Second edition of newsletter-Call for contributions

Hello friends,

You must all be aware that we publish newsletters from the CTC twice a year. the last publication was in January and it is now time for us to do better than the last time. so if you do come across some of the latest and interesting technologies in civil engineering or if you find some thing worth a place in the newsletter, entries are welcome. do come up with contests or write up about those topics concerned with civil engineering. let your creative thoughts be unleashed. :)

even creative thoughts for publishing the news letter are welcome.

send your entries by 25th, June, 2011, Saturday to civiltechnoclub@gmail.com

looking forward to contributions from you :)

cheers!

CTC team

MY TRIP TO ANDAMAN ISLANDS

By: S.M.Anuraadha, B.E. CIVIL 2008-2012

Ross Islands

It was the capital of Andaman Islands before Port Blair. The Island saves its neighbors from any calamity as it is situated like an entrance. Before independence this island was used by the Britishers as a major place to live in and communicate as Andaman was away from India and there could be no possible way for the Indians to protest them. It had the church, power house, printing press, and British head quarters. Which were all washed off during World War II and Tsunami. The buildings built here had plate and bolt arrangement. In between each set of brick there is an iron plate which makes it more strong and reinforce the building. This is the reason why we still have a part of the building to see. Another fact about this island is that there is sweet water available after a particular depth and this served the citizens for their drinking purpose. Guess what they used for other domestic purpose? Don’t be shocked but it is Bisleri water. They had separate boilers to purify the rain water and used it for these purpose.
This place also has a natural swimming pool. The construction is such that it has two vents at top and bottom of the pool. In Andaman per day there will be a high tide and low tide. During high tide, the vents are opened to fill the pool and closes automatically. After the water is dirty the vents are opened to send them out.
Central Jail:

The "kaala paani" jail situated in Port Blair was a place where they arrested and tortured our Indian freedom fighters. The construction of the Cellular Jail was such that it has 7 wings which has a star shaped plan. At the center there is a tower where guards keep watch of the inmates. A large bell was kept in the tower to raise the alarm in any eventuality. The construction started in 1896 and was completed in 1906. The estimated time of construction was only the 3 years but since the freedom fighters were forced to construct their fellow men prison it took a long time of 10 years. The bricks used to build the building were brought from Burma, known today as Myanmar. The name, "cellular jail", derived from the solitary cells which prevented any prisoner from communicating with any other. They were all in solitary confinement. Two out of the seven wings of the Jail were demolished during the Japanese regime. In 1945, the British resumed control with the end of the World War II. Another two wings of the jail were demolished after India achieved independence. The remaining three wings and the central tower were therefore converted into a National Memorial in 1969.

16-STOREY HOTEL BUILT IN SIX DAYS

A massive 16-floor hotel has been built in the Hunan province of China in just under six days.

The New Ark Hotel has broken exisiting construction records, rising from an empty plot in Changsha to its full height in just 136 hours. Developer Broad Sustainable Building, who worked until 10pm each night, say the five days and 16 hour construction time is thanks to the use of pre-fabricated parts. The frame of the 50m building - which is built to withstand a magnitude nine earthquake - took just 46 hours to put together, with the building enclosure taking another 90.

WORLD’S HIGHEST HOTEL

A 632-metre tower in Shanghai is to house to world’s highest hotel when completed in 2014.

With 128 storeys, the Shanghai Tower will be the second tallest building in China and the third tallest in the world, with the Shanghai Tower J Hotel occupying the 84th to 110th floors. According to the holding company Jin Jiang Hotels Group, the hotel will be the world's highest luxury hotel, surpassing the Park Hyatt Shanghai, which currently occupies the 79th to 93rd floors of Shanghai’s tallest building - the Shanghai World Financial Centre. The hotel will have 258 luxury guestrooms with the lobby situated on the 101st floor. The Shanghai Tower is located in the central business district of Lujiazui, the Pudong district, along with the Shanghai World Financial Center and Jin Mao Tower.

“FACT” TO SELL PHOSPHO-GYPSUM PANELS

By: S.Divya, B.E.CIVIL 2008-2012

Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore (FACT), partner in a joint venture to manufacture fibre-glass-reinforced, load-bearing phospho-gypsum panels, has decided in principle to launch a marketing-cum-service wing for the new project considering the immense potential of the product in the affordable housing market.

Phospho-gypsum panels have the capacity to revolutionize the building industry, especially in a State that has traditionally relied on scarce raw materials for construction, river sand being an example.

These panels can be used to build walls and roofs without brick and cement. They are eco-friendly, weather-resistant, cuts building cost by 25 per cent and reduces construction time by 50 per cent.

A 12x3-metre gypsum panel can substitute a lorry-load of bricks.

Besides, the wall will not require plastering as the superior finish of the panel allows for direct coating of primer and then painting.

As the panels are corrosion-resistant they will be immensely suited to coastal regions.

The cavities in the panels can be filled with cement concrete to enhance their strength.

A marketing-cum-service wing will be essential for the joint venture until people get accustomed to using the new material in building houses or even bigger complexes.

Telling the buyers how to use these panels and developing a group of local experts in using them are essential to the success of the product.

The process of using these panels will have to be taught initially to ensure that the technology spreads rapidly in the State.

The joint venture, called Rapid Wall, has been forged among FACT, Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers Limited (RCF), Mumbai, and Rapid Building Systems of Australia.

Considering the vast reserve of gypsum available with FACT, raw material will be cheap and assured.

The Australian company will supply the technology, licence and critical equipment.

INTERVIEW TIPS

SOURCE: PLACEMENT CELL (MSEC)

Gone are the days when a single interviewer asked questions that simply expanded on your resume. Today, you might find yourself face to face with employees you’d work with, if hired.

Regardless of the format, expect team interviews to be challenging. The initial exchanges with the interview team are the most difficult and decisive. At this point, you and your interviewers are evaluating each other. During those few minutes strong impressions can be formed which will last a long time. As a candidate, your goal is to find out whether the company’s environment matches your interests and values. Your prospective employer in his turn is trying to decide if your personality and background fit its culture and ambience.

Essential Tactics

Team interviews are more challenging than traditional one -to-one encounter. But when handled well, you can show several people at once that you have the right potential. Remember, your interviewers understand how formidable non-traditional interviews can be and want you to succeed.

The following tips can improve your encounters with interviewing teams

Expect to feel additional stress
You’ll have very little time to frame your answers unlike during traditional interviews, when the interviewer might take notes before asking another question. But with several people doing the questioning, you can’t have this luxury, because while one person is taking notes, another will fire the next salvo of question.

Recognize that interviewers too are human
Most understand that you’re nervous and will try to make the experience as comfortable as possible. They’re not interested in seeing you squirm. Their job is to determine if your talents will match with the opening.

Know what characteristics to emphasize
List the 10 traits associated with the position you’re seeking and prepare to demonstrate them during the session. Would creativity, presentation or facilitation skills be important? Ask people who are familiar with the kind of job you’re seeking to create short tests that might allow you to illustrate your skills.

Ask intelligent questions, do not state the obvious
If you’ve done your homework, you’ll know the organization’s culture and how you’ll fit in. Ask questions that reflect your knowledge of that culture.

Read between the lines
With several people asking questions consecutively, you won’t have much time to prepare a response. However, if you read people well, you’ll be able to respond to the concern underlying the interviewers’ questions. Picking up on and responding to these issues is certain to impress an interview team. For instance, if an interviewer says, "Here at ABC we have a long tradition of teamwork," what he or she wants to know is, "How good are your teamwork skills?"

Watch out!
Sell yourself. Learn as much as possible about the vacant position, the company, and the interviewers themselves. The more detailed information you have about the company and the position, the better prepared you are likely to be. Visit the company’s website, if it has one and acquire detailed information about it.

Employers want someone who wants to work for them. Demonstrate this by:

· PREPARING QUESTIONS. No matter how thorough the employer is in the interview, you must ask questions. This demonstrates interest and thinking ability.

· ASKING, "WHAT IS THE NEXT STEP?" Tell the employer you were intrigued prior to the interview and are now even more.

· EMPHASIZING AREAS OF YOUR BACKGROUND. Think of specific examples that demonstrate this.

Be prepared with answers to the following:

· What do you know about this position and company? Why are you interested?

· What are your short-term and long-term goals?

· What are your strengths?

· What are your weaknesses?

· What are expectations regarding salary?

· What questions do you plan to ask the employer either about the job, company, or other things? Who have you learned the most from?

· What was it? Why was it important?

· What would you change here?

· Are you willing to relocate? Change industries? Travel?

Tell us about yourself
this is an open canvas for you, giving you an opportunity to direct and lead your interview in the direction you want. A good idea would be to structure your answer in the following three broad heads:

• Family Background
• Educational Background (starting from schooling to professional qualifications)
• Achievements

In all the above subheads speak only that information which will give strength to your candidature. Avoid verbose description of yourself.

What would you like to do in five years' time?
This question is asked to assess candidate’s career plan and ambition for growth and to see if the company will be able to provide that opportunity over period of time. Also to assess if your personal goals are not totally off tangent with what company’s objectives are

What are your biggest accomplishments?
You could begin your reply with: "Although I feel my biggest achievements are still ahead of me, I am proud of my sense of involvement. I would like to make my contribution as part of that team and learn a lot in the process".

It will be a good idea to close your answer with also specifying what attributes and circumstances made you succeed.

What are your favorite subjects?

It is a leading question giving direction to the panel members for possible areas where they can probe in. Select the topics that you are competent in.

Why should we hire you?
Keep your answer short and precise. You should highlight areas from your background that relates to the need of the organization.

What is the worst feedback you have ever got?
To answer this question you must admit and share your areas of improvement. Your answer should reflect your open-mindedness.

ENGINEERING MARVELS 1

By: S.Niranjana, B.E.CIVIL 2008-2012

Akashi-kaikyo Bridge- The Pearl Bridge

If you take up engineering project what would be your main goal?

Before all the answers like quality, deliverance, cost, etc., I’m sure the project completion time is of utmost importance. But that’s exactly one factor that didn’t quite workout in this case. This

is an engineering marvel that pushed the barriers of engineering further. The whole project including the project planning, designing, execution spanned over 30 years. But all the efforts put in, paid rich dividends later.

The need:

The Akashi-kaikyo Bridge connects the city of Kobe and Iwaya across the Akashi strait of Japan. The need for the bridge arouse when the ferries, which were the only mode of transport to fishermen and their family across the Akashi straits, started facing devastating mishaps. There were heated debates on whether Japan needed to invest so much in building just one bridge. The final straw was the accident in 1955 involving 168 students who died along with some adults. And it was decided, Japan did need that bridge.

This bridge holds the record for

• The longest bridge (it spans over a length of 2km)
• Tallest tower to hold the suspension cables
• Most expensive construction (4 billion dollars)

It was designed to serve a design life of 200 years. It took two million workers ten years to construct the bridge, 181,000 tonnes of steel and 1.4million cubic metres of concrete. The steel cable used would circle the world seven times.

Obstacles and the solutions provided by the Japanese engineers:

When one plans something so huge, there will be hindrances along the way. Here the hindrances were as huge as the project. The water body over which the bridge had to be built is one that was 100m deep, having high tides and attracted high magnitude typhoons, that even the sailors found it tough to sail through it. The other main problem was, Japan lay in the high seismic activity zone. The final problem was the heavy traffic which made it impossible to shut down traffic in even a small part of the water way for construction. That called for perfect planning.

The first step was the construction of pier. Since the water was so deep the concrete blocks of large size could not be dropped to form the pier of the bridge. Neither could any in-situ work be carried out using concrete. So the engineers developed a new innovative technique. They made use of an 80m high cylindrical (steel) mould built in the dry site. Then the used so many boats to tow the mould to the spot where the foundation was required. Then slowly water was filled and the cylinder settled on the bed of the water body. Further surveying revealed that the mould had settled exactly where it was intended to be.

The concrete is a heterogeneous material, which when exposed to water prior to curing would dissolve like aspirin. So the challenge was to develop a concrete that could hold itself in water and cure perfectly. The Japanese came up with an amazing type of concrete called the super concrete which served this purpose. The next step in the construction was building the tower that would hold the cables of this suspension bridge. The towers were built of steel and could withstand earthquakes up to 8.5 Richter.

The next process was suspending the cables over the two towers. The suspension cable was to withstand high loads and so a new technology involving super strong steel wire with added silica was employed. The cable was made of 37,000 strands packed together making the width of the cable as 1m.It was planned to be carried out by shipping the cables from one island to the other and releasing the cables slowly along the route. But this was declared impossible as the water way traffic was so high to be disturbed. In 1993, the cables were passed by air from one island to other after passing and fixing them over the two towers. After securely fixing the main cables in place the vertical suspension cables were fixed at regular intervals so that the lower end of these suspension cables reach only till the deck level.

The final step was the deck and roadway laying. The commencement of the deck slab construction and hence the road way laying began in January 1995. The deck was designed to be strong and hold against any sway. Beneath the deck the structural steel members were arranged in triangular shapes to allow the wind to pass through, so that the wind load on the bridge was reduced to some extent. This deck construction had just begun when Japan faced a major disaster.

In January 1995, a major earthquake of 7.5 Richter hit Japan. But the wonder was the construction withstood the seismic forces perfectly. The tower stood still due to the flexibility of the steel. But before the work could commence again, inspection of the piers underwater was essential to make sure no damage had occurred in the base. Only when this inspection was done with the aid of video cameras did the engineers know that the pier was resting on a fault line. And when a survey was conducted on land, the other shocking discovery was made. Due to the earthquake and a fault line presence they hadn’t detected earlier, the two towers moved a little away from its original position, as a result of which the bridge had to be 1m longer. The design was to be changed now for the roadway and the intervals between suspension cables had to be increased. Then roadways were laid. The 100 tonne steel road way pre-fabricated was taken using floating cranes and placed in position. In 5^th April 1998, their efforts bore fruits and the bridge was open to traffic. The most important thing that makes this construction even more wonderful is there were no fatalities throughout the 10 year construction period.

And that’s how 3 decades of planning, 1 decade of construction and 4 billon dollars have made the impossible, possible.