The inventors and original supplier of a popular shear-stud reinforcement for two-way flat slabs in concrete frames are up in arms over charges, based on recent research, that the American Concrete Institute's model code governing use of the studs is flawed. The researchers claim that, consequently, there is potential for premature failure due to punching shear at slab-column connections, especially under earthquake loads.A. Ghali, professor emeritus of civil engineering, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and the lead researcher for original studies on shear studs dating back to the 1970s, disagrees. Extensive testing shows that code-specified "equations and detailing for the
As London’s main international airport at Heathrow nears full capacity, momentum is growing in the U.K. for a major new hub in the Thames Estuary. London Mayor Boris Johnson has been lobbying hard for an estuary airport for two years. Recently, architectural heavyweight Sir Norman Foster proposed a rival $80-billion estuary project that includes high-speed rail, tidal power and a major new utilities and data spine.Foster’s Thames Hub would be built at the end of the Isle of Grain, Kent, some 55 kilometers east of central London. Over a third of the 40,000-hectare airport would be on land reclaimed, with
A contract was awarded recently for a $3.5-billion ethylene plant at the Ain Sokhna complex, 120 km east of Cairo. Egypt is in the throes of a $19-billion petrochemical-plant construction boom. The national strategy, laid out in a 20-year master plan, is to boost domestic production capacities to 600,000 ton per year of ethylene and 1.9 tons per year of polymers, according to the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources.Currently, Egypt’s petrochemical sector represents 27% of its total industrial production. The 2002-22 plan calls for 14 petrochemical complexes. The 2002-08 first phase involved eight plants valued at $5.6 billion. The
The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art opened to the public on Nov.11, 2011. The complex was completed on schedule, according to Bill Greek, senior vice president of Linbeck Group LLC, which led the joint venture that built the project. Construction of the 201,000-sq-ft museum—a collection of 10 linked buildings—was challenging, thanks to its setting over or alongside a stream in a blasted out ravine in Bentonville, Ark., and its two weirs, curved forms and cable-supported roofs, courtesy of architect Moshe Safdie. Work even required damming Crystal Spring. Though the museum is open to the public, the diverted creek has
Rendering courtesy of Facebook The Lulea, Sweden, Facebook data center will be powered by nearby hydropower. In a joint venture with Fortis Construction, Portland, Ore., and NCC Construction Sweden, Stockholm, among others, DPR Construction recently was awarded a $121-million contract to construct a data-center complex for Facebook in Lulea, Sweden.This project will be the Redwood City, Calif., general contractor’s first foray outside North America, said Andy Andres, project executive, who is currently in Forest City, N.C., constructing another Facebook data center. This year, DPR and Fortis also completed Facebook’s data-center complex in Prineville, Ore.“This was the right job and right
ENR The plant is sited in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, a key region for the fishing industry. Commissioning of the 1,000-MW first reactor of the Kudankulam nuclear powerplant in India has ground to a halt due to protests by the local population. Originally scheduled for December, commissioning and start up of the estimated $3-billion plant in the southern state of Tamil Nadu was moved to March 2012 because protestor blockades have prevented engineers from gaining entry into the plant.Stricken with delays since it was first conceived in November 2008, the plant has been the target of safety
At a House hearing marked by partisan rancor, Energy Secretary Steven Chu disputed Republicans' allegations that politics played a role in his decision to approve a loan guarantee to now-bankrupt solar energy company Solyndra.E-mails obtained and released by Republican committee members have suggested that there was some disagreement within the Obama administration about Solyndra's economic viability. Some lawmakers have suggested that the White House pressured the Dept. of Energy to take Herculean steps to save the foundering company, which declared bankruptcy late this summer.Chu told the House Energy and Commerce Committee's oversight and investigations subcommittee at a Nov. 17 hearing
ENR The plant is sited in India's southern state of Tamil Nadu, a key region for India's fishing industry. Commissioning of the 1,000-MW first reactor of the Kudankulam nuclear powerplant in India has ground to a halt due to protests by the local population. Originally scheduled for December, commissioning and start up of the estimated $3-billion plant in the southern state of Tamil Nadu was moved to March 2012 because protestor blockades have prevented engineers from gaining entry into the plant.Stricken with delays since it was first conceived in November 2008, the plant has been the target of safety concerns
NTA The first of seven lines will be 23 kilometers long and have 22 stations. NTA Set for completion in 2017, project construction is estimated to cost $2.5 billion. With about 400,000 residents and more than 3.3 million in its metropolitan area, Israel's second-largest city, Tel Aviv, is finally getting a mass transit system. After decades of false starts, work has begun on the first of seven planned lines of a combined light-rail and bus rapid-transit network. Estimated at $2.5 billion, it is the most expensive civilian transport project ever undertaken in Israel.The launch comes a year after the cancellation
Israel Natural Gas Lines has signed an agreement with Italy's Micoperi Marine Contractors, Ravenna, to plan and construct a floating offshore terminal along the country's central Mediterranean coast to better ensure its supply of liquified natural gas. The $140-million project is expected to help Israel meet growing demand and counteract not only undependable natural-gas supplies from Egypt but also the current unavailability of supply from a large offshore gas field. Discovered in 2009 about 50 miles west of Haifa in the Mediterranean Sea, the Tamar field has an estimated 8.3 trillion cu ft of natural-gas deposits, but it is not
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