Canadian Consulting Engineer June/July 2014

For professional engineers in private practice

JUNE/JULY 2014

HALTON WATERMAIN INFRASTRUCTURE REUSE BRIDGES AND AESTHETICS

CLEAN UP AT LAC-M GANTIC ENVIRONMENTAL MESS FOLLOWS TRAGEDY

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contents

June/July 2014 Volume 55, No. 4

Cover: Clean-Up at Lac-Mégantic.

Photograph ©shutterbugger/ iStock/Thinkstock.See story p. 12.

Infrastructure Re-Used.

See story p. 20.

departments Comment

4

Up Front

6

Products 32 Advertiser Index

33 Next issue: Thunder Bay Courthouse; Jasper Place Library; acoustics, building systems and controls; climate change and buildings.

features Clean-Up at Lac-Mégantic. The tragic oil spill and explosion in a Quebec town left a trail of contamination in its wake.

By Denis Millette, Eng., P. Eng., Christian Gosselin, Eng., Erick Beliveau, Eng., Golder Associates

12

Infrastructure Re-Used – Halton Region Zone 3 Watermain.

The piers from a disused road bridge were repurposed to carry a watermain across a valley.

By David Simpson, P.Eng., Joe Proietti, Nathaniel Andres, P.Eng.

20

Cooling Trends. Engineers in southern Ontario are finding that cooling trenches will lower the temperatures of stormwater run-off.

By Andrew Sobchak, P.Eng.

24

Bridges and Aesthetics. Bridges don’t have to be plain and utilitarian, says an engineer who has designed structures in Spain.

By Juan Sobrino, Ph.D., P.Eng., Pedelta Canada

26

Dreams and Mosquitoes: the Making of the Panama Canal.

Fierce obstacles plagued the engineers who carved out the original waterway across the Americas.

By Rosalind Cairncross, P.Eng.

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on topic ENGINEERS & THE LAW Multi-Owner Projects.

Consultants were held liable in a surprising court decision.

By John Schmidt, Miller Thomson, LLP 10 June/July 2014

p03-05 CCE JuneJuly14 ContComment.indd 3

CONVERSATIONS Doug Reeve on Leadership. Interview with the head of the ILead Institute at the University of Toronto.

Canadian Consulting Engineer

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engineer FOR PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS IN PRIVATE PRACTICE

comment

C A N A D I A N C O N S U LT I N G

Editor

Bronwen Parsons E-mail: bparsons@ccemag.com (416) 510-5119

Green design is no easy street

Senior Publisher

Maureen Levy E-mail: mlevy@ccemag.com (416) 510-5111

A

t the Canada Green Building Council conference in Toronto on June 4, I caught a few minutes with Ray Cole.

He is one of the sages in the green building movement in Canada and now director of the Centre for Sustainable Research at UBC. Twenty years ago when I was an editor on Canadian Architect we asked him to write an article comparing the environmental impacts of different building materials. What were we thinking? It was very early days in the green building movement and we had no idea how complex a question we had asked. Dr. Cole and David Rousseau, then with the Environmental Research Group at UBC, wrestled with the issues and compiled a table of common building materials under headings like energy range, major non-energy impacts, re-use, recycle energy, conversion rates, etc. Nor had we thought through the serious business impacts on the supply industry of an article declaring that one material (say, steel) was more benign than another (say, concrete). Anyway we blithely went ahead and published in March 1991.

In the intervening years sustainable design has become even more complex.

A topic at the CaGBC conference was LEED v4 and how the building rating system now includes Environmental and Health Product Declarations (EPDs and HPDs). Sounds like a great idea. But according to one LEED professional, the declarations are highly technical and involved. And for manufacturers it will be costly to certify their products ($10,000 by one estimate), so that smaller entrepreneurs with new inventions could be shut out of the market.

Then there are energy codes and models to contend with. In a panel on this topic, Andre Legault explained how a range of codes could apply to a project, from the (now outdated) Model National Energy Code, to ASHRAE 90.1-2010, to special codes adopted by cities like Vancouver and Toronto. Then you have to decide between compliance paths: trade-off, prescriptive or energy modelling. Jason Manikel of Halsall Associates said that designers of a building project in Toronto might end up having to create five different energy models.

Perhaps we shouldn’t complain. All this work requires a legion of engineers.

Is the effort worth it? Yes, of course. Listening to a speaker like Craig Applegath of DIALOG at the conference was a much needed jolt to remind us of what’s at stake. Applegath told of the litany of problems threatening the planet, with greenhouse gases and climate change just one. Deforestation, soil depletion, aquifer depletion, toxic contamination, urban sprawl and species extinction, are all a by-product of humanity’s burgeoning numbers and voracious appetites. We now need 1.4 Earths to survive, he said. We are a “species of pathological parasites,” (he was a biologist before going into architecture), “and we only have one host.”

But Applegath also has hope, citing “symbiotic cities” that integrate ecosystems, “infinite” material and water recycling, and thorium as a fuel.

Ultimately, though, it all comes down to economics. As Applegath said, to effect true change we have to figure out a way to monetize the long term effects of ecological damage in the accounting for any development. And here comes that complexity issue again — establishing an economic value for the environment is the hardest goal to achieve, and for it we need consensus around the planet.

Bronwen Parsons 4

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June/July 2014

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David Matthiessen.

up front

WATER

Parking Structure #6, City of Santa Monica, California by Behnish Architekten.

EVENTS

Speaker at CaGBC conference in Toronto delivers green building inspiration Keynote speaker on June 4 at the Canada Green Building (CaGBC) Conference in Toronto was Matt Noblett of Behnisch Architekten. The German design firm is based in Stuttgart and had its beginnings in the Post World War II era. Its founder helped design the 1972 Olympic Stadium in Munich (with Frei Otto), and new Parliament buildings in Bonn — just before East and West Germany were unified and the government moved to Berlin.

Noblett, who is from Behnisch’s Boston office, presented projects from both Europe and the U.S. What was striking was their holistic approach to green design and creative features that they had introduced as early as the 1990s. It was a reminder that if you start from fundamentals, green design does not have to be formulaic.

The first building Noblett showed was from 1998 in the Netherlands. The IBN Institute is a sprawling complex with large interior gardens interspersed generously between built blocks.

6

Then he showed the Genzyme pharmaceutical building near the Charles River in Cambridge, Massachusetts, dating from 2003. In this project the design integrated the garden areas vertically at different levels off a 13-storey atrium. To direct sunlight down into the atrium they mounted heliostats on the roof, and installed a set of prismatic chandeliers. The chandeliers hanging deep into the atrium playfully reflect daylight of their surfaces.

One of the most colourful and appealing projects was a simple parking garage in Santa Monica, California. A bright red ramp and red metal panels punctuate the facade. The panels have reflective material on the inside, which is folded out to reflect sunlight into the garage. Ironically, Noblett said, despite this daylighting, the building code requires that artificial lighting be left on permanently inside the garage.

STRUCTURES

Report shows up anonymously at Elliot Lake Inquiry New questions are arising at the Elliot Lake Commission of Inquiry as to how

Killing the zebra Officials in Manitoba claimed initial victory in early June in their efforts to eliminate zebra mussels from Lake Winnipeg. The invasive mussels are already present in the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River, but were only spotted in Lake Winnipeg in 2013.

The province embarked on a strategy of closing five harbours and loading in liquid potash. A test cage of mussels in the first treated harbour at Winnipeg Beach all died.

A potassium chloride aqueous solution 20% was pumped into the water behind a protective “silt curtain.”

NOTES

Canadian solar technology hailed in New York The SolarWall and its inventor, John Hollick of Conserval in Toronto, are included as one of the best 80 inventions of the past two centuries in an exhibit in New York City.

The thermal technology was selected by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) to be part of “Engineering the Everyday and the Extraordinary.” The exhibit includes the steam engine, the incandescent light bulb and the Panama Canal. It is on display for the next 15 years at the ASME headquarters.

continued on page 8

www.canadianconsultingengineer.com June/July 2014

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NORR Report

up front

Algo Centre Mall, Elliot Lake, post-collapse.

the parking lot structure in the 1970sera Algo Centre Mall was allowed to deteriorate to such a point that a steel beam connection failed.

For years the rooftop parking deck was known to be leaking water into the structure below and it had undergone several engineering inspections.

Now new evidence has shown up, long after the Commision of Inquiry hearings are over. On May 8 a government report was mailed anonymously to the Inquiry with a typewritten note asking whether the document had been taken into account at the hearings. Apparently it had not, though the 60-page report dates from 1988 and was prepared by the Ontario Ministry of Housing specifically on “the deterioration, repair and maintenance of parking garages.”

Responding to an order by the

Commission, the Province of Ontario confirmed on May 30 that the 1988 report had prompted changes to the building code for new parking lots, including incorporating, CSA Standard 413. However, no formal regime had been instituted for maintaining existing parking lots. The province said the 1988 report was widely disseminated among engineers, architects, etc., that it was published in English and French, and still sits on library shelves.

PEO is already moving towards implementing its first mandatory continuing education program for licensees partly in response to the tragedy in Elliot Lake. In its recommendations to the Commission of Inquiry, PEO also recommended specialist structural designations, and a stricter regime for inspecting existing structures.

Justice Belanger is due to release the Inquiry findings by October 31.

ENVIRONMENT

Federal government acts on industrial emissions The Government of Canada has proposed the first mandatory regulations to govern pollutant emissions from industry.

Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq said on June 3 that the proposed Multi-Sector Air Pollutants Regulations “will contribute significantly to lower smog levels and better air quality overall for Canadians.”

The first phase of requirements will affect industrial boilers and heaters, stationary engines, such as those used for gas compression or back-up generators, and the cement manufacturing industry.

AWARDS

Specialized surgical suite wins top ACEC-Manitoba award The Association of Consulting Engineering Companies - Manitoba (ACECManitoba) awarded its top Keystone Award to WSP Canada for a 1,000-m2 specialized healthcare project: a surgical suite on the second floor of the Kleysen Institute for Advanced Medicine, part of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.

AECOM won an award of excellence for its assessment of the condition of the City of Winnipeg Sewer Interceptor Network. The 119-km network runs 20 metres deep, making it impossible to inspect by conventional means. AECOM used multi-sensor

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up front technology to enable it to be assessed for the first time.

Hatch won for the Keeyask Generating Station Planning Studies. From 1999 to 2013, Hatch teamed with Manitoba Hydro and First Nations to develop preliminary designs for the 695-MW hydropower station to be constructed in northern Manitoba.

SMS Engineering won for the Investors Group Field. The open air stadium for 40,000 people hosts the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. It incorpo-

Investors Group Field, Winnipeg, SMS Engineering.

rates two 140 metre long trusses supporting an undulating canopy roof.

An award of excellence also went to AECOM for the James A. Richardson International Airport Elevated Roadway, Departure Level Bridge.

The 506-m structure has a post-tensioned ribbed beam superstructure.

Stantec Consulting won an award of excellence for the Swinging Bridge Replacement in the town of Souris.

The 184-metre long clear span pedestrian suspension bridge is the longest of its kind in Canada.

Three individuals were honoured.

William H. [Bill] Brant, P. Eng., won the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Now with WSP, he spent many years with his long-time associate Alf Poetker at Poetker Engineering. That company was acquired in 1990 by Cochrane Engineering, which in turn was acquired in 2007 by Genivar, now rebranded as Bill Brant WSP. Brant is past chair of the American Water Works Association, and past president of the Western Canada Water and Wastewater Association.

Kristen Poff, EIT, Kristen Poff won the ACEC-Manitoba Rising Star Award, and Alana Gauthier, P. Eng. won the Engineering Action Award. Both are with WSP in Winnipeg.

ENVIRONMENT

Alberta spends $104 million to prevent flooding In response to the devastating floods last June, Alberta has announced it will provide $104 million for three projects. The projects are to protect dams from erosion or washouts, which will reduce flood damage to downstream communities.

At the Travers/Little Bow Dam southeast of Vulcan, AMEC and Klohn Crippen are the engineers for an upgrade that involves a combined

emergency spillway and connecting canal. Also the Little Bow Dam will be raised and the irrigation outlet will be replaced.

MPE is the consulting engineer for a project at Taylor Coulee Wasteway and Bullhorn Wasteway near Cardston.

The existing wooden emergency spillways is being replaced with larger, concrete spillways.

Another project being upgraded is the Bassano Dam, a 100-year old structure that “barely survived� the 2013 flood. At press time, an engineer had still not been hired.

PEOPLE

Associated and DIALOG Associated Engineering has appointed Steve Croxford as professional services production manager. He will lead in company-wide procedures, tools and systems. Alan Emery has Steve Croxford been appointed national practice leader, highways. He will also remain as manager of the Kelowna office.

Two engineers were included in 10 new associates announced by Alan Emery Dialog. Matt Parkes, P.L. (Eng.) is based in Calgary and part of the mechanical group. Ryan Renihan, P. Eng. is based in Edmonton and a structural engineer.

June/July 2014

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Canadian Consulting Engineer

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engineers & the law

By John Schmidt, Miller Thomson, LLP

H

A recent case surrounding a seismically deficient house had an unhappy outcome for the consultant, who was found fully liable.

Multi-Owner Projects

A

recent decision of the Alberta Court of Appeal party to the agreement between Mr. Swift and the architect highlights problems that can arise when a consul- she could not be bound by the limitation clause. The Alberta tant provides services for an owner on a project that Court of Appeal agreed with this position and held that has multiple potential owners. there was nothing in the agreement or in the conduct of the To avoid some of the trouble the consultant encoun- parties that could make Mrs. Swift a party to the agreement. tered in this case, the next time In doing so, the court discussed you enter into an agreement with the principles of agency law and an owner on a project that has concluded that on the facts it was The Alberta Court of Appeal multiple potential owners, ensure not possible to accept that Mr. concluded that Mrs. Swift you do both of the following: Swift was acting as Mrs. Swift’s was not bound by the • make all of the owners parties to agent. Specifically, the court conthe agreement; and cluded that marriage and/or colimitation clause and that the • include a clause in the agreehabitation is not sufficient to estabarchitect was liable to her for ment under which the owner(s) lish an agency relationship. Withthe full $1.9 million. represent they are the sole out an agent-principal relationowner(s) of the project and agree ship, Mr. Swift could not affect the to indemnify you if they are not. legal rights of Mrs. Swift.

The decision, released in February of this year, was Swift The decision stated that “courts should be extremely rev. Tomecek Roney Little & Associates Ltd. (2014 ABCA 49). The luctant to find implied authority unless there is clear unfacts involved Mr. and Mrs. Swift purchasing land on Van- equivocal evidence that demonstrates that a principal has in couver Island and engaging Eleven Eleven Architecture Inc. fact consented to the agent’s having authority to act on his to design a custom 6,375-sq.ft. home. or her behalf.”

Mr. Swift entered into an agreement with the architect, It was also stated that “from a policy perspective, relying and the agreement contained a limitation of liability on equivocal conduct to impose legal liability in the face of clause. The clause purported to limit the architect’s liabil- a contract is problematic. Inferences are subjective and lead ity to $500,000 for any claims which arose out of the archi- to uncertain results, all the more so when inferences are tect’s duties and responsibilities in the agreement. used to contradict the express terms of the agreement.”

Contrary to British Columbia’s Building Codes there For the above reasons, the Alberta Court of Appeal conwere deficiencies in the seismic design of the house. The cluded that Mrs. Swift was not bound by the limitation trial judge concluded that the deficiencies resulted in $1.9 clause and accordingly held that the architect was liable to million dollars in damage to Mr. and Mrs. Swift. her for the full $1.9 million.

One of the issues that arose in this case was whether the This case highlights a basic, but very important, princilimitation clause applied to both Mr. and Mrs. Swift. If the ple: under most circumstances the terms of a contract are limitation clause applied to both of them, the claim against only enforceable against the parties to the contract. For this the architect would be limited to $500,000; otherwise, the reason, if you want to ensure that your limitation of liability architect would be liable for the entire $1.9 million. clause truly limits your liability, make all potential owners The trial judge held that even though Mrs. Swift was not parties to the contract and include a clause in which they a party to the agreement there was sufficient evidence to represent to you that they are the sole owners and agree to CCE establish that Mr. Swift was acting on behalf of both himself indemnify you if they are not. and his wife. The trial judge accordingly concluded that the limitation clause bound them both, which limited the liabil- John Schmidt is an associate in the Edmonton office of Miller Thomson LLP. His practice includes construction and commercial ity of the architect to $500,000.

On appeal, Mrs. Swift argued that since she was not a litigation.

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environmental remediation

This page: flames and smoke fill the sky in Lac MĂŠgantic after the train derailment and oil spill last July.

Opposite page: model showing migration of contaminants through the town.

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p12-19 CCE JuneJuly14 LacMegantic.indd 12

Šshutterbugger/iStock/Thinkstock

June/July 2014

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Golder Associates

environmental remediation

CLEAN-UP AT LAC-M GANTIC The tragic oil spill and explosion in a Quebec town left a trail of contamination in its wake. Consulting engineers were immediately called in to help contain the damage.

BY DENIS MILLETTE, ENG., P. ENG., CHRISTIAN GOSSELIN, ENG., ERICK BELIVEAU, ENG., GOLDER ASSOCIATES

D

uring the night of July 6, 2013, a freight train carrying Bakken crude oil derailed in the heart of downtown Lac-Mégantic in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, resulting in a spill of approximately 6 million litres.

The oil ignited and caused a series of explosions that lit up the sky. The massive fire destroyed part of the city centre.

Forty-seven people lost their lives.

The impact on the environment began immediately and was widespread. Most of the spilled oil was burned in the fire. However, a portion of the oil seeped into the soil and reached the shallow groundwater aquifer. A few hundred

thousand litres of oil migrated to the surface of the impact zone, entered the stormwater manholes and spread through a large portion of the sewers. Oil reached Lake Megantic and the Chaudière River through storm sewer outlets, as surface run-off, or through subsurface fill material. Strong southwest winds pushed some of the burning oil floating on Lake Megantic onto the riprap-protected shoreline of Parc des Vétérans.

The following day, July 7, Montreal, Maine, and Atlantic Canada (MMA), the railway’s owner, contracted Golder Associates to act as the environmental consultant to support the emergency operations in the town and to assist with continued on page 14 June/July 2014

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Canadian Consulting Engineer

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single ameter, ve: a he Bar-

environmental remediation

continued from page 13

clean-up operations on the river and lake.

A month later MMA filed for bankruptcy protection and the Government of Quebec appointed the construction firm Pomerleau as the general contractor responsible for the remainder of the clean-up operations. Golder’s contract was renewed by Pomerleau starting August 10, ending December 31, 2013. Within a six month timeframe, the multiparty effort had achieved the emergency remediation plan objective for securing the area of the City of Lac-Mégantic impacted by the accident.

Golder’s mandate Golder’s mandate was: (1) to recommend emergency measures to eliminate the migration of contaminants to water bodies; (2) to perform a site characterization of the area affected by the spill; (3) to develop an emergency remediation plan to secure the area for the winter season and manage surface run-off for the remainder of the site clean-up; and (4) to perform a site characterization of the aquatic environment in the bodies of water.

The work required a high level of collaboration among the various levels of government, the fire department, Sûreté du Québec, and the contractors. It meant mobilizing

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a large French-speaking team in a very short period of time.

Approximately 230 Golder employees were involved in the project, including 45 at the project site.

Containing the contaminants During the first weeks after the derailment the primary concern was to stop the migration of hydrocarbons into Lake Megantic and the Chaudière River. This was of particular concern since municipalities located downstream on the Chaudière River were forced to find other water sources while the risk of hydrocarbon contamination in the river remained high. Even the city of Lévis, situated more than 100 kilometres downstream of the spill, was affected. If the situation could not be quickly rectified, the municipalities would have needed to plan major changes to their public works. Golder and the Ministère du Développement durable, de l’Environnement et de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques (MDDELCC) site team had to quickly determine the hydrocarbon migration routes and the means to eliminate them.

During daily command meetings and technical meetings organized by Golder measures were refined. These included: (1) plugging, diverting and/or pumping of the sewer and storm water system; (2) constructing temporary ponds for accumulating oily sewage water to prevent oil migrating farther to the municipal wastewater treatment plant; (3) constructing temporary ponds equipped with inverted pipes at the outlet of storm water mains to prevent oil migrating farther to the surface water bodies; (4) installing manhole vents to prevent explosions; (5) implementing a site-wide air monitoring program; (6) digging numerous oil recovery trenches (over 1 kilometre in total); and (7) initial site characterization activities.

Vast soil and groundwater program In early August, an emergency remediation plan was developed to secure the site and to manage the anticipated storm run-off for the remainder of the clean-up effort.

A critical aspect was the need to accommodate the simultaneous reconstruction of the destroyed rail lines and the development of new commercial buildings along the new extension of Papineau Street. The latter were to replace commercial space that had been destroyed in the fire.

The emergency remediation plan required that a vast soil and groundwater characterization program be performed, which took place until October 28, 2013. This work required digging 320 exploration trenches, 116 boreholes (84 of which were converted into monitoring wells), and taking 1,200 soil samples and 125 groundwater samples which were sent to the laboratory for analysis.

Choosing the parameters for the analysis became complicated given that fire-retardant foam was used to extinguish the fire. The nature of the spilled crude oil and the resulting fire further complicated the choice of parameters. continued on page 16

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Golder Associates

Golder Associates

environmental remediation

Left: aerial view of site clean-up. Above: sampling for fish contamination along the Chaudière River.

The characterization program included defining the detailed composition of the oil exposed to heat, as well as the oil that had seeped underground.

The remediation plan also required characterizing building foundations. The entire sewer system was inspected by camera to determine its state, and 32 recovery wells were installed in the granular backfill of the underground pipes to determine the level of contamination.

The results were used to create a conceptual model of the contamination’s migration (figure p. 13), which in turn served as the starting point for all subsequent emergency interventions and work.

The remediation starts The remediation work consisted of the excavation of contaminated soils and the pumping of free-phase hydrocarbons and contaminated water that had migrated to the surface or through the preferential flow paths.

Most of the excavation work was completed between September 9 and December 20, 2013, and was primarily undertaken in parallel with rebuilding operations and the return to service of utilities and infrastructure such as railroads and municipal sewer lines. Three temporary soil storage platforms — with a total capacity of approximately 25,000 m3 to 30,000 m3 — were built on a city lot in the industrial part of town.

In total, there were 23 excavations, with the largest excavation in the impact zone, where a 1,200-mm diameter stormwater sewer was replaced and the railways were rebuilt.

Significant excavations were also located near the Papineau Street extension and at the access point for a planned bridge. Other excavations were realized for: (1) the decontamination of low points at the city’s wharf and along the edge of the dam located at the mouth of Megantic Lake along Frontenac Street; (2) to isolate certain buildings whose foundations showed potential for products to migrate underneath them; and (3) to proceed with the emer16

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gency replacement of underground lines.

In total, about 57,250 m3 of contaminated soil was excavated and stored for future treatment, representing about half of the volume of contaminated soil that had been initially estimated by the MDDELCC. A mass of debris and other residual materials (13,110 metric tons) had to be disposed of to an MDDELCC-approved disposal site.

As a result of the 2013 remediation work it was possible to remove a large part of the recoverable free phase. In total, about 49,494,000 litres of oily water and oil were recovered and treated from July 6 to December 19, 2013.

Finally, a run-off water management plan was implemented to reduce the risk of surface water bodies being contaminated and of the excavated zones being re-contaminated. The remediation work included oil and water recovery trenches, as well as pumping stations to redirect the water to the oily water treatment unit installed on site.

Hundreds of surface and sediment samples were taken and inspections done along 120 kilometres of the Chaudière River. Inventories were also taken of fish to evaluate the health of 30 different species. These included taking fish flesh and liver samples. Golder was required to index, identify and dispose of dead fish as well as recover all aquatic birds that had been affected by the contamination.

An ecotoxicology study of the river was used to identify the sections that required priority monitoring in 2014. CCE Owner/Client: Ministère du Développement durable, de l’Environnement et de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques (MDDELCC) Prime consultant: Golder Associates (Denis Millette, Eng., Christian Gosselin, Eng., Erick Beliveau, Eng., Hélène S. RicherBerard, Eng., Pietro Zenesi, Chantal Rossignol, Isabelle Richard, Eng., François Beaudoin, Eng., Normand D’Anjou, Eng.) Subconsultants: Groupe Alphard, Groupe-conseil Génipur, Terrapex Environnement Contractor: Pomerleau

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water

INFRASTRUCTURE RE-USED The piers left standing after a 100-year old road bridge in southern Ontario was abandoned have now been repurposed for Halton Region’s Zone 3 Interconnecting Watermain.

BY DAVID SIMPSON, P.ENG., JOE PROIETTI, NATHANIEL ANDRES, P.ENG.

H

alton Region is undergoing a series of infrastructure initiatives to service population and employment growth to the year 2021. One of these initiatives is a strategic watermain that conveys Lake Ontario water from the Burloak and Burlington water distribution systems to service increased water demand in North Oakville and Milton.

A challenging part of the project was crossing Bronte Creek. The creek valley is approximately 30 metres deep and 200 metres wide, and with its diverse habitats for aquatic and terrestrial species it is designated an Environmentally

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Sensitive Area and an Earth Science Area of Natural and Scientific Interest.

Halton Region retained R.V. Anderson Associates to carry out the Class Environmental Assessment (EA) Study, detailed design, and construction contract administration of the watermain crossing.

The Class EA study considered three alternatives: (a) supporting the watermain on a new pipebridge founded on four old piers that remain from a former highway bridge spanning Bronte Creek; (b) tunnelling the watermain under the Bronte Creek valley; (c) supporting the water-

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water R.V. Anderson & Associates

Above: the two bridges side by side in environmentally sensitive Bronte Creek. The repurposed watermain bridge is at right. The bridge at left was built in 1948 and carries road traffic. Left: watermain bridge with new girders, deck, and parapets designed to look like the originals.

R.V. Anderson & Associates

main from the existing highway bridge.

Ultimately concept (a) using a pipebridge on the historic piers was determined to be the preferred solution. A pipebridge is very similar in design to a traditional roadway bridge, but contains a narrower deck slab and a lower loadcarrying capacity since it is not expected to support heavy traffic. Since entirely new piers were not required in this concept, it offered the least impact on Bronte Creek’s environmental features. It could be constructed at the lowest capital cost, and it could be implemented more quickly than the other alternatives.

Heritage piers The four free-standing piers were once the major support system for the Tansley Bridge, a highway bridge that was constructed between 1917 and 1919. Most of this bridge’s superstructure was demolished in 1948 after an adjacent highway bridge was erected.

The piers reflect the engineering and architectural achievements of the early 20th century. They are cast-inplace concrete structures, each measuring 30 metres in height, 5.5 metres in length, and 2 metres in width. Each pier includes a large arch shape opening, intricate crossbeam design with recessed rectangular facings, and a gradual three-directional tapering of thickness from the pier’s base to its top. Due to their history, the piers were identified as having value as Built Heritage Resources.

A specialist in built heritage assessments, Unterman McPhail Associates, was retained to ensure that the old bridge piers were properly managed. The reclamation and refurbishment of the concrete piers preserves the history of these distinctive structures.

A steep climb Although the piers survived as firm, rigid structures for almost a century, the integrity of the concrete and steel had to be verified before detailed design could be undertaken.

Visual inspections found areas of spalling and cracks consistent with the piers' age and use, as well as exposed rebar and rust stains. Given their locations within the valley, access continued on page 22 June/July 2014

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water

R.V. Anderson & Associates

R.V. Anderson & Associates

continued from page 21

Above: piers as they were left in the valley. Right: technicians scale the piers and inspect their suitability for re-use. Top right: installing the watermain on the bridge.

was challenging and limited to non-traditional methods. The Region engaged a climbing specialist, Remote Access Technology, to ascend the piers and report on the surface concrete. Their skilled rope access technicians took core samples for compressive strength tests (to assist in determining its load bearing capacity), and they performed cover meter surveys (to determine the rebar locations and depth of concrete). The results showed that the piers were suitable for the intended purpose.

Following extensive coordination meetings with the approval agencies and local utilities, aerial wires invading the air space over the future bridge were decommissioned and removed. The contractor, Varcon Construction, then commenced with the pier refurbishment. “Pier patching� was conducted by chipping down to sound concrete and installing anchors to tie reinforcing steel.

Once the concrete was placed and cured, the forms were removed, and the complete surface area of each pier was covered in a cementitious coating to protect it from water damage and salt spray from the adjacent highway bridge.

New east and west abutments were constructed as the existing abutments needed replacing. The demolition and construction were challenging due to the close proximity of the existing roadway bridge and steep terrain. The abut22

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ments comprise concrete grade beams supported by drilled concrete caissons anchored into bedrock.

Cranes in tandem, a wagon, and other innovations With the piers complete and the abutments in place, Varcon mobilized two large cranes to erect the girders. The precast concrete girders support a cast-in-place deck. Two girders span between two piers. Each girder is approximately 30 metres in length and weighs about 43 tonnes.

The environmental sensitivities and concerns about the load-bearing capacity added challenges to the construction. While a strategically placed crane could complete most of the lifts, using two cranes working in tandem allowed the work to be completed mostly outside of the valley and expedited the construction.

The 900-m diameter watermain was installed on the bridge using an innovative concept developed by Varcon that incorporated a gantry crane, in conjunction with a wagon propelled by manpower. Each pipe segment is 6.8 metres in length, elongated from the typical 6.1 metre lengths to better facilitate construction. The main was constructed using concrete pressure pipe with flexible joints to manage normal bridge movements. Insulation and heat trac-

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water ing were installed around the exposed portions of the pipe, with the entire assembly later encased in galvanized steel.

Another unique feature used was a custom-built trolley, complete with a crane and winch system, to install the concrete parapet walls onto the pipebridge. The walls were designed to match the former 1919 bridge structure, incorporating patterns reflecting the original style and exposed aggregate finish. The aesthetics are an improvement over a utilitarian pipebridge and heighten the built heritage significance.

Long-life and overall project sustainability were key considerations throughout the design and execution. The precast parapet walls, as well as the concrete deck, incorporate stainless steel reinforcements to mitigate corrosion. The parapet walls’ aggregate finish is covered with a brush-applied clear-coat sealant to further enhance their durability against the environment and the deicing salt overspray from the adjacent existing roadway bridge.

New functional infrastructure Varcon finished construction in October 2013 at a cost of $9.5 million and the watermain is now augmenting the water supply to the northern reaches of Halton Region.

The Bronte Creek valley area has been rejuvenated with fresh vegetation and enhanced with erosion control measures. The architectural features of the two adjacent bridge structures — existing and new — now complement each other in both style and functionality, and the abandoned piers from the original 1919 bridge have been repurposed into a new functional piece of water infrastructure that will last for decades to come.

CCE David Simpson, P.Eng., is manager of water planning services, and Joe Proietti is project manager II, water services, both with Halton Region, Ont. Nathaniel Andres, P.Eng. is associate, project manager, with R.V. Anderson Associates of Toronto.

Owner: Halton Region Prime consultant: R.V. Anderson Associates, Toronto (Nathaniel Andres, P.Eng., Vireak Hinh, P.Eng., Hans Vierhuis, P.Eng., Ken Collicott, P.Eng., Reg Andres, P.Eng., Don Hull) Other key consultants: Unterman McPhail Associates (built heritage assessment); Remote Access Technology (pier concrete assessment); Coffey Geotechnics (geotechnical investigation). LGL (natural environment) Contractor: Varcon Construction Corporation

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stormwater

By Andrew Sobchak, P.Eng.

The raised temperature of stormwater run-off creates problems for ecosystems, but engineers in southern Ontario have found that cooling trenches are one effective solution.

Cooling Trends

Above: stormwater management pond at Baden Country Estates west of Kitchener, southern Ontario. Three metres below the path is a 32-metre long cooling trench designed by Stantec and commissioned in 2010.

E

levated temperatures have long been cast in the role of villain in the world of stormwater management. In fact, Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) considers warm water a deleterious substance, a potential killer, keeping company with pesticides, petroleum products and detergents.

Warm water is particularly troublesome in our cities, where sprawling impervious surfaces like parking lots, roads and roofs bake in the summer sun. Rainfall contacts these surfaces, heats up and runs off into urban waterways, increasing their temperature in the process. Adding to the problem, stormwater management ponds — the very features designed to improve stormwater quality — can also increase water temperatures by as much as 5 °C. By the time stormwater is discharged to a river or stream it can often top 25 °C, far exceeding the upper bearable threshold for desirable cold water fish species like brook trout, at 19 °C. Regulatory agencies like the DFO have long wanted to control run-off temperatures. But there is very little regulatory guidance on how, exactly, to do it, and even fewer case studies of proven concepts. Stepping into the void, consultants are returning to engineering first principles to pioneer candidates for best management practices.

From theory to practice In Ontario, 125 kilometres west of Toronto and buried three metres underground near the crossroads of the village 24

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of Baden, lies one of those candidates: a 32-metre-long, clear stone-filled cooling trench. Connected to the outlet of a stormwater management wetland that services a 64-ha residential subdivision, the 64-m3 trench is designed as an end-of-pipe cooling solution for run-off from small-to-moderate storms with less than 15 mm of rainfall.

“The science is quite simple,” says Steve Brown, P.Eng., surface water lead for Stantec Consulting in eastern Canada, whose team based in Kitchener, Ontario designed the feature. “Run-off that passes through the trench transfers heat to the cooler stone, exiting with a reduced temperature. It’s all sized using heat transfer theory.” Discharge from the trench is directed via a secondary up-welling trench that allows the water to passively percolate up to a shaded swale, before ultimately reaching a sensitive cold water stream tributary.

Following a three-year monitoring study, Brown presented the performance record of the trench at the 2013 Canadian Water Resources Association Annual Congress in Saskatoon last May. “The stone temperature remains remarkably consistent,” he says. “The greatest capacities for cooling appear to be in the spring when the difference between water and stone temperatures is greatest. In ideal conditions, the trench was able to reduce wetland discharge temperatures by as much as 10 °C, and on average about 4 °C.” Most importantly, the data showed trench discharge temperatures were almost always cooler than those occurring naturally in

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stormwater

from a few options based on site conditions and project goals,” says Brown, “but we aren’t quite there yet.”

Trenches are starting to appear in other regions of the country where additions like artificial shade screens and floating wetland vegetation are being used in stormwater management facilities to minimize the absorption of solar energy. “People are talking about piped geothermal cooling too,” notes Brown. This technology routes stormwater underground through small diameter tubes. “It operates on the same principles as [the Baden] trench, but I haven’t yet seen it applied in the field.”

Brown’s team is also considering breaking an unwritten rule of stormwater management: escaping passive-only systems and employing active means to improve the discharge quality. “We are investigating using solar-powered valves to time the discharge of run-off from the wetland,” he says.

“This way, we can capitalize on the diurnal fluctuations of run-off temperatures, and release at night when water can be several degrees cooler.”

Andrew Sobchak

the tributary. “Overall, we are pleased,” Brown says.

Tailoring to specific sites In the 7,000-sq. km. Grand River watershed — southern Ontario’s largest — the Baden cooling trench is one of approximately 15 end-of-pipe solutions that have been or are being constructed. Brown’s team is responsible for designing roughly one third of them.

The first option is to infiltrate clean or treated stormwater whenever possible, but when soils are unsuitable for infiltration, or when a more rigorous cooling regimen is required due to the sensitivity of a receiving watercourse, cooling trenches are gaining popularity. “The science behind [trench] sizing is simple,” says Brown, "but there are opportunities to adjust stone size and location. For example, submerging the trench in the groundwater table can sometimes provide benefit, but the results of these variations are less proven.”

In fact, it is this variability that makes Baden an important case study. Until now, some regulatory agents weren’t convinced that the cooling theory on paper was translating into field performance. With three years of monitoring data, the Baden trench proves this approach can consistently work. The key now for consultants is to identify the nuances of integrating the trenches into their site-specific geography to promote universal efficacy. “We in the industry need to develop a proven toolkit so engineers can pick

A cascading approach The knowledge base behind cooling trenches is advancing, but end-of-pipe solutions are just one type of weapon in a developing arsenal for the thermal mitigation of stormwater. Others, such as improved planning techniques and the selection of building materials, fall outside the direct jurisdiction of a stormwater engineer but firmly in the realm of land development professionals.

The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) refers to this approach as “cascading,” with mitigation measures employed at various scales to “address all aspects of thermal enrichment.” The TRCA recently convened a working group with other public agencies to compile the expertise accumulating in regional pockets like Brown’s to inform the development of policy. Although the release of the group’s white paper has been delayed and is now scheduled for December 2014, regulatory guidance for engineers is on the way.

In the meantime, Brown and his team continue in the cycle of engineering first principles and are busy applying the lessons learned from previous trench installations to new designs: “We are starting a monitoring project this summer for a much larger trench in Waterloo which was commissioned in 2013.” At 442 metres long, bigger may not necessarily mean better, but Brown is hoping to improve upon the success in Baden.

Test. Revise. Repeat.

CCE Andrew Sobchak, P.Eng., is principal of Toronto-based Tributary Consulting and has worked for 15 years in the water resources industry. He was a consultant on the Baden cooling trench monitoring study.

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opinion

BY JUAN SOBRINO, PH.D., P.ENG., PEDELTA CANADA

BRIDGES & AESTHETICS

The Sant Boi Viaduct over the Llobregat River in Barcelona, Spain, carries a high-speed rail line. This 870-m long bridge has a clear identity and respects the natural environment with its visual simplicity. Engineering design: Juan Sobrino (EoR), Javier Jordan, Sergio Carratala, Agnes Curras and Ricardo Ferraz.

S

ociety recognizes the positive influence of transportation infrastructure, despite the environmental and visual impacts. Unfortunately, poor aesthetics in our projects have also led to society having a distorted perception of these civil engineering structures.

A world unconcerned about aesthetics or culture would be as flat, sad and hopeless as the austere existence of Winston Smith in George Orwell’s novel 1984. Could you imagine each person wearing the same clothes just for the sake of economic efficiency?

The human cognitive response to aesthetics is complex. Different cultural movements and approaches lead to different aesthetic preferences, but whatever

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the preference, they result in positive intellectual and visual experiences. A beautiful bridge results in joy, nurturing pride and positive feelings in its community. Therefore, it is a legacy of excellence for generations to come.

Aesthetically attractive bridges are not necessarily expensive structures. We associate aesthetic designs with added costs only if we understand aesthetics as an ornament to what is built, and not as something that is intrinsic to the bridge itself. Decoration increases the construction cost but aesthetics itself does not.

Most of the beautiful bridges in the past two centuries have been design-build projects and are both efficient and economical.

©shutterbugger/iStock/Thinkstock

ADIF

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opinion

The field of industrial design has been able to generate aesthetically pleasant and inexpensive products adapted to clients. A civil engineer’s real challenge and civic duty is to conceive attractive and elegant bridges with a negligible impact on cost. At the same time, in the author’s opinion, a rational increase of cost is always acceptable. If it is grounded in ethics and sustainability, the design increases the bridge value and society’s assets along with it.

If cost is confused with value, the most economical will be seen as the best solution. But the consequences of this approach in bridge design have led to both extremes of deficiency and excess: on one hand the standardization of short and medium span bridges that underestimate appearance and context; on the other hand the construction of iconic bridges to serve economic interests that often prevail over both global public interest and sustainable development.

Signature extravagance Post-modernity has brought about impersonal spaces, globalization (loss of diversity of cultural expressions), and the Disneyfication of society and its bridges. Signature bridges are not often built, but when they are they have a great impact in the media. The greater the need of a society to reaffirm itself, the greater is its necessity of material symbols. Therefore, works are built that are extravagant, inefficient structural concepts, out-of-scale bridges that are extremely expensive, a maintenance burden and unsustainable. Every city that’s “worth its salt” wants to have a cable-stayed bridge. If the bridge is “designed” by a media celebrity architect it is considered even better.

The general perception is that good bridges are designed by architects, and engineers are just required to make possible what these more creative professionals design. This attitude may be the end of structural engineering as a creative profession. The participation of other professionals (artists, architects or urban designers) could be beneficial but it should not be a must. The engineer should always lead the concept and detailed design.

Ricardo Ferraz

Bridges can be beautiful as well as economically constructed, says the author.

He also believes engineers should take back the leading role in their design.

The Abetxuco bridge over the Zadorra River in Vitoria, Spain, was designed as a deliberate diversion from the traditional straight forms to stimulate the imagination of passers-by. Engineering design: Juan Sobrino (EoR), Javier Jordan and Juan V. Tirado.

How can we design appealing bridges?

Signature bridges should be designed without excesses.

Aesthetics does not occur by chance or by trivial imitation. The engineer should devote care and attention to the type and form, the dimensions, proportions and scale, the structure’s order, rhythm, texture, colour, wise use of materials, and refinement of details. Expression of culture and technology, and other visual design elements are also important considerations. There are a myriad of design alternatives for the various parts and the bridge as a whole.

Intuition, imagination and creativity are a must to make expressive structures that are in harmony with the site and its history. Aesthetics along with sensitivity and understanding of the context are fundamental triggers of a high quality bridge. The design of a good bridge, no matter its size, requires time and effort. We should take up the challenge.

CCE Juan Sobrino, Ph.D., P.Eng., P.E. is chief executive officer at Pedelta Canada, based in Toronto. He founded the company in Barcelona, Spain 20 years ago. He is an adjunct professor at Carnegie-Mellon University and an active member of several international bridge technical associations.

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DREAMS AND MOS UITOES

THE MAKING OF THE PANAMA CANAL As the Canal's expansion nears completion, we recall the brutal conditions and obstacles that faced the engineers who carved out the original waterway across the Continental Divide.

F

BY ROSALIND CAIRNCROSS, P.ENG.

or the dreamers of grand engineering projects the challenge was irresistible: to construct a canal across the narrow strip of land between North and South America, a canal which would link the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific. The long and dangerous journey via Cape Horn in Argentina would shrink by 8,000 miles. Shipping between the west coast of the Americas and Europe, the east coast and Asia would open up. All that stood in the way was a sliver of land, just 48 miles of it — the isthmus of Panama.

From dreaming to scheming took a few hundred years but the Panama Canal finally opened on August 15, 1914.

One hundred years later, its second incarnation, the New Panama Canal is due to open in 2015.

Watching from On Board Watching the huge container ships clear the Miraflores lock 28

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in an astonishingly short time is a marvel. The rail cars bring the ships into the channel and hold them clear of the sides, using cables to secure their position. Once in place, the lock drains 26 million gallons of water into the adjacent lock in 8.5 minutes, lowering the ship. The bell sounds and the gates open, allowing the ship to pass under its own power at a stately 5 miles per hour.

In the course of a passage, water lifts the ships to the level of Gatun Lake 85 ft. above sea level, carries them across the Continental Divide, and lowers them to the ocean again on the other side. All the work is done by gravity acting on water — there are no pumps. And the incessant rain of a rain forest replenishes the water.

On board, seeing the giant gates close behind the ship, the walls of the canal close enough to touch, the lock filling or draining quietly, effortlessly, it is difficult to imagine the state of the world as it was when the Panama Canal was built.

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©Charles Lytton/iStock/Thinkstock

history

The Dream That Wouldn’t Die In the early 16th century the Spanish conquerors of South and Central America had shiploads of gold looted from countries like Peru and Ecuador to get back to Spain. The land route through the isthmus was difficult and risky. They dreamed of a sea route, a canal, through the land bridge.

They made their case to the king of Spain, who was persuaded. The land was surveyed and a plan following a similar route to the present day canal was drawn up in 1529. But war distracted Spain and the project was moved to the back burner where it simmered for a very long time.

The reports of German scientist and explorer Alexander von Humbolt in the early 19th century turned up the heat.

The “wild and mountainous” terrain that he described did little to deter the dreamers. The Spanish government authorized the construction of the canal in 1819. But with all her colonies in South America in revolt, the Spanish again soon had other matters on their minds.

The French Project - Men, Money and the Mighty Mosquito Decades later, fresh from their most recent engineering triumph with the construction of the Suez Canal, the French were sure that they could build the canal to bridge the Americas. In 1876 they set up an international company with Ferdinand de Lesseps, star of the Suez project, at the helm. De Lesseps was confident that he could “complete the water circle around the world” by building a sea-level canal through Panama.

But a canal through the equatorial forest was a very different proposition from a canal through the sandy desert.

The dense vegetation, the rain, the unstable geology, proved to be huge problems. Raising enough money and controlling corruption proved difficult. Finding and keeping men on the project, and keeping them alive, were major battles too.

The French started digging in 1881. Scores of men came from the West Indies. The engineers came from France’s premier engineering schools. The engineers could not be persuaded to stay for any length of time. If they did, they together with thousands of labourers stood to die in droves.

Wikipedia Commons

Close up both the concrete structure and the riveted gates seem in amazingly good shape for being 100 years old. But the world was very different when building started.

The path to the piece of elegant engineering was long, tortuous, and strewn with major obstacles, which for many were fatal. Overcoming the obstacles took ingenuity and produced numerous innovations in sanitation, infrastructure, excavation processes, equipment, lock and gate design to name a few. It tested the mettle of the profession and produced one of the greatest engineering achievements in human history. And like all projects it started with an idea.

©Charles Lytton/iStock/Thinkstock

AL

history

Left: ships proceed through the Gatun Locks. The 80-km canal has three sets of locks, lifting ships to Gatun Lake 26 metres above sea level.

Above: overall diagram, showing canal route. Cutting though the isthmus cost 22,000 lives.

Malaria and yellow fever decimated the workforce between 1881 and 1889.

Some 22,000 lives, US $287 million, and 10 years later, de Lesseps gave up. The company was bankrupt and the project had failed amid huge financial scandal.

The American Project The United States, on the other hand saw an opportunity.

In a move that most reports indicate as unmistakable armtwisting, the Americans coerced the French into selling the canal at the fire sale price of $40 million.

The U.S. also needed the permission of the Colombian government in whose territory the proposed canal lay. The Colombians declined. Not inclined to take “no” for an answer, the Americans instigated a rebellion in the province of Panama which led to its secession. In 1903 the new country of Panama was born, a country friendly to U.S. interests.

The two countries signed the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty which gave the Americans sovereignty over a strip of land 10 miles wide, to be known as the Panama Canal Zone. But the Panamanians were never very happy with the terms. Until relatively recently they drew little benefit from the canal.

Discontent gave rise to rebellion and treaty after treaty for another century or so.

The Americans had acquired from the French a lessthan-half dug ditch, a jumble of buildings, equipment that had rusted in the humid climate, inadequate infrastructure in terms of a railroad to move men, machinery and soil, and continued on page 30

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Canadian Consulting Engineer

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history

continued from page 29

Stevens, Goethals and Gaillard The first chief engineer, appointed in 1904 with orders from President Theodore Roosevelt to “make the dirt fly,” left one year later after making little progress. Then John Stevens took over in 1905. First he set about dealing with the problems that had undermined the French project: living conditions and disease. To improve living conditions, he built housing, hospitals, churches, schools, recreational facilities, and the infrastructure for the supply and distribution of food.

Fortunately tropical medicine had advanced since the French debacle and the US Army tropical disease expert Walter Reed and a Colonel Gorgas had identified mosquitoes as the disease carriers. With Stevens’ support, Gorgas mounted a campaign to rid the territory of mosquitoes, battling the skeptical army bureaucracy as well. It took strategies ranging from the cultural (persuading Panamanians not to store water in open containers indoors), to the practical (installing wire screens in houses, draining swampland, building concrete ditches and tile drains), to the natural (thousands of minnows and insects to eat mosquitoes), to the chemical (fumigation, spraying standing water with oil), and more to contain the mosquitoes. But they did. Without this victory over the mosquito, there may never have been a Panama Canal. In appreciation of Steven’s support, Gorgas later wrote, “... it is hard to estimate how much sanitation on the Isthmus owes to this gentleman for its subsequent success."

Stevens also tackled the construction infrastructure. An efficient railroad was crucial so he built with heavier rolling stock the inadequate railroad inherited from the French and improved all the associated systems.... Then he resigned. His letter to the President complained of political and bureaucratic interference. Apparently President Roosevelt was not amused. He sent an army officer, Colonel George Goethals, to replace him.

Goethals took over as chief engineer in 1907 until its completion in 1914. He would see the construction through some of its most difficult stages: dealing with massive landslides, the completion of the locks and gates. With him was a Major Gaillard who oversaw the blasting and excavation of the difficult 12.5-km Culebra Cut, later renamed the Gaillard Cut. On completion of the canal, Goethals was named Governor of the Panama Canal Zone.

And the Engineering ...

The project spawned numerous innovations and many engineering firsts.

R. Cairncross

a small workforce. There were also good surveys and studies. Some of the excavation and dredging work the French had done would prove useful, and some not.

The U.S. Government set up the U.S. Isthmian Canal Commission which took over the project in 1904. They decided to use locks rather than a sea-level canal and set the US Army Corps of Engineers to build it.

Above: Miraflores locks, located towards the Pacific (southeast) end of the canal. Though 100 years old, the lock gates still operate effortlessly.

Moving mountains of soil was time-consuming, labour intensive and dangerous. Stevens built an effective system of soil excavation and removal (later refined by Geothals) by coordinating steam shovel and train movements. The system kept the soil moving with the efficiency of a conveyor belt as the work progressed.

Blasting and excavating the rocky ridge of the Continental Divide known as the Culebra Cut proved a huge endeavor for Gaillard. Getting to the bottom of the canal meant excavating some 270 feet of mountain. Major landslides halted work for months at a time. Test borings and analysis had determined the quality of the rock, but the effect of rain on the underlying strata of clay and iron pyrites in the rock had been overlooked and its stability was overestimated. The repeated failure of the excavation finally led to the conclusion that the clay could only be removed by water jet from a high level. The crushed rock, however, did help solve another problem. The aggregate would later be used to manufacture concrete for the locks.

The Locks The construction of the locks posed a huge challenge. They would be the largest and most advanced in the world. There are three sets: the Gatun, Pedro Miguel and Miraflores.

Each is currently 33.5 metres wide. The largest at Gatun is almost 2 kilometres long, and has two parallel sets of three flights that in total lift ships 26 metres.

Each lock has an elegant system of culverts which channel water from a lake. Large culverts run along the centre and side walls of the locks, crisscrossed by smaller ones. When the valves are opened, water enters the large culverts and runs into cross culverts. Holes in the chamber floor allow the water to fill the lock. Valves at either end open or close to admit or shut off the water. The filling and draining of the lock depends entirely on gravity. There are no pumps. The locks are filled from the lakes and drain into the sea level channels, each crossing using 52 million gallons of water.

The lakes are replenished by the abundant rainfall. continued on page 32

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Specifier’s Literature Review

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This application will allow WEG Electric Motor customers in NEMA markets to search an electronic catalog for motors and produce data sheets and technical drawings. The application will also allow the user to download or email PDF data sheets and drawings. The app is available for iOS, Blackberry, Android. Go to www.pamensky.com/downloads SUPPLIER: V.J. PAMENSKY

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If you were planning to rout and seal your asphalt joints after they fail, think about the added costs of repairing what you’ve already done. Denso Re-instatement Tape is a polymer modified bituminous strip that is cold applied and designed to seal the joints between asphalt, concrete and steel, the first time. Re-instatement Tape seals around catch basins, manholes, utility cuts and next to concrete curbs prior to paving. Do it right the first time with Denso Road Products. For more information contact: Blair Slessor at 416-291-3435, email: Blair@Densona-ca.com, or visit our website at www.densona.com SUPPLIER: DENSO NORTH AMERICA INC.

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Download the new Simpson Strong-Tie® Literature Library mobile app to your iPhone or iPad to quickly and easily access our current Fastening Systems and Anchoring & Fastening Systems for Concrete and Masonry catalogs.

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history

continued from page 30

Dams and Gates The successful operation of the locks depends on a nearby reservoir, so dams were needed. Building the largest of the lakes, Gatun, required the damming of the Chagres River.

Using excavated soil, and rock from the Culebra Cut, the river was dammed by building two walls along its length, filling them with clay which later hardened into an impervious barrier. At the time of construction Gatun Dam and Gatun Lake were the largest earthen dam and artificial body of water in the world. Smaller dams were also built at Pedro Miguel and at Miraflores.

The giant gates that close in a V-shape in front of and behind the ships were considered the greatest technical challenge. They had to move effortlessly, operate dependably and withstand the pressure of the water. And there were no examples to follow.

The easy movement is accomplished by their ingenious construction. The lower half of the gates is hollow and water tight, lightening the load on the hinges. One hundred years later the gates look as sturdy as ever and seem to work effortlessly.

The Canal Opens Grand festivities were planned for the opening of the canal on August 15, 1914. But it was not to be. The start of the First World War 1 cancelled the party. The first official trip

products

between the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans was made by a ship named SS Ancon.

Despite the lack of fanfare at its opening, the canal was hailed as a marvel of technology. It was the most costly project, in lives and in money, that the U.S. had ever undertaken.

The Expansion Today the effect on international commerce is clear. Ships of every kind, from smaller boats to huge cruise liners, to ships carrying every kind of freight in containers and specialized vessels, wait to enter the canal. They fly the flags of nearly every country in the world. Some 12,000 ships pass through the canal each year. It takes about 15 hours to travel through. About half of that time is spent waiting.

Over the decades ships have grown so much larger that expansion was the only solution. A $5.2 billion project is being carried out to enable passage to “New Panamax� vessels 55 metres wide. The project is adding two new sets of locks, one on the Pacific and one on the Atlantic sides, as well as creating a new access channel on the Pacific side and dredging the channels. Originally it was to open in 2014, the year of the canal's 100th anniversary, but the expansion is now set to open in 2015.

CCE Rosalind Cairncross, P.Eng., is contributing editor to Canadian

Consulting Engineer. She is based in Toronto.

professional directory

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For information on placing an advertisement in the Canadian Consulting Engineer Professional Directory, contact Maureen Levy, Senior Publisher, 416-510-5111, email: mlevy@ccemag.com, or Vince Naccarato, Sales Manager, 416-510-5118, email: vnaccarato@ccemag.com

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conversations

The founder of a unique institution at the University of Toronto believes that engineers will only reach their full potential by nurturing interpersonal skills.

Doug Reeve on Leadership

P

rofessor Doug Reeve, P.Eng., is the founding director of the Institute for Leadership Education in Engineering (ILead) at the University of Toronto. The Institute was established in 2010 and is growing fast, with over 240 graduate and post-graduate engineering students taking its courses, and hundreds more attending its workshops and events last year. Professor Reeve is in the Department of Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry and served as its chair between 2001-2011. He also has worked as a consultant internationally for many years.

Q. Does everyone need to be a leader? Don’t some engineers feel more comfortable working in the background?

I believe that to fully realize ones’ potential, one needs to develop personal and interpersonal skills that will lead to personal fulfilment and success. If we do not cultivate our inner life and our relational life, then we will be missing out on the happiness and joy and success that will flow from our work.

Where the idea originates from is a belief that engineers should use both sides of their brain, if you like; that engineering education tends to develop students’ technical abilities, sometimes at the expense of their interpersonal and personal abilities. Our belief is that everyone has a responsibility to be a leader. But there is a difference between a leader and a boss. We see leadership as a process, rather than as a position.

It’s easy to grasp that a CEO or a president is a leader.

But our notion is that everyone must behave in a leaderly fashion, and if everyone behaves in a leaderly fashion, then you can be the CEO, you can be a junior process engineer, you can be somebody on the shop floor, you can be a draughtsman, you can be a cleaner, you can be a secretary, and still behave in a leaderly fashion and be a leader.

The example that I use: the first day on the job, a young engineer goes into the company and he or she is the lowest person on the totem pole. The person has no authority, no person reporting to them. They walk in the door and there’s trash on the floor — a newspaper, paper, coffee cup, whatever. The leaderly behaviour is to pick it up. Or there is somebody on a stepladder behaving in an unsafe fashion.

The leaderly thing to do is to speak to the individual.

We’re not looking to give people an education just so that they can be CEOs. We’re looking to give people an

34

"Our belief is that everyone has a responsibility to be a leader. But there is a difference between a leader and a boss.”

education so that they will be able to create a vision based on their values that will lead them to responsible and positive action for change that inspires others.

Q. Don’t leaders have to have charisma?

Charisma is only one very narrow dimension of leadership.

Will I ever be as compelling a speaker as Barack Obama?

No. But can I learn to be better? Yes. Q. What are some of the practical steps for students coming into the class?

There is a very simple but very effective analysis of how people function that was developed by Bolton and Bolton.

It's not perfect; there are many ways in which people operate. But it is a good beginning and a practical tool. It divides people up into Analytical, Driver, Amiable, and Expressive.

Say I’m an Expressive and I'm working with an Analytical. I just want to wave my hands and talk; the Analytical wants to see the numbers. So if we both understand those differences then we can moderate our behaviour and can function better as a team.

CCE

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