris first appeared on Engineering Matters.

How did a circus act inspire a revolutionary new construction method for Scotland’s first glass fibre reinforced polymer, cable stayed footbridge? Why did triumph and heartache underpin construction of the world’s most difficult cable stayed bridge, the Kap Shui Mun Bridge in Hong Kong? What did tunnel engineering teach designers about construction that enabled them to extend the span of cable stayed bridges to over 1km? And what was it like to work on two world beating structures at the same time – the Sutong Bridge in China and the Stonecutters Bridge in Hong Kong?

Only one man has the answer to these questions. World leading bridge designer, Dr Robin Sham has transformed long span bridge construction with his innovative conceptual approach. Hailed as an engineering superhero in 2018 by the UK’s Institution of Civil Engineers, AECOM’s Global Long Span and Speciality Bridges Director Dr Sham has attempted – and succeeded – in designing bridges that had never been built before. And in this episode he tells Engineering Matters that he is not done yet. Despite designing and building the most incredible bridges of the past two decades he is determined to go further. He yearns to develop new types of bridges that span larger distances more efficiently than ever before, and bring third generation suspension bridges to reality.

GUESTS

Dr Robin Sham

SPECIAL THANKS TO

The Institution of Civil Engineers

AECOM

The post #14 The Bridge Man: Dr Robin Sham first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Are there really bodies buried in the Hoover Dam? Was the

At 221m tall, arching across the mouth of the Colorado

GUESTS

Mike Franklin, US Bureau of

Alan Warren, Mott

Pekka Nieminen,

The post #13 Secrets of the Hoover Dam first appeared on Engineering Matters.

No-one knows how many penguins are in the Antarctic, but

Just a decade ago unmanned aerial vehicles were the prevail

GUESTS

Norman Ratcliffe, British

Dave Cummins, IRIS Group

Nicky Mather, Northumbrian

Oliver Viney, Atlantic

Grahame Grover, UAVE Limited

SUPPORTERS

Pix4D

Topcon

The post #12 The Drone Boom first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Robots are not just coming. They are already

GUESTS

Steve Muck, Advanced

Jeremy Searock, Advanced Construction Robotics

Asbjorn Sondergaard, Odico

David Bayley, WJ Group

Ping-Hsiang Chen, Mamou-Mani

The post # 11 The robots are here first appeared on Engineering Matters.

With 4.8 million kilometres of road China sits third in the world in terms of length of highways behind only the US and India. But its huge investment budget of £455 billion for new and improved highways could see it bypass these other world leaders. In 2018 alone it will add a further 5,000km presenting a huge challenge to those who design and build these connections. Companies are under pressure from clients to design and construct these new highways faster and in this episode we investigate how designers are writing their own software to enable this acceleration.

Using Bentley System’s OpenRoads design software, state owned consultant CCCC First Highways Consultants Company (FHCC) is investing in a new bespoke Chinese platform that will automate much of the traditional design process and, potentially make it the most efficient design nation in the world. We talk to FHCC to understand exactly how this will work, and what this means for China’s digital transformation.

GUESTS

Pramod Gupta, chief engineer BIM Centre, CCCC First Highways Consulting Company (FHCC)

Dustin Parkman, Bentley Systems

SUPORTERS

Bentley Systems

The post #10 How China has automated road design first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Right now companies around the world are competing in a global race to prove that a new transport revolution is just a few years away. Using high speed transit through low pressure tubes speeds of 1100km/hr per hour are theoretically possible, bringing cities closer together than ever before. London to Edinburgh? 40minutes. Melbourne to Sydney? 52minutes. Mumbai to Delhi? 1 hour 22 minutes. But there is a long way to go before these journey times become a reality. In this episode we talk to world leading hyperloop developer Hyperloop Transport Technologies who are pushing the technology forward, building test tracks and developing new materials for the high speed passenger capsules. We also talk to Dr Gavin Bailey of TRL, who analysed Hyperloop’s potential in a new report and talks about opportunities for the UK in this futuristic transport mode.

Hyperloop technology uses linear electric motors to drive magnetically levitating capsules or pods through very low air pressure or vacuum tubes. The idea is not new, but it was Elon Musk who kickstarted the industry naming this transit methodology Hyperloop in his 2013 white paper exploring the technology. His decision to make this design open source has led to a boom in activity and the potential for another disruptive technology that could shape our future.

GUESTS

Bibop Gresta, chairman, Hyperloop TT

Dr Sabih Gatea Khisaf, head of engineering, Hyperloop TT

Dr Gavin Bailey, technical and business development manager, TRL

Gareth Dennis, engineering director, Permanent Rail Engineering

SUPPORTERS

Leybold

Bentley Systems

The post #9 The race to create Hyperloop first appeared on Engineering Matters.

Floating along Copenhagen’s central waterway is a new proposition in affordable student accommodation, Urban Rigger. Each of these 745m2 units starts with a central concrete pontoon supporting nine steel shipping containers, which between them host 12 studio apartments for student accommodation. Launched as a solution to the student housing crisis in the Danish capital more units are set to follow and Denmark is not the only place exploring the use of shipping containers for housing. The fast construction times, energy efficiency, flexibility and modularity are seeing a growth in adoption beyond just housing with the commercial and hospitality sectors exploiting their benefits.

But the technology is not new. The most well-known example of shipping container architecture, known as cargotecture, is the Keetwonen development in Amsterdam where 1,034 shipping container homes were delivered at a rate of 150 per month, providing much needed low cost student accommodation to this busy city. Originally intended as a five year temporary housing fix the units are still there twelve years later, and this is something that today’s developers are acknowledging. As these properties show their longevity the business case is growing and proponents are seeking to scale up production planning factory style manufacturing. However significant challenges must be overcome if these units are to take off, from planning hurdles to financing models.

GUESTS

Bjørn Nørgaard, chief operating officer, Urban Rigger

Jesper Dirk Andersen, head of marine design, Urban Rigger

Dave Stone, founder, By The River Brew Company

Jon Johnson, chief executive, Reach Homes and the National Federation for Affordable Building

The post #8 Cargotecture: scaling up shipping container construction first appeared on Engineering Matters.

The story of how Brooklyn born maths genius Barbara Res became head of construction for Trump Tower, despite deep-rooted sexism that sat at the heart of construction – and society in the 1970s and 1980s.

Project owner Donald Trump modestly called Trump Tower “the most important project in the world” and to deliver it, he appointed a 31 year old female engineer called Barbara Res. Having seen her in action on the Grand Hyatt project, Barbara had earned his respect as a hard worker, and someone who would always put the project first. And this she did, meeting Trump’s demanding schedule and driving down costs.

But delivering New York’s most iconic building, and others before it, was far from easy and didn’t just require battling with contractors and suppliers. Barbara had to fight against abject and relentless sexism on a daily basis. Only after two decades in the industry, when a high profile political injustice caught the nation’s attention, did Barbara stop to reflect on the way that working on site had changed her, and in 1991 she had an epiphany that changed her life.

GUEST:

Barbara Res, author of “All Alone On The 68th Floor”

The post #7 The woman who built Trump Tower first appeared on Engineering Matters.