CVEN 4830-4 Civil Engineering Senior Design

Given new ASCE Body of Knowledge requirements for Civil Engineering graduates and the extra credit that you are earning, there are additional tasks that you will complete compared to students registered for CVEN 4434 – 3 credits.

1) Attend the following lectures, Tues, 3:30-4:20 pm with the other section of CVEN 4830 in ECCE 1B41:

Oct. 3 Project Financing

Oct. 24 Ethics

Oct. 31 Professional Liability

Nov. 14 Specs & Standards

Dec. 5 Ethics

The 5 above lectures are MANDATORY. By Dec. 7, submit a 1-page (~400 word) discussion of what you learned from attending these 5 lectures. What aspects are appropriate for Environmental projects? What elements seem very different for Environmental projects? What aspects of the lectures did you find particularly interesting or do you believe will be particularly useful in your career? [100 pts]

You are also welcome to attend any of the other lectures.

Recommended topics include: Sept 5 geotech issues; Sept 12 Structural issues; Sept 14 Environmental Issues, Sept 19 construction issues; Oct 10 student CivE failure presentations; Nov 7. Presentation skills.

2) Project Failure Analysis [400 pts]

This element is similar to what students in the other section of CVEN4830 will be completing.

However, your failure analysis will require an INDIVIDUAL written report (rather than the group oral presentation). DUE DATE: November 28, 2006 (you are welcome submit early)

Background (Courtesy of Professor Jim Diekmann):

"One of the paradoxes of engineering is that successes don't teach you very much. A successful bridge teaches you that that bridge works. It does not teach you that the same bridge, built at a different location or made longer or taller, will also be successful. It's all theory until it's completed," Henry Petroski Professor of Civil Engineering and History, Duke University

The primary causes of engineering disasters are usually considered to be

·  human factors (including both 'ethical' failure and accidents)

·  design flaws (many of which are also the result of unethical practices)

·  materials failures

·  extreme conditions or environments,

·  combinations of these reasons (most common and important)

However, when engineers were the cause of failure, the root cause of the human failure was:

·  Insufficient knowledge 36% • Unprecise definition of responsibilities 1%

·  Underestimation of influence 16% • Choice of bad quality 1%

·  Ignorance, carelessness, negligence 14% • Other 3%

·  Forgetfulness, error 13%

·  Relying upon others without sufficient control 9%

·  Objectively unknown situation 7%

Each individual will write a paper on a failure related to environmental engineering. The failed project is of your choice; it can be a negative health consequence (such as Crypto in Milwaukee drinking water), negative environmental impact (such as violation of wastewater discharge limits; discharging untreated sewage into ocean in CA), or facilities that broke or fell into disuse (such as many development projects in Third World countries). The goals of the project are to:

  1. Describe the project and the nature of the failure
  2. Describe why the failure occurred and what might have prevented the failure
  3. Describe what was learned from the failure.

You must clear the project you are going to use with Professor Bielefeldt.

Your write-up should be 5 to 7 pages long (single space; 12 pt font). It must include the 3 topics above. It must include a minimum of 5 references (these can be books, journal papers, websites), with appropriate in-text citation and a reference list at the end. [400 pts]

Here are some resources to get you on the right track:

http://www.prism-magazine.org/october/html/the_importance_of_failure.htm

http://www.matscieng.sunysb.edu/disaster/

http://www.icivilengineer.com/Failure_Watch/

http://crgp.stanford.edu/membership/presentations/gcr/execsummary.pdf

Examples of environmental failures:

See: http://cfpub.epa.gov/compliance/newsroom/ (US EPA fines and violations)

Colorado enforcement actions: http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/ap/enforcerept.asp

Colorado Water Quality enforcement actions: http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/wq/enforcement/index.html

The Aberdeen Three: In 1989, three engineers working on developing chemical weapons at a U.S. Army facility, the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, were convicted for illegally handling, storing and disposing of hazardous wasted in violation of the RCRA from 1983-86.

1984 Bhopal, India, methyl isocyanate release from Union Carbide plant kills ~4,000 people.

April 1993, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a protozoan that causes diarrhea (Cryptosporidium) got into the tap water. The official toll: 403,000 sickened, 4,400 hospitalized, more than 100 deaths, 725,000 lost work or school days, $96 million in lost wages and medical expenses. It is the largest waterborne disease outbreak in the industrialized world.

February 20, 2001, Encina, CA, 3,000 gallons of digested sludge spilled from EWPCF to adjacent Encinas Creek Flood Channel in Carlsbad, tributary to the Pacific Ocean. Ocean recreational waters adjacent to South Carlsbad State Beach were closed for two days to prevent public contact with waters that were impacted by the spill.

July 1998 incident in which the residents of the Amman west region in Jordan complained of being supplied with discolored, smelly, and odorous water. The water was supplied from the Dabouq water reservoir, which receives its water from the Zai Water Treatment Plant (WTP). The Ministry of Health suggested that citizens boil their water before use.

Failure of the Bulbul Drive landfill: Kwazulu–Natal, SouthAfrica

Love Canal, New York. Waste disposed incorrectly led to contamination and town evacuated

Chromium contamination in California (Erin Brockovich)

Woburn, Massachusetts; groundwater contamination of city wells (A Civil Action)

1995 Bramfield Herts, England, Landfill gas ignited and lifted borehole head. 1 injured.

U.S. E-waste that is recycled and disposed unsafely in Guiyu, China

Environmental damage from acid mine drainage, yet mine waste exempt from RCRA

Note: do not include the hours that you work on these tasks in your timesheets