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    200%20 questions%20and%20answers%20on%20ce%20works 200%20 questions%20and%20answers%20on%20ce%20works Document Transcript

    • 200 Questions and Answers onPractical Civil Engineering WorksVincent T. H. CHU
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUCONTENTS1. Bridge Works Q1-26 P4-142. Concrete Structures Q1-24 P15-233. Drainage Works Q1-19 P24-324. Earthworks Q1-10 P33-365. Piers and Marine Structures Q1-18 P37-426. Roadworks Q1-22 P43-507. Pumping Station Q1-10 P51-548. Reclamation Q1-11 P55-589. Water Retaining Structures and Waterworks Q1-16 P59-6310. Pipe Jacking and Microtunelling Q1-6 P64-6511. Piles and Foundation Q1-30 P66-7512. General Q1-14 P76-80Reference P81-83 2
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUPrefaceThis book is intended primarily to arouse the interests of graduate engineers, assistantengineers and engineers in the technical aspect of civil engineering works. The content ofthe book mainly focuses on providing the reasons of adoption of the various currentpractices of civil engineering. By understanding the underlying principles of engineeringpractices, graduate engineers/assistant engineers/engineers may develop an interest in civilengineering works. It is also intended that the book will serve as a useful source ofreference for practicing engineers.Some of these questions are selected from the book and published in the column “The CivilFAQ” in the monthly journal The Hong Kong Engineer under the Hong Kong Institution ofEngineer. Other than this book, I have written another book called “Civil EngineeringPractical Notes A-Z” which contains similar format and targets to provide quick andconcise answers to frequently asked questions raised by engineers during their day-to-daywork. For reader who have any queries or feedback, the author can be contacted atfreewing317@yahoo.com.hk. Vincent T. H. CHU July 2005 3
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUChapter 1 – Bridge Works1. Under what situation shall engineers use jacking at one end only and from bothends in prestressing work?During prestressing operation at one end, frictional losses will occur and the prestressingforce decreases along the length of tendon until reaching the other end. These frictionallosses include the friction induced due to a change of curvature of tendon duct and also thewobble effect due to deviation of duct alignment from the centerline. Therefore, theprestress force in the mid-span or at the other end will be greatly reduced in case thefrictional loss is high. Consequently, prestressing, from both ends for a single span i.e.prestressing one-half of total tendons at one end and the remaining half at the other end iscarried out to enable a even distribution and to provide symmetry of prestress force alongthe structure.In fact, stressing at one end only has the potential advantage of lower cost when comparedwith stressing from both ends. For multiple spans (e.g. two spans) with unequal span length,jacking is usually carried out at the end of the longer span so as to provide a higherprestress force at the location of maximum positive moment. On the contrary, jacking fromthe end of the shorter span would be conducted if the negative moment at the intermediatesupport controls the prestress force. However, if the total span length is sufficiently long,jacking from both ends should be considered.2. What is “preset” during installation of bridge bearings?“Preset” is a method to reduce the size of upper plates of sliding bearings in order to savethe material cost. The normal length of a upper bearing plate should be composed of thefollowing components: length of bearing + 2 x irreversible movement + 2 x reversiblemovement. Initially the bearing is placed at the mid-point of the upper bearing platewithout considering the directional effect of irreversible movement. However, asirreversible movement normally takes place at one direction only, the bearing isdisplaced/presetted a distance of (irreversible movement/2) from the mid-point of bearingin which the length of upper plate length is equal to the length of bearing + irreversiblemovement + 2 x reversible movement. In this arrangement, the size of upper plate isminimized in which irreversible movement takes place in one direction only and there is noneed to include the component of two irreversible movements in the upper plate.Note: “Preset” refers to the displacement of a certain distance of sliding bearings with respect to upperbearing plates during installation of bearings.3. In incremental launching method of bridge construction, what are the measuresadopted to enhance sufficient resistance of the superstructure during the launchingprocess?(i) During the launching process the leading edge of the superstructure is subject to a large hogging moment. In this connection, steel launching nose typically about 0.6-0.65 times span length is provided at the leading edge to reduce the cantilever moment. Sometimes, instead of using launching nose a tower and stay system are designed which serves the same purpose.(ii) The superstructure continually experiences alternative sagging and hogging moments 4
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHU during incremental launching. Normally, a central prestress is provided in which the compressive stress at all points of bridge cross section is equal. In this way, it caters for the possible occurrence of tensile stresses in upper and lower part of the cross section when subject to hogging and sagging moment respectively. Later when the whole superstructure is completely launched, continuity prestressing is performed in which the location and design of continuity tendons are based on the bending moments in final completed bridge condition and its provision is supplementary to the central prestress.(iii)For very long span bridge, temporary piers are provided to limit the cantilever moment.4. In bridge widening projects, the method of stitching is normally employed forconnecting existing deck to the new deck. What are the problems associated with thismethod in terms of shrinkage of concrete?In the method of stitching, it is a normal practice to construct the widening part of thebridge at first and let it stay undisturbed for several months. After that, concreting will thenbe carried out for the stitch between the existing deck and the new deck. In this way, thedead load of the widened part of bridge is supported by itself and loads arising from thenewly constructed deck will not be transferred to the existing deck which is not designed totake up these extra loads.One of the main concerns is the effect of stress induced by shrinkage of newly widenedpart of the bridge on the existing bridge. To address this problem, the widened part of thebridge is constructed a period of time (say 6-9 months) prior to stitching to the existingbridge so that shrinkage of the new bridge will take place within this period and the effectof shrinkage stress exerted on the new bridge is minimized.Traffic vibration on the existing bridge causes adverse effect to the freshly placed stitches.To solve this problem, rapid hardening cement is used for the stitching concrete so as toshorten the time of setting of concrete. Moreover, the stitching work is designed to becarried out at nights of least traffic (Saturday night) and the existing bridge may even beclosed for several hours (e.g. 6 hours) to let the stitching works to left undisturbed.Sometimes, longitudinal joints are used in connecting new bridge segments to existingbridges. The main problem associated with this design is the safety concern of vehicles.The change of frictional coefficients of bridge deck and longitudinal joints when vehicleschange traffic lanes is very dangerous to the vehicles. Moreover, maintenance oflongitudinal joints in bridges is quite difficult.Note: Stitching refers to formation of a segment of bridge deck between an existing bridge and a new bridge.5. What are the advantages of assigning the central pier and the abutment as fixedpiers?(i) For abutment pier to be assigned as fixed pier while the bridge is quite long, the longitudinal loads due to earthquake are quite large. As the earthquake loads are resisted by fixed piers, the size of fixed piers will be large and massive. In this connection, for better aesthetic appearance, the selection of abutment as fixed piers could accommodate the large size and massiveness of piers. Normally abutments are relatively short in height and for the same horizontal force, the bending moment induced is smaller. 5
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHU(ii) For the central pier to be selected as the fixed pier, the bridge deck is allowed to move starting from the central pier to the end of the bridge. However, if the fixed pier is located at the abutment, the amount of movement to be incorporated in each bearing due to temperature variation, shrinkage, etc. is more than that when the fixed pier is located at central pier. Therefore, the size of movement joints can be reduced significantly.6. Sometimes the side of concrete bridges is observed to turn black in colour. What isthe reason for this phenomenon?In some cases, it may be due to the accumulation of dust and dirt. However, for themajority of such phenomenon, it is due to fungus or algae growth on concrete bridges.After rainfall, the bridge surface absorbs water and retains it for a certain period of time.Hence, this provides a good habitat for fungus or algae to grow. Moreover, atmosphericpollution and proximity of plants provide nutrients for their growth. Improvement indrainage details and application of painting and coating to bridges help to solve thisproblem. Reference is made to Sandberg Consulting Engineers Report 18380/X/01.7. In prestressing work, if more than one wire or strand is included in the same duct,why should all wires/strands be stressed at the same time?If wires/strands are stressed individually inside the same duct, then those stressedstrand/wires will bear against those unstressed ones and trap them. Therefore, the frictionof the trapped wires is high and is undesirable.8. In the design of elastomeric bearings, why are steel plates inserted inside thebearings?For elastomeric bearing to function as a soft spring, the bearing should be allowed forbulging laterally and the compression stiffness can be increased by limiting the amount oflateral bulging. To increase the compression stiffness of elastomeric bearings, metal platesare inserted. After the addition of steel plates, the freedom to bulge is restricted and thedeflection is reduced when compared with bearings without any steel plates under the sameload. Tensile stresses are induced in these steel plates during their action in limiting thebulging of the elastomer. This in turn would limit the thickness of the steel plates.However, the presence of metal plates does not affect the shear stiffness of the elastomericbearings. 6
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHU Fig. 1.1 Effect of steel plate in elastomeric bearing.9. How to determine the size of elastomeric bearings?For elastomeric bearing, the vertical load is resisted by its compression while shearresistance of the bearing controls the horizontal movements. The design of elastomericbearings are based on striking a balance between the provision of sufficient stiffness toresist high compressive force and the flexibility to allow for translation and rotationmovement.The cross sectional area is normally determined by the allowable pressure on the bearingsupport. Sometimes, the plan area of bearings is controlled by the maximum allowablecompressive stress arising from the consideration of delamination of elastomer from steelplates. In addition, the size of elastomeric bearings is also influenced by considering theseparation between the structure and the edge of bearing which may occur in rotationbecause tensile stresses deriving from separation may cause delamination. The thickness ofbearings is designed based on the limitation of its horizontal stiffness and is controlled bymovement requirements. The shear strain should be less than a certain limit to avoid theoccurrence of rolling over and fatigue damage. The vertical stiffness of bearings is obtainedby inserting sufficient number of steel plates.10. In a curved prestressed bridge, how should the guided bearings in piers of thecurved region be oriented with respect to the fixed bearing in abutment?To determine the orientation of guided bearings, one should understand the movement ofcurved region of a prestressed bridge. Movement of prestress and creep are tangential to thecurvature of the bridge (or along longitudinal axis) while the movement due to temperatureand shrinkage effects are in a direction towards the fixed pier. If the direction of guidedbearings is aligned towards the fixed bearing in the abutment, the difference in direction ofpretress and creep movement and the guided direction towards fixed bearing wouldgenerate a locked-in force in the bridge system. The magnitude of the lock-in force isdependent on the stiffness of deck and supports. If the force is small, it can be designed asadditional force acting on the support and deck. However, if the force is large, temporaryfreedom of movement at the guided bearings has to be provided during construction. 7
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUFig. 1.2 The diagram showing how the guided bearings in piers of the curved region isoriented with respect to the fixed bearing in abutment.11. In the construction of a two-span bridge (span length = L) by using span-by-spanconstruction, why is a length of about 1.25L bridge segment is constructed in the firstphase of construction?Basically, there are mainly three reasons for this arrangement:(i) The permanent structure is a statically indeterminate structure. During construction by using span-by-span construction, if the first phase of construction consists of the first span length L only, then the sagging moment in the mid span of the partially completed bridge is larger than that of completed two-span permanent structure. To avoid such occurrence, 0.25L of bridge segment is extended further from the second pier which provides a counteracting moment, thereby reducing the mid-span moment of the partially completed bridge.(ii) The position of 1.25 L countering from the first pier is the approximate location of point of contraflexure (assume that the two-span bridge is uniformly loaded) in which the bridge moment is about zero in the event of future loaded bridge. Therefore, the design of construction joint in this particular location has the least adverse effect on the structural performance of the bridge.(iii) In case of a prestressed bridge, prestressing work has to be carried out after the construction of first segment of the bridge. If the prestressing work is conducted at the first pier which is heavily reinforced with reinforcement, it is undesirable when compared with the prestressing location at 1.25L from the first pier where there is relatively more space to accommodate prestressing works.Note: Span-by-span construction means that a bridge is constructed from one bridge span to another until itscompletion.12. What are the advantages of piers constructed monolithically with the bridge deckover usage of bearings?Basically, piers constructed monolithically with the bridge deck are advantageous in thefollowing ways:(i) Movement of the bridge deck is achieved by the bending deformation of long and 8
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHU slender piers. In this way, it saves the construction cost of bearings by using monolithic construction between bridge deck and piers. Moreover, it is not necessary to spend extra effort to design for drainage details and access for bearing replacement. On the other hand, in maintenance aspect substantial cost and time savings could be obtained by using monolithic construction instead of using bearings as bridge articulation.(ii) Monolithic construction possesses the shortest effective Euler buckling length for piers because they are fixed supports at the interface between bridge deck and piers.Note: Monolithic construction means that piers are connected to bridge decks without any joints and bearings.13. Are diaphragms necessary in the design of concrete box girder bridges?Diaphragms are adopted in concrete box girder bridges to transfer loads from bridge decksto bearings. Since the depth of diaphragms normally exceeds the width by two times, theyare usually designed as deep beams. However, diaphragms may not be necessary in casebridge bearings are placed directly under the webs because loads in bridge decks can bedirectly transferred to the bearings based on Jorg Schlaich & Hartmut Scheef (1982). Thisarrangement suffers from the drawback that changing of bearings during futuremaintenance operation is more difficult.In fact, diaphragms also contribute to the provision of torsional restraint to the bridge deck.14. What is the advantage of sliding bearings over roller bearings?In roller bearing for a given movement the roller bearing exhibit a change in pressurecentre from its original position by one-half of its movement based on David J. Lee.However, with sliding bearing a sliding plate is attached to the upper superstructure and themoving part of bearing element is built in the substructure. It follows that there is nochange in pressure center after the movement.15. What are the three major types of reinforcement used in prestressing?(i) Spalling reinforcementSpalling stresses are established behind the loaded area of anchor blocks and this causesbreaking away of surface concrete. These stresses are induced by strain incompatibilitywith Poisson’s effects or by the shape of stress trajectories.(ii) Equilibrium reinforcementEquilibrium reinforcement is required where there are several anchorages in whichprestressing loads are applied sequentially.(iii) Bursting ReinforcementTensile stresses are induced during prestressing operation and the maximum bursting stressoccurs where the stress trajectories are concave towards the line of action of the load.Reinforcement is needed to resist these lateral tensile forces.16. Why is the span length ratio of end span/approach span to its neighboring innerspans usually about 0.75? 9
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUFrom aesthetic point of view, an odd number of spans with a decrease in length in thedirection of abutment is desirable. Moreover, spans of equal length are found to be boring.However, the arrangement of irregular span lengths is not recommended because it gives afeeling of uneasiness.From structural point of view, for a multi-span bridge with equal span length, the saggingmoment at the mid-span of the end span/approach span is largest. In order to reduce thismoment, the span length of end span/approach span is designed to be 0.75 of inner spans.However, this ratio should not be less than 0.40 because of the effect of uplifting at the endspan/approach span support.Note: End span refers to the last span in a continuous bridge while approach span refers top the first span of abridge.17. In the design of a simply supported skew bridge, which direction of reinforcementshould be provided?In the conventional design of steel reinforcement for a simply supported skew bridge, a setof reinforcement is usually placed parallel to free edge while the other set is designedparallel to the fixed edge. However, this kind of arrangement is not the most efficient wayof placing the reinforcement. The reason is that in some parts of the bridge, the moment ofresistance is provided by an obtuse angle formed by the reinforcement bars which isineffective in resisting flexure. In fact, the most efficient way of the arrangement ofreinforcement under most loading conditions is to place one set of bars perpendicular to thefixed edge while placing the other set parallel to the fixed end as recommended by L. A.Clark (1970). In this way, considerable savings would be obtained from the orthogonalarrangement of reinforcement. 10
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHU Fig. 1.3 The arrangement of reinforcement in skewed bridge.18. What are the functions of grout inside tendon ducts?Grout in prestressing works serves the following purposes:(i) Protect the tendon against corrosion.(ii) Improve the ultimate capacity of tendon.(iii) Provide a bond between the structural member and the tendon.(iv) In case of failure, the anchorage is not subject to all strain energy.19. What is the consideration in selecting the orientation of wing walls in the design ofbridge abutments?There are three common arrangements of wing walls in bridge abutments based on Dr.Edmund C Hambly (1979):(i) Wing walls parallel to abutmentsThis is the simplest and shortest time to build but is not the most economical design. Thisdesign has the advantage that it has least disturbance to existing slope embankment.(ii) Wing walls at an angle to abutmentsThis is the most economical design among the three options in terms of material cost.(iii) Wing walls perpendicular to abutmentsThough it is not the most economical design, the wing walls provide a continuous 11
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUalignment with bridge decks which provide supports to parapets. However, they causedisturbances to adjacent structures and utility services during construction. Moreover, if thebridge is curved, the wing walls may hinder the road curvature.One the other hand, when the wing walls are structurally connected to the abutment, thenstructural advantage can be taken by the stability of box structure.Fig. 1.4 Different orientation of wing walls.20. In joints of precast concrete bridge segments, what are the functions of applyingepoxy adhesive? 12
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUEpoxy adhesive is applied in these joints for the following purposes according toInternational Road Federation (1977):(i) It seals up the joints completely between precast concrete segments to protect the prestressing tendons;(ii) By filling voids and irregularities along the segment joints, it helps to reduce stress concentrations otherwise it will be developed; and(iii) It helps in transferring of shear between the joints in case a large single shear key is used.21. Under what situation should engineers use pot bearings instead of elastomericbearings?In the event of high vertical loads combined with large angle of rotations, rubber bearingsare undesirable when compared with pot bearings. For instance, elastomeric bearingsrequire large bearing surfaces so that compression can be maintained between the contactsurfaces between the bearings and piers. Moreover, it also leads to uneven distribution ofstress on the piers and some of these highly induced stresses may damage the piers.Consequently, pot bearings are better alternatives than elastomeric bearings in such anscenario as suggested by David J. Lee.22. What are the shortcomings of grillage analysis which is commonly used instructural analysis of bridges?Grillage analysis suffers from the following shortcomings based on E. C. Hambly:(i) For coarse mesh, torques may not be identical in orthogonal directions. Similarly, twists may differ in orthogonal directions.(ii) Moment in any beams is mainly proportional to its curvature only. However, moment in an element depends on the curvatures in the beam’s direction and its orthogonal direction.23. Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is commonly used in sliding bearings. Why?The choice of sliding surface of bearings is of vital importance because the sliding surfacesgenerate frictional forces which are exerted on the bearings and substructure of the bridge.For instance, PTFE and lubricated bronze are commonly choices of sliding surfaces forbearings. PTFE is a flurocarbon polymer which possesses good chemical resistance and canfunction in a wide range of temperature. The most important characteristic of this materialis its low coefficient of friction. PTFE has the lowest coefficients of static and dynamicfriction of any solid with absence of stick-slip movement (David J. Lee). The coefficient offriction is found to decrease with an increase in compressive stress. However, PTFE dohave some demerits like high thermal expansion and low compressive strength.In designing the complementary contact plate with PTFE sliding surface, stainless steelplates are normally selected where the plates should be larger than PTFE surface to allowmovement without exposing the PTFE. Moreover, it is recommended that the stainless steelsurface be positioned on top of the PTFE surface to avoid contamination of dirt and rubbish.Lubricants are sometimes introduced to reduce the friction between the PTFE surface and 13
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUthe upper stainless steel plate. Hence, the PTFE may be designed with dimples to avoid thelubricant from squeezing out under repeated translation movements.24. Should raking piles of a bridge abutment be placed under an embankment?For a bridge abutment to be supported on raking piles with different orientations, themovement between the ground and the pile group is difficult to predict. For instance, ifsome of the raking piles of the bridge abutment are extended beneath an embankment, thenthe settlement of embankment behind the abutment may cause the raking piles toexperience severe bending moment and damage the piles as recommended by Dr. EdmundC Hambly (1979).25. How do engineer determine the number of cells for concrete box girder bridges?If the depth of a box girder bridge exceeds 1/6 or 1/5 of the bridge width, then it isrecommended to be designed as a single cell box girder bridge. However, if the bridgedepth is smaller than 1/6 of the bridge width, then a twin-cell or multiple cell is a betterchoice as suggested by Jorg Schlaich & Hartmut Scheef (1982). However, one should notethat even for wider bridges with small depths, the number of cells should be minimizedbecause there is not much improvement in transverse load distribution when the number ofcells of box girder is increased to three or more.26. What is sucker deck principle for variable depth bridge decks?For a variable depth bridge deck, the depth of continuous multi-span bridge deck isincreased in pier supports and this absorbs sagging moments in the mid-span with theconsequent increase in hogging moments in pier supports. As a result, the mid-span depthcan be significantly reduced due to the reduction in sagging moment. In essence, thissucker deck principle is applied in locations where headroom requirement is of greatconcern. Moreover, in terms of structural performance, sucker decks are effective inreducing dead loads than voided slab of equivalent uniform depth for span length between20-40m. In terms of aesthetics point of view, the public tends to appreciate the structuralform of arches and curved soffit rather than boring uniform deck alignment. Reference ismade to Brian Pritchard (1992). 14
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUChapter 2 – Concrete Structures1. What are the functions of different components of a typical expansion joint?In a typical expansion joint, it normally contains the following components: joint sealant,joint filler, dowel bar, PVC dowel sleeve, bond breaker tape and cradle bent.Joint sealant: it seals the joint width and prevents water and dirt from entering the joint andcausing dowel bar corrosion and unexpected joint stress resulting from restrainedmovement.Joint filler: it is compressible so that the joint can expand freely without constraint.Someone may doubt that even without its presence, the joint can still expand freely. In fact,its presence is necessary because it serves the purpose of space occupation such that even ifdirt and rubbish are intruded in the joint, there is no space left for their accommodation.Dowel bar: This is a major component of the joint. It serves to guide the direction ofmovement of concrete expansion. Therefore, incorrect direction of placement of dowel barwill induce stresses in the joint during thermal expansion. On the other hand, it links thetwo adjacent structures by transferring loads across the joints.PVC dowel sleeve: It serves to facilitate the movement of dowel bar. On one side of thejoint, the dowel bar is encased in concrete. On the other side, however, the PVC dowelsleeve is bonded directly to concrete so that movement of dowel bar can take place. Onemay notice that the detailing of normal expansion joints in Highways Standard Drawing isin such a way that part of PVC dowel sleeve is also extended to the other part of the jointwhere the dowel bar is directly adhered to concrete. In this case, it appears that thisarrangement prevents the movement of joint. If this is the case, why should designerspurposely put up such arrangement? In fact, the rationale behind this is to avoid water fromgetting into contact with dowel bar in case the joint sealant fails. As PVC is a flexiblematerial, it only minutely hinders the movement of joint only under this design.Bond breaker tape: As the majority of joint sealant is applied in liquid form duringconstruction, the bond breaker tape helps to prevent flowing of sealant liquid inside thejoint .Cradle bar: It helps to uphold the dowel bar in position during construction.2. If on-site slump test fails, should engineers allow the contractor to continue theconcreting works?This is a very classical question raised by many graduate engineers. In fact, there are twoschools of thought regarding this issue.The first school of thought is rather straightforward: the contractor fails to comply withcontractual requirements and therefore as per G. C. C. Clause 54 (2)(c) the engineer couldorder suspension of the Works. Under the conditions of G. C. C. Clause 54(2)(a) – (d), thecontractor is not entitled to any claims of cost which is the main concern for most engineers.This is the contractual power given to the Engineer in case of any failure in tests required 15
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUby the contract, even though some engineers argue that slump tests are not as important asother tests like compression test.The second school of thought is to let the contractor to continue their concreting works andlater on request the contractor to prove that the finished works comply with othercontractual requirements e.g. compression test. This is based upon the belief thatworkability is mainly required to achieve design concrete compression strength. In case thecompression test also fails, the contractor should demolish and reconstruct the worksaccordingly. In fact, this is a rather passive way of treating construction works and is notrecommended because of the following reasons:(i) Workability of freshly placed concrete is related not only to strength but also to durability of concrete. Even if the future compression test passes, failing in slump test indicates that it may have adverse impact to durability of completed concrete structures.(ii) In case the compression test fails, the contractor has to deploy extra time and resources to remove the work and reconstruct them once again and this slows down the progress of works significantly. Hence, in view of such likely probability of occurrence, why shouldn’t the Engineer exercise his power to stop the contractor and save these extra time and cost?3. What is the function of shear keys in the design of retaining walls?In determining the external stability of retaining walls, failure modes like bearing failure,sliding and overturning are normally considered in design. In considering the criterion ofsliding, the sliding resistance of retaining walls is derived from the base friction betweenthe wall base and the foundation soils. To increase the sliding resistance of retaining walls,other than providing a large self-weight or a large retained soil mass, shear keys are to beinstalled at the wall base. The principle of shear keys is as follows:The main purpose of installation of shear keys is to increase the extra passive resistancedeveloped by the height of shear keys. However, active pressure developed by shear keysalso increases simultaneously. The success of shear keys lies in the fact that the increase ofpassive pressure exceeds the increase in active pressure, resulting in a net improvement ofsliding resistance.On the other hand, friction between the wall base and the foundation soils is normallyabout a fraction of the angle of internal resistance (i.e. about 0.8φ ) where φ is the angle ofinternal friction of foundation soil. When a shear key is installed at the base of the retainingwall, the failure surface is changed from the wall base/soil horizontal plane to a planewithin foundation soil. Therefore, the friction angle mobilized in this case is φ instead of0.8φ in the previous case and the sliding resistance can be enhanced.4. In designing concrete structures, normally maximum aggregate sizes are adoptedwith ranges from 10mm to 20mm. Does an increase of maximum aggregate sizebenefit the structures?To answer this question, let’s consider an example of a cube. The surface area to volumeratio of a cube is 6/b where b is the length of the cube. This implies that the surface area tovolume ratio decreases with an increase in volume. Therefore, when the size of maximum 16
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUaggregate is increased, the surface area to be wetted by water per unit volume is reduced.Consequently, the water requirement of the concrete mixes is reduced accordingly so thatthe water/cement ratio can be lowered, resulting in a rise in concrete strength.However, an increase of aggregate size is also accompanied by the effect of reducedcontact areas and discontinuities created by these larger sized particles. In general, formaximum aggregate sizes below 40mm, the effect of lower water requirement can offsetthe disadvantages brought about by discontinuities as suggested by Longman Scientific andTechnical (1987).5. In concrete compression test, normally 150mmx150mmx150mm concrete cubesamples is used for testing. Why isn’t 100mmx100mmx100mm concrete cube samplesused in the test instead of 150mmx150mmx150mm concrete cube samples?Basically, the force supplied by a concrete compression machine is a definite value. Fornormal concrete strength application, say below 50MPa, the stress produced by a150mmx150mmx150mm cube is sufficient for the machine to crush the concrete sample.However, if the designed concrete strength is 100MPa, under the same force (about2,000kN) supplied by the machine, the stress under a 150mmx150mmx150mm cube is notsufficient to crush the concrete cube. Therefore, 100mmx100mmx100mm concrete cubesare used instead to increase the applied stress to crush the concrete cubes.For normal concrete strength, the cube size of 150mmx150mmx150mm is alreadysufficient for the crushing strength of the machine.6. What are the major problems in using pumping for concreting works?In pumping operation, the force exerted by pumps must overcome the friction betweenconcrete and the pumping pipes, the weight of concrete and the pressure head when placingconcrete above the pumps. In fact, as only water is pumpable, it is the water in the concretethat transfers the pressure.The main problems associated with pumping are the effect of segregation and bleeding. Torectify these adverse effects, the proportion of cement is increased to enhance the cohesionin order to reduce segregation and bleeding. On the other hand, a proper selection ofaggregate grading helps to improve the pumpability of concrete.7. Is it desirable to use concrete of very high strength i.e. exceeding 60MPa? What arethe potential problems associated with such high strength concrete?To increase the strength of concrete, say from 40MPa to 80MPa, it definitely helps inimproving the structural performance of the structure by producing a denser, more durableand higher load capacity concrete. The size of concrete members can be significantlyreduced resulting in substantial cost savings. However, an increase of concrete strength isalso accompanied by the occurrence of thermal cracking. With an increase in concretestrength, the cement content is increased and this leads to higher thermal strains.Consequently, additional reinforcement has to be introduced to control these additionalcracks caused by the increase in concrete strength. Moreover, the ductility of concretedecreases with an increase in concrete strength. Attention should be paid during the designof high strength concrete to increase the ductility of concrete. In addition, fire resistance of 17
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUhigh strength concrete is found to be less than normal strength concrete as suggested byOdd E. Gjorv (1994).Though the tensile strength of high strength concrete is higher than that of normal concrete,the rate of increase of tensile strength is not proportional to the increase of compressivestrength. For normal concrete, tensile strength is about one-tenth of compressive strength.However, for high strength concrete, it may only drop to 5% of compressive strength.Moreover, owing to a low aggregate content of high strength concrete, creep and shrinkageincreases.8. What are the disadvantages of curing by ponding and polythene sheets?The purpose of curing is to reduce the rate of heat loss of freshly placed concrete to theatmosphere and to minimize the temperature gradient across concrete cross section.Moreover, curing serves to reduce of the loss water from freshly placed concrete to theatmosphere.Ponding: This method of thermal curing is readily affected by weather condition (coldwind). Moreover, a large amount of water used has to be disposed off the construction sitesafter curing.Polythene sheet: This method of curing is based on the principle that there is no flow of airover the concrete surface and thereby no evaporation can take place on top of the freshlyconcreted surface by provision of polythene sheets. However, it suffers from the demeritthat polythene sheets can be easily blown off in windy condition and the performance ofcuring would be affected. Moreover, for water lost due to self-desiccation, this methodcannot replenish these losses.9. Comparing the rate of “Formwork exceeding 300mm wide, horizontal or at anyinclination up to and including 5o to the horizontal” with the rate of “Formworkexceeding 300mm wide, at any inclination more than 85o up to and including 90o tothe horizontal”, which one is higher?The item “Formwork exceeding 300mm wide, at any inclination more than 85o up to andincluding 90o to the horizontal” refers to formwork formed vertically and when comparedwith formwork erected in horizontal plane, the amount of falsework required is smaller.The item “Formwork exceeding 300mm wide, horizontal or at any inclination up to andincluding 5o to the horizontal” refers to formwork to be erected in horizontal position andin general it requires much falsework to support this type of formwork. Therefore, the ratefor this item is higher than the one mentioned in the above paragraph.10. If concrete compression test fails, should Schmidt hammer test be adopted as analternative test to prove the concrete strength?The Scmidt hammer test is based on the elastic rebound of hammer which presses onconcrete surface and it measures the surface hardness of concrete. Since the test is verysensitive to the presence of aggregates and voids at the concrete surface, it is necessary totake more than 10 readings over the area of test. However, it should be noted that Schmidt 18
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUhammer test measures surface hardness only but not the strength of concrete. Therefore, itmay not be considered a good substitute for concrete compression test.11. What is the indication of shear slump and collapse slump in slump tests?There are three types of slump that may occur in slumps test, namely, true slump, shearslump and collapse slump.True slump refers to general drop of the concrete mass evenly all around withoutdisintegration.Shear slump implies that the concrete mix is deficient in cohesion. Consequently, it mayundergo segregation and bleeding and thus is undesirable for durability of concrete.Collapse slump indicates that concrete mix is too wet ad the mix is deemed to be harsh andlean.12. In erection of falsework, for a rectangular panel inside a falsework should it bebraced along the two diagonals?When a rectangular panel is subject to an eccentric load or a lateral load, it tends to deforminto a parallelogram with one diagonal shortening and the other elongating. Theoretically,it is sufficient to brace along one of the diagonals (the one in tension). If one diagonal isonly allowed to brace inside the rectangular panel, it should be not braced in the diagonal incompression because under severe lateral loading the diagonal may buckle leading tofailure of structure.However, in actual situation lateral loads may come from both sides of the panel and henceit should be braced in both diagonals.13. In carrying out compression test for concrete, should test cubes or test cylinders beadopted?Basically, the results of compression test carried out by using cubes are higher than that bycylinders. In compression test, the failure mode is in the form of tensile splitting induced byuniaxial compression. However, since the concrete samples tend to expand laterally undercompression, the friction developed at the concrete-machine interface generates forceswhich apparently increase the compressive strength of concrete. However, when the ratioof height to width of sample increases, the effect of shear on compressive strength becomessmaller. This explains why the results of compression test by cylinders are lower than thatof cubes. Reference is made to Longman Scientific and Technical (1987).14. What is the function of rebate in a typical construction joint?Construction joints are created on sites to facilitate the construction process. However, ifimproperly constructed, the completed construction joints will leave an uneven scar on theconcrete surface and affect significantly its appearance. To avoid this, a rebate is formedduring the first pour of one side of construction joint. After the other pour is concreted, itwill hide the uneven joint inside the rebate. 19
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHU Fig. 2.1 A rebate.15. If a contractor proposes to increase concrete cover beyond contractualspecification (i.e. 40mm to 70mm), shall engineers accept the proposal?In contractual aspect, based on the requirement of General Specification of CivilEngineering Works (1992 Edition), the tolerance of concrete cover is between +5mmand –5mm and engineers should not accept sub-standard work because they do not possessthe authority to change the acceptance criteria. In case engineers consider contractor’sproposal acceptable in technical point of view, consent has to be sought from the employerregarding the changes in acceptance criteria.From technical point of view, the effect on cracking due to an increase in concrete covershould be considered. In general, there are three main parameters which govern crack width,namely tensile strain at the point considered, the distance of longitudinal bar to theconcerned point and the depth of tension zone.For the second factor, i.e. proximity of longitudinal bars to point of section, the closer a baris to this point, the smaller is the crack width. Therefore, closely spaced bars with smallercover will give narrower cracks than widely spaced bars with larger cover. Therefore, withan increase of concrete cover, the crack width will increase which is undesirable.16. Can grout replace concrete in normal structure?The mixture of cement and water alone cannot replace concrete (Longman Scientific andTechnical (1987)) because:(i) Shrinkage of grout is several times that of concrete with the same mass.(ii) The effect of creep of grout is far more than that of concrete.(iii) Heat of hydration of cement with water is more than normal concrete and this leads to the problem of severe cracking.17. Which type of bar reinforcement is more corrosion resistant, epoxy-coated bars,stainless steel bars or galvanized bars?Based on the experiment conducted by the Building Research Establishment, it was shown 20
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUthat the corrosion resistance of galvanized steel was the worst among the three types of barreinforcement. For galvanized steel bars, corrosion started to occur when a certain chloridecontent in concrete (i.e. 0.4% by cement weight) was exceeded. However, for epoxy-coatedbars, they extended the time taken for cracking to occur when compared with galvanizedsteel bars.The best corrosion resistant reinforcement among all is stainless steel. In particular,austenitic stainless steel stayed uncorroded even there was chloride contamination inconcrete in the experiment. Reference is made to K. W. J. Treadaway (1988).18. Can a concrete structure be completely free of expansion joints and contractionjoints?Consider that the concrete structure is not subject to the problem of differential settlement.For contraction joints, it may be possible to design a concrete structure without anycontraction joints. By using sufficient steel reinforcement to spread evenly the crack widthover the span length of the structure, it may achieve the requirement of minimum crackwidth and cause no adverse impact to the aesthetics of the structure. However, it followsthat the amount of reinforcement required is higher than that when with sufficientcontraction joints.For expansion joints, the consequence of not providing such joints may be difficult to caterfor. For example, a concrete structure has the coefficient of thermal expansion of 9x10-6 /oCand a Young’s modulus of 34.5kN/mm2. With an increase of temperature of 20oC and it isrestricted to free expansion, then the structure is subject to an axial stress of 6.21MPa. Ifthe structure is very slender (e.g. concrete carriageway), buckling may occur. Therefore, thestructure has to be designed to take up these thermal stresses if expansion joints are notprovided. However, for water retaining structures, most of them are not affected by weatherconditions because they are insulated from the water they contain internally and soilbackfill that surround them. Therefore, it is expected that a smaller amount of thermalmovement will occur when compared with normal exposed concrete structure.Consequently, expansion joints may be omitted in this case with the view that thecompressive stress induced by thermal expansion toughens the structure to limit thedevelopment of tensile stress.19. Does the presence of rust have adverse impact to the bond performance of barreinforcement?In fact, the presence of rust in bars may not have adverse impact to the bond performanceand it depends on the types of bar reinforcement under consideration.For plain round bars, the rust on bars improves the bond performance by the formation ofrough surfaces which increases the friction between steel and concrete.However, for deformed bars, the same theory cannot apply. The presence of rust impairsthe bond strength because corrosion occurs at the raised ribs and subsequently fills the gapbetween ribs, thus evening out the original deformed shape. In essence, the bond betweenconcrete and deformed bars originates from the mechanical lock between the raised ribsand concrete. On the contrary, the bond between concrete and plain round bars derives 21
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUfrom the adhesion and interface friction. With such differences in mechanism in bonding,the behaviour of bond between deformed bars and plain round bars in the presence of rustvaries. Reference is made to CIRIA Report 147.20. General Specification for Civil Engineering Works (1992 Edition) Clause 15.09specifies that tying wires for reinforcement adjacent to and above Class F4 and F5finishes should be stainless steel wires. Why?If plain steel tying wires are used for reinforcement adjacent to Class F4 and F5 finishes, itposes the problem of rust staining which may impair the appearance of exposed concretesurfaces. The rate of corrosion of plain steel tying wires is similar to normal steelreinforcement. However, for tying wires with very small diameter, upon long exposure itstands a high chance of rusting completely and these rust will stain the formwork andsignificantly affect the concrete finish. Therefore, stainless steel tying wires are specifiedfor locations in the vicinity of high quality of finishes to avoid rust staining by corrodedtyping wires.Note: Tying wires are wires used for fixing and connecting steel reinforcement bars.21. For long slender structures like beams, propping is required after removal offormwork. Why?After concreting, the time at which striking of formworks should not be too long, otherwiseit would affect the colour of concreted structures. For long span concrete structures, whenthey have attained sufficient strength to support their self-weight, creep deflection mayoccur in these structures if propping is not provided after the removal of formwork.Therefore, re-propping is carried out after removing formwork and these props should notbe allowed to stand too long because creep loads may overstress them.Note: Propping refers to provision of falsework to support slabs and beams during their gain in concretestrength after concreting.22. What is the difference in application between open stirrups and closed stirrups inconcrete beams?Open stirrups are provided principally to resist shear forces in concrete beams and they areapplied in locations in which the effect of torsion is insignificant. U-shaped stirrups areplaced in the tension side of concrete beams in which shear cracks would occur. However,when concrete beams are designed to resist a substantial amount of torsion, closed stirrupsshould be used instead.23. For column reinforcements, why is helical reinforcement sometimes designedinstead of normal links?The use of links for column design in Britain is very popular. However, in U.S.A. engineerstend to use helical reinforcement instead of normal links because helical reinforcement hasthe potential advantage of protecting columns/piles against seismic loads. Moreover, whenthe columns reach the failure state, the concrete outside hoops cracks and falls off firstly,followed by the eventual failure of the whole columns. The peeling off of concrete outsidehelical reinforcement provides a warning signal before the sudden failure of columns assuggested by G. P. Manning (1924). In addition, it can take up a higher working load than 22
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUnormal link reinforcement.For instance, helical reinforcement is adopted in the design of marine piles in Governmentpiers.Note: Helical reinforcement refers to shear reinforcement which is spiral in shapes.24. What is the difference between epoxy grout, cement grout and cement mortar?Epoxy grout consists of epoxy resin, epoxy hardener and sand/aggregates. In fact, there arevarious types of resin used in construction industry like epoxy, polyester, polyurethane etc.Though epoxy grout appears to imply the presence of cement material by its name, it doesnot contain any cement at all. On the other hand, epoxy hardener serves to initiate thehardening process of epoxy grout. It is commonly used for repairing hairline cracks andcavities in concrete structures and can be adopted as primer or bonding agent.Cement grout is formed by mixing cement powder with water in which the ratio of cementof water is more or less similar to that of concrete. Setting and hardening are the importantprocesses which affect the performance of cement grout. Moreover, the presence ofexcessive voids would also affect the strength, stiffness and permeability of grout. It isversatile in application of filling voids and gaps in structures.Cement mortar is normally a mixture of cement, water and sand. They are used as beddingfor concrete kerbs in roadwork.25. What is the purpose of skin reinforcement for deep beams?In BS8110, it states that secondary reinforcement should be provided for beams exceeding750mm deep at a distance measured 2/3 depth from the tension face. Experimental worksrevealed that at or close to mid-depth of deep beams, the maximum width of cracks arisingfrom flexure may be about two to three times larger than the width of the same crack at thelevel of surface where the crack originally forms.The presence of crack is undesirable from aesthetic point of view. Moreover, it posespotential corrosion problems to reinforcement of deep beams. To safeguard against thesecrack formation, skin reinforcement is designed on the sides of deep beams to limit theformation of flexural crack widths. Though the principal function of skin reinforcement isto control crack width, it may be employed for providing bending resistance of the section. 23
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUChapter 3 – Drainage Works1. What is the function of waterstops in joints of box culverts and drainage channels?The principal function of waterstops is to prevent liquids (e.g. water), water-bornematerials and solids to pass through concrete joints. In essence, it aims at providingwatertightness to the drainage channel.Besides, waterstops in drainage channels or box culverts can also serve two other purposes:(i) to avoid water contacting joints’ dowel bars and causing corrosion. (ii) to avoid waterseeping in from the underside of drainage channels or box culverts, thereby washing in soilparticles and causing voids underneath these structures and finally leading to their failure.To serve the second purpose, obviously only one waterstop is required at any depthlocation.To serve the first purpose, a waterstop has to be installed on top of dowel bars to preventwater from drainage channels from leaking through. On the other hand, a waterstop has tobe provided below dowel bars to avoid underground water from surging upwards.In fact, the other way out to serve the first purpose is by using corrosion resistant bars.2. What are the differences in applications between pipe culverts and box culverts?Basically, a culvert means a covered hydraulic structure which conveys fluid. Therefore ina broad sense, pipe culverts in a small scale represent normal pipes like precast concretepipes.In terms of hydraulic performance, circular section is the best geometrical sections amongall. Therefore, for relative small discharge, precast concrete pipes and ductile iron pipes arenormally used which are circular in shape. But for applications of very large flow, precastconcrete pipes and ductile iron pipes may not be available in current market. In thisconnection, cast-in-situ construction has to be employed. It is beyond doubt that thefabrication of formwork for circular shape is difficult when compared with normal boxculvert structures. However, circular shape is the most hydraulic efficient structure whichmeans for a given discharge, the area of flow is minimum. Therefore, it helps to save thecost of extra linings required for the choice of box culverts.However, box culverts do possess some advantages. For example, they can cope with largeflow situation where headroom is limited because the height of box culverts can be reducedwhile the size of pipe culverts is fixed. Secondly, for some difficult site conditions, e.g.excavation of structure in rock, for the same equivalent cross-sectional area, the width ofbox culverts can be designed to be smaller than that of pipe culverts and this enhancessmaller amount of excavation and backfilling. 24
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHU Fig. 3.1 Small spatial requirement of box culver than pipes.3. What are the limitations of Rational Method in calculating runoff?Computation of runoff is a complicated matter which depends on many factors like theground permeability, rainfall duration, rainfall pattern, catchment area characteristics etc.Basically, Rational Method is a means to find out the maximum discharge suitable fordesign purpose. In this method, it is assumed that the rainfall duration is the same as thetime of concentration and the return period of rainfall intensity is the same as the peakrunoff. Time of concentration refers to the time required for the most remote location ofstormwater inside the catchment to flow to the outlet. When the time of concentration isequal to the rainfall period, the maximum discharge occurs and rainfall collected inside thecatchment comes to the same outlet point.Rational Method provides the peak discharge only and it cannot produce a hydrograph. If amore detailed pattern of runoff is required, unit hydrograph or other methods have to beused. The accuracy of rational method depends very much on our correct selection ofrunoff coefficient and delineation of catchment area.Rational Method is a rather conservative method. One of the basic assumptions of therational formula is that the rainfall intensity must be constant for an interval at least equalto the time of concentration. For long duration of rainfall, this assumption may not holdtrue. Moreover, the runoff coefficient in Rational Method is difficult to be determinedaccurately and it depends on many factors like moisture condition of soils, rainfall intensityand duration, degree of soil compaction, vegetation etc. In addition, In Rational Method therunoff coefficient is independent of rainfall intensity and this does not reflect the actualsituation.4.Why are some manhole covers made of cast iron while some are made of ductileiron?Traditionally, manholes covers are made of cast iron. However, in the viewpoint of pipemaintenance, frequent opening of manhole covers has to be carried out. Therefore, it posespotential safety hazard to the workers during the lifting-up process of manhole coversbecause cast iron manhole covers are very heavy to normal workers. Consequently,research has been conducted and ductile iron is considered as a better choice than cast ironbecause it can resist the same traffic loads with lower self-weight. Moreover, as ductile ironis less brittle than cast iron, the traditional cast iron manhole covers are more susceptible todamage and thus requires higher maintenance cost.However, ductile iron manhole covers do suffer from some demerits. For instance, owing 25
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUto their relative low self-weight, vehicles passing over these manhole covers would lead tothe movement of covers and generate unpleasant noises. To solve this problem, instead ofincreasing the self-weight of ductile iron manhole covers which similarly causes safetyproblems to workers during regular maintenance, the covers can be designed to be attachedto the manhole frames which hold them in firm position.5. Why is it preferable to design stormwater drains to match soffit?Stormwater drains collect stormwater in their corresponding catchment areas duringrainstorm and convey the collected water through outlets to the sea. Therefore, inconsidering the hydraulic design of stormwater drains, other than normal drainage pipecapacity to be taken into consideration, one should check the backwater effect due to tidalcondition at outlets if the drains are located quite close to the downstream end of outlets.Stormwater drains are normally designed to match soffit to avoid surcharging by backwatereffect or when the downstream pipes are running full. Normally pipe size increases fromupstream to downstream. For the case of matching drain invert, when outlet pipes are fullysurcharged by tidal effect of the sea or when the downstream pipes are fully filled withstormwater, pipe sections immediately upstream of the outlet are also surcharged too.However, for the case of matching pipe soffit, the immediate upstream sections of outletpipes are not totally surcharged even though downstream pipes are running full. However,it is not always practical to maintain soffit for all pipelines because it requires sufficientdrop to achieve this.Moreover, the flow of stormwater is mainly by gravity in the design of stormwater drains.In case the drains are designed to match invert, then it stands a high probability that theflow in the upstream smaller pipes has to be discharged against a head.Note: Matching soffit means that all pipelines are aligned continuously with respect to the pipelines’ crownlevel.Fig. 3.2 Match soffit VS match invert.6. What is the application of inverted siphons? What are the disadvantages of using 26
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUinverted siphons?Inverted siphons are designed at locations in which a sewer system is blocked byunderground utilities or stormwater drains. They are sometimes called depressed sewersbecause it is claimed that there is no actual siphon action. They connect the upstream anddownstream sewers with U-shaped vertical alignment such that they are always runningfull.The drawbacks of inverted siphons are:(i) They induce additional head loss to the sewer system which is undesirable in hydraulic performance;(ii) U-shaped siphons create sediment accumulation problem and previous experience showed that inverted siphons were easily blocked due to siltation;(iii) Maintenance of invert siphons is difficult due to its inaccessibility.7. What is the mechanism of cavitation in pipes and drains?Cavitation refers to the formation of air bubbles in fluid in low-pressure condition which islower than the saturation pressure. It is a potentially damaging condition in which the fluidin pipes or sewers is at high velocities. By Bernoulli’s Equation, at high flow velocities, thepressure head of fluid is reduced accordingly. As the fluid pressure is less than saturationpressure, dissolved gases are released from the fluid and these air bubbles will suddenlycollapse when the flow enters into a region of higher pressure. This produces a highdynamic pressure which causes damage to the pipelines due to its high frequency.8. When a drainage system (i.e. u-channels with catchpits) is connected to a maindrainage channel, a segment of short pipe is used. What is the reason of sucharrangement?There are three scenarios of such connection arrangement: (a) a new drainage system isconnected to an existing drainage channel (b) an existing drainage system is connected to anew drainage channel (c) a new drainage system is connected to a new drainage channel.For all scenarios, what engineers consider is the total amount of differential settlement orlateral movement to be encountered between the drainage system and main drainagechannel. For scenario (b) and (c), it is very likely that substantial differential settlement willoccur and this will cause damage to the connecting concrete pipes. Therefore a segment ofshort pipes are designed so that they serve to provide flexibility to the pipes in case ofuneven settlement occurring between drainage system and main drainage channels. 27
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHU Fig. 3.3 Short pipe.9. What are the functions of bedding under stormwater drains?Bedding, which are normally made of granular materials or concrete, serves four mainfunctions as suggested by O. C. Young and J. J. Trott:(i) To enhance a uniform support under pipes in order to reduce the bending moment longitudinally;(ii) To increase the load-supporting strength of the pipes;(iii) For pipes with spigot and socket joints, it enables pipes to be supported along pipe lengths instead of pipe sockets. Otherwise, uneven stress may be induced and it may damage the pipes;(iv) To provide a platform for achieving correct alignment and level during and after construction.10. In designing sewer pipes, why are vitrified clay pipes commonly used for pipe sizeless than 600mm while precast concrete pipes with PVC lining is used for pipe sizeexceeding 600mm?The market price of vitrified clay pipes is generally less than that of precast concrete pipeswith PVC lining. Therefore, for small size of pipes (pipe diameter less than 600mm) it ismore economical to use vitrified clay pipes. However, vitrified clay pipes do suffer fromthe problem of brittleness and its effect is even severe for larger size of pipes. Moreover, itis rather time consuming to deliver clay pipes products because the majority of them aremanufactured in Europe. Hence, for larger size of sewer pipes (diameter more than 600mm)it is customary to use precast concrete pipes with PVC lining.11. Nowadays, most flap valves are made of HDPE. What are the advantages of usingHDPE when compared with cast iron?(i) It has no reaction with sewage and seawater and does not suffer from the corrosion problem associated with cast iron.(ii) No protective coating is required and it is almost maintenance-free.(iii) HDPE flap valves require very low opening pressure in operation (like 5mm water level difference). For cast iron flap valves, due to its own heavy self-weight, the 28
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHU required opening pressure of cast iron flap valves is higher than that of HDPE flap valves. This criterion is essential for dry weather flow conditions.However, the pressure resistance of HDPE flap valves is not as good as cast iron flapvalves. For instance, a typical 450mm wide HDPE flap valve can only withstand about 5mwater column.12. What are the functions of the following features observed in a typical manhole? (i)groove near benching, (ii) R.S.J. (iii) double seal manhole cover and (iv) u-trap withrodding arm.(i) The groove is used to facilitate the maintenance of manholes and sewer/drain pipes. Shutoff boards are erected on the grooves during maintenance operation so that water flow coming from upstream is terminated in the manhole and backwater from downstream is also blocked. In addition, the groove also facilitates water flow diversion for routine maintenance operation.(ii) R.S.J. is a small-scale size of universal beams and is used for resisting the high stresses incurred by heavy traffic loads acting directly on the upper narrow projected section of manholes.(iii) Double seal terminal manhole covers are used for sealing off gases emitted inside sewer/drains and prevent them from releasing out of the manhole.(iv) U-trap with rodding arms is also used for sealing off unpleasant gas smell by the trapped u-shaped water columns. Rodding arm is normally closed with rubber rings during normal operation. However, during maintenance operation, the rubber ring is removed and rodding can be carried out through the rodding arm.13. The spacing of manholes in straight sections for different pipe sizes is stated inStormwater Drainage Manual. How are these figures arrived at?For pipe size < 300mm, rodding is usually adopted in which workers place about 1m longrods through the pipes to the location of blockage and manually operate the rod to clear theblockage.For pipe size < 700mm, water-jetting is normally employed in which water is suppliedfrom nearby fire hydrants and pressurized water jet is used for clearing blockage.Winching method is adopted for all sizes of pipes.For instance, for pipe size exceeding 1050mm, it is stated in Stormwater Drainage Manualthat maximum intervals between manholes along straight lengths should be 120m. This isbecause for sizes over 1050m, the main method of pipe maintenance is by winching whosemaximum length of operation is 120m. Similarly, the maximum intervals of manholes forother straight pipes are derived from their corresponding maintenance methods.14. In selection of dams in drainage channels, what are the advantages of using rubberdams instead of steel-gate dams?The advantages of rubber dams are as follows:(i) Since rubber is flexible in nature it is capable of performing deflation even in the presence of dirt and sedimentation on the downstream side. However, for rigid 29
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHU steel-gate dams, it may not be possible to open when there is excessive sediment.(ii) Since the foundation of rubber dams is comparatively lighter than that of steel-gate dams, it saves both construction cost and time.(iii) Rubber dams can be designed with longer spans without piers while steel-gate dams require intermediate piers for long spans.15. Should air test or water tests be selected to test the leakage of constructed gravitypipelines?For gravity pipes, air tests or water tests are carried out after completion of laying andjointing of the pipes. These tests are conducted to check the watertightness of joints and toensure the pipelines are free from damage where leakage may occur.Air test has the advantage that the test itself is simple and faster to be carried out. It doesnot require the disposal of significant quantities of water used in the test which is amandatory requirement for water test. However, in case leakage exists in the constructedsegment of gravity pipelines, the position of leakage can hardly be located in air test.Moreover, the rate of water leakage cannot be determined from air tests. In addition, air testis readily affected by atmospheric condition because air has a relatively high coefficient ofthermal expansion. The test is also influenced by the moisture condition of the testpipelines because it affects the passage of air through the pipelines.For water test, though it is comparatively slow, it can detect the location of water leakage.However, the leakage rate results from water test may not truly reflect its actual leakagebecause pipeline materials like concrete and clay are porous and would absorb water duringthe test.16. In designing of access ramps for drainage channels, why should the direction ofaccess ramps be sloping down towards downstream?In the design of access ramps, the direction is normally specified to be sloping downtowards downstream so as to avoid the occurrence of over-shooting of flowing water forsupercritical flow in case of aligning the ramps in the reverse direction of channel flow.Note: Access ramps refer to ramps used for maintenance vehicles during routine maintenance of channels.17. When branch pipelines are connected to main pipelines, sometimes Y-junctions orfitting branched pipelines to main pipelines by formation of holes in main pipelinesare used. Which one is a better choice?By using standard precast units of Y-junction branch pipelines, it is beyond doubt thatjoints between branched pipelines and main pipelines are properly formed and the qualityof joints is relatively less dependent on workmanship. However, it suffers from the problemthat with fixed precast units of Y-junctions, sometimes it may be difficult for contractors todetermine the precise orientation of specific angles of Y-junctions with respect to gullies.(e.g. gullies are connected through side branches to carrier drains)By forming elliptical holes in main pipelines and fitting the side branches into them withcement mortar, the quality of pipe joints is highly dependent on workmanship. It iscommonly found that in subsequent CCTV inspections side branches are projected inside 30
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUmain pipes. This is undesirable because the projected side branches reduce the crosssectional area of main pipes locally and affect their hydraulic performance. Moreover, theprojected side pipes may trap rubbish and dirt in the vicinity. On the other hand, cementmortar may not be properly applied at connection joints because these areas are hiddenfrom view and are difficult to be inspected by engineers. Therefore, in selecting betweenthe two available methods, engineers should make their own judgments based on the aboveconsiderations. Fig. 3.4 Y-junction in drainage pipes.18. Rational Method should not be used for large catchments in estimating peakrunoff. Is it true?Rational Method is suitable for small catchments only because the time of concentration ofsmall catchments is small. In Rational Method the peak runoff is calculated based on theassumption that the time of concentration is equal to the rainfall duration. For smallcatchments, this assumption may hold true in most circumstances. One of the assumptionsof Rational Method is that rainfall intensity over the entire catchment remains constantduring the storm duration. However, in case of a large catchment it stands a highprobability that rainfall intensity varies in various part of the large catchment. In addition,for long duration of rainfall, it is rare that the rainfall intensity remains constant over theentire rainstorm and a shorter duration but a more intense rainfall could produce a higherpeak runoff. Moreover, a reduction of peak runoff is also brought about by the temporarystorage of stormwater like channels within the catchment.In actual condition, the runoff rate within the catchment varies from place to place becauseof different soil properties and past conditions. As suggested by Bureau of Public Roads(1965), sometimes the peak discharge occurs before all of the drainage area is contributing.For instance, when a significant portion of drainage area within the catchment has verysmall time of concentration so that a higher rainfall intensity can be used for this portion,the runoff coming solely from this portion is higher than that of the whole catchment inwhich a lower rainfall intensity is adopted because the remaining part of the catchment hascomparatively large time of concentration. Therefore, this results in incorrect estimation ofpeak runoff of large catchments if Rational Method is adopted.19. What is the purpose of carrying out water absorption test for precast concretepipes?Cement will mix with more water than is required to eventually combine during hydration 31
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUof cement paste. As such, some voids will be left behind after the hydration process whichaffects the strength and durability of concrete. With the presence of air voids in concrete, itis vulnerable to penetration and attach by aggressive chemicals. Good quality concrete ischaracterized by having minimal voids left by excess water and therefore, water absorptiontest for precast concrete pipes is adopted for checking the quality of concrete in terms ofdensity and imperviousness. 32
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUChapter 4 – Earthworks1. In soil compaction test, if a test result exceeds 100%, should engineers accept theresult?Soil compaction is the process of increasing the soil density by reducing the volume of airwithin the soil mass.Soil compaction depends mainly on the degree of compaction and the amount of waterpresent for lubrication. Normally 2.5kg rammers and 4.5kg rammers are available forcompaction in laboratories and the maximum dry densities produced by these rammerscover the range of dry density obtained by in-situ compaction plant.Regarding the second factor of water content, it affects the compaction in the followingways. In low water content, the soils are difficult to be compacted. When water content isincreased gradually, water will lubricate the soils and this facilitates the compactionoperation. However, at high water content, as an increasing proportion of soils is occupiedby water, the dry density decreases with an increase in water content.For soil compaction tests, the dry density obtained from compaction carried out in-situ byvibrating roller/vibrating plate is compared with the maximum dry density conducted inlaboratories using 2.5kg rammer of compaction with similar soils. In essence, the in-situcompaction is compared with the compacting effort of using 2.5kg (or 4.5kg) rammer inlaboratories. In case the compaction test results indicate values exceeding 100%, it onlymeans that the in-situ compaction is more than that being carried out in laboratories whichis treated as the basic criterion for satisfactory degree of soil compaction. Therefore, thesoil results are acceptable in case compaction test results are over 100%. However,excessive compaction poses a risk of fracturing granular soils resulting in the reduction ofsoil strength parameters.2. What are the different applications of draglines, backhoes and shovels?An excavator is defined as a power-operated digging machine and it includes differenttypes like shovels, draglines, clamshells, backhoes, etc.A dragline possesses a long jib for digging and dumping and it is used for digging fromgrade line to great depths below ground. Its characteristic is that it does not possess positivedigging action and lateral control of normal excavators. A dragline is normally deployed forbulk excavation.A backhoe is designed primarily for excavation below ground and it is especially employedfor trench excavation works. It digs by forcing the bucket into soils and pulling it towardsthe machine and it possesses the positive digging action and accurate lateral control.A shovel is a machine that acts like a man’s digging action with a hand shovel and hence itis called a shovel. It digs by putting the bucket at the toe of excavation and pulling it up.Though a shovel has limited ability to dig below ground level, it is very efficient in diggingabove ground like digging an embankment.3. For compaction of free-draining sands or gravels, what is the optimum moisture 33
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUcontent to achieve maximum density?The compaction curve of sandy materials is totally different from that of clayey materials.For sands or gravels, there are two situations of maximum density, namely the completelydry condition and the complete water saturation. For moisture content of sands and gravelsbetween these two states, the dry density obtained is lower than that obtained in theabove-mentioned states. The presence of capillary forces account for the difficulty ofcompaction sand at water contents between virtually dry and saturated state. They areformed in partially filled water void between soil particles and perform as elastic tiescementing soil particles together. Reference is made to Lars Forssblad (1981).The compaction curve for clay is suitable for the majority of soil types except sands andgravels because a small amount of clay in soils is sufficient to make the soils impermeable.4. Is it worthwhile to carry out tests on particle density of soil particles forgeotechnical design?Particle density of soils is defined by the ratio of soil particle mass and soil particle volume.Depending on soil types, the range of variation of soil particle density varies notsignificantly, i.e. by 4%. Therefore, it may not be worthwhile to order laboratory tests andincur additional expenditure just to determine the particles density by recognizing that thevariation of particles density is not significant.5. In determining the effective stress parameters of a soil sample, which test ispreferable, consolidated undrained test or consolidated drained test?The effective stress parameters of a soil sample can be obtained from both consolidatedundrained test and consolidated drained test. However, consolidated undrained test isnormally selected because of the following reasons:(i) Time taken for consolidated undrained test is shorter than that of consolidated drained test. It is because consolidated drained test requires the full dissipation of excess pore water pressure of the soil during testing and it takes long time when soils of low permeability are tested.(ii) Useful information can be obtained from the stress path of consolidated undrained test.(iii)Failure occurs in lower stress level when compared with consolidated drained test.6. In conducting triaxial test to determine shear strengths for soil samples, whatconsolidation pressures should be specified?It appears that the selection of consolidation pressure is independent of in-situ soil stresstheoretically. However, this may not be correct because the actual shear strength envelopesfor soils are non-linear over a wide range of stresses. Therefore, consolidation pressurecorresponding to the range of stresses relevant to site condition should be adopted.7. What is the relation of bearing pressure on soil nail head to the ratio La/Lb, whereLa is the length of soil nail before the potential slip circle while Lb is the length of soilnail beyond the potential slip circle?The unstable soil mass before the potential circular slip is resisted by two components: soil 34
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUnail head bearing pressure and friction of soil nail in the unstable soil mass. Therefore, thelonger is the length of soil nail before potential slip circle La, the higher is the proportion offorces being resisted by frictional forces and hence the smaller amount is to be resisted bysoil nail head. Hence, the smaller the ratio La/Lb, the greater is the resistance provided bysoil nail head. Fig. 4.1 La & Lb in slopes.8. Soil nails are mainly designed for stabilization of major slips. How should designercater for the stability of minor slips?There are some methods to treat minor slips:(i) Adoption of smaller diameter size bars at closer spacing;(ii) Installation of tie beams at the same horizontal levels;(iii) Provision of steel wire meshes in-between soil nails; and(iv) Provision of short soil nails in combination of long soil nails.9. What are the main reasons for conducting pull-out tests for soil nails?There are mainly four reasons for this test:(i) To check and verify the bond strength between soil and grout adopted during the design of soil nails. This is the main objective of conducting soil nail pull-out test.(ii) To determine the bond strength between soil and grout for future design purpose. However, if this target is to be achieved, the test nails should be loaded to determine the ultimate soil/grout bond with a upper limit of 80% of ultimate tensile strength of steel bars.(iii) To check if there is any slippage or creep occurrence.(iv) To check the elastic and plastic deformations of test nails. This is observed during the repeated loading and unloading cycles of soil nails.Note: Pull-out tests are carried out by applying specified forces in an attempt to pull out the constructed soilnails.10. Are there any differences in the methods of compaction between clayey soilmaterial and sandy material?As suggested by Lars Forssblad (1981), the three main actions of compaction are staticpressure, impact force and vibration. Different compactors contain one or more modes ofthese actions. For example, vibratory tampers perform mainly by the principle of impact 35
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUwhile vibratory rollers work with principle of static pressure and vibration.For sandy soils, vibration is adequate for normal compaction because the action ofvibration sets the soil particles in motion and friction forces between soil particles arevirtually demolished. During this vibration motion, the soil particles rearrange themselvesto develop a dense state.For normal soils, it is necessary to combine the action of vibration together with staticpressure to breakdown the cohesion forces between soil particles in order to allow forbetter compaction. The static pressure of vibratory machines is adopted to exert a shearingforce to eliminate the cohesion in clayey soils. 36
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUChapter 5 – Piers and Marine Structures1. Why is sulphate-resisting cement not used in marine concrete?The main components of Portland cement are tricalcium silicate, dicalcium silicate,tricalcium aluminate and tetracalcium aluminoferrite. In sulphate-resisting cement, itcontains a low amount of tricalcium aluminate in order to avoid sulphate attack. Otherwise,tricalcium aluminate would react with sulphates to form calcium sulphoaluminate andgypsum that cause expansion and crack the concrete structure.However, for marine concrete sulphate-resisting cement should not be used becausetricalcium aluminate has high affinity for chloride ions. This is based on the possiblereaction of chloride ions and tricalcium aluminate to form calcium chloroaluminate hydrateas suggested by P. Kumar Mehta (1991) and the reduction of which may increase the rate ofchloride attack to the concrete marine structure and result in faster corrosion of steelreinforcement in marine structures.2. Shall a layer of wearing course or additional thickness be designed on the surface ofpiers?In the design of piers, consideration should be given to the effect of wearing action causedby passengers, other traffics and even sometimes vehicles. In maritime environment, thedurability and integrity of concrete is detrimental to the servicing life of piers because itacts an essential barrier to chloride attack. However, in view of these gradual wear and teargenerated by the loading traffic, some forms of surface protection should be provided ontop of pier surface like wearing course or additional increase in concrete cover.3.What is the difference in application of surface-protecting fenders andenergy-absorbing fenders?Surface-protecting fenders are fenders that induce high reaction forces to berthingstructures for the energy absorbed while energy-absorbing fenders are fenders whichtransmit low impact to berthing structures for the energy absorbed (Carl A. Thoresen(1988)). In fact, the principal function of fenders is to absorb the berthing energy andtransmit a force to the structures without damaging them. Therefore, in open berthstructures, it is desirable to use energy-absorbing fenders to reduce the loads acting on therelatively flexible structures. On the other hand, for solid berth structures the usage ofsurface-protecting fenders is adequate because they are capable of taking up large berthingloads.4. Should dolphins be designed in a rigid manner, i.e. resting on several raking piles?In designing dolphins, they are normally supported on a system of three to four raking piles.This in essence is a rigid structure and exhibits little flexibility e.g. movement againstimpact and berthing loads by vessels. In fact, this kind of design may not be desirable interms of maintenance because the dolphins are readily susceptible to damage by highberthing vessels. To rectify this situation, some energy absorption devices likerubber/plastic fenders have to be installed to reduce the impact load deriving from its owndeflection. On the other hand, by designing dolphins as flexible structures capable forallowing slight deflection, it helps to reduce the large forces generated during berthing of 37
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUvessels. In this connection, one way of designing dolphins as flexible structures is byprovision of a single pile only.Note: For a rigid structure, it takes up external loads without undergoing excessive deformations.5. In connecting fenders to pier structures, should single lock nuts or double lock nutsbe used?In many pier structures the connection of fenders to piers is achieved by using single locknuts. However, they do not perform well because some timber fenders loosen more easilywhen subject to vibrating loads due to berthing, wave and tidal actions. To solve thisproblem, double lock nuts should be adopted as they prove to function satisfactory in otherstructural elements which are subject to frequent vibration loads.Note: Double lock nuts mean two nuts are adopted in a single bolt connection between fenders and marinestructures.6. What is the design level of landings in piers?Landings are designed as resting place for passengers during berthing and deberthing ofvessels. In general, landings are provided near mean high and mean low water levels tofacilitate embarking and disembarking of passengers (BS6349: Part 2: 1988). Therefore,the level of landing steps should be different from place to place because of different meanhigh and mean low water levels in different locations.7. What are the pros and cons of using timber fenders, plastic fenders and rubberfenders?Timber fenders:They are low in strength and are subject to rotting and marine borer attack. Moreover, theyhave low energy absorption capacity and the berthing reaction depends on the point ofcontact. The contact pressure between fender and vessels are high. They are considered tobe environmentally unfriendly because they consume tropical hardwoods in theirproduction.Plastic fenders:Their strength is similar to that of timber fenders but they have relatively high abrasiveresistance. They are resistant to chemical and biological attack. Their energy absorptioncapacities are moderate and the berthing reactions are also dependent on the point ofcontact. The reaction is lower when compared with timber fenders for a given energyabsorption. They are considered to be environmental friendly because they aremanufactured from recycled material.Rubber fenders:They possess high abrasive resistance and are also resistant to most biological and chemicalattacks. They have moderate to high energy absorption capacity and the energy absorptionperformance is independent of the point of contact. Similar to plastic fenders, they are alsoenvironmental friendly products.8. Why are most marine piles circular in cross section? 38
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUFor marine piles, there are several options available for selection, namely H-piles, circularpipes and box piles.However, only circular piles and box piles are suitable for marine application because ofthe following two reasons suggested by G. M. Cornfield (1968):(i) Circular piles and box piles possess high column buckling strength. For marine structures like jetties, piles are well above seabed level and therefore the column buckling effect is significant when compared with other structures. Therefore, it is essential to use pile sections which have relatively high buckling strength in piers.(ii) Circular piles and box piles display high energy absorbing capability. For marine structures like dolphins and fenders, which require substantial amount of berthing energy to be absorbed, these piles sections are inevitably good choices.In marine structures, it appears that circular sections prevail over the box sections. Themain reason is that the range of section available for selection of circular piles is more thanthat of box piles.9. For marine pile type of steel tubular piles with reinforced concrete infill, minimumtoe level is often specified in contract drawings. What is its purpose?The purpose of minimum toe level is two-fold:(i) In detailed design stage, ground investigation should be conducted and the approximate level of rockhead is known. Therefore, to avoid the marine piles to be founded prematurely on boulders, minimum toe levels of marine driven piles are specified in contract.(ii) It provides sufficient length of soils for lateral and uplift resistance.Note: Minimum toe level refers to the minimum level that a marine driven pile should be driven into seabed.10. What is the problem in traditional marine piling system of steel tubular pile withconcrete infill and what are the possible remedial measures?In the design of marine piles of steel tubular piles with concrete infill, loads from pier deckare taken up by steel tubular piles before the occurrence of corrosion of steel piles aboveseabed. In fact, it is assumed that steel piles above seabed level will all be corroded after acertain year. The load transfer mechanism after complete corrosion of steel pile aboveseabed is as follows: loads from pier deck are taken up by concrete infill above the seabedlevel. Below the seabed level, loads would be transferred to steel piles through frictionalforces between concrete infill and steel casings.However, substantial radial shrinkage and contraction occurs after concreting of concreteinfill and this will hinder the load transfer from the concrete infill to steel piles because thebond may be ruptured by radial shrinkage. It is in doubt if frictional forces can be properlydeveloped in this situation. To solve this problem, shear keys could be installed at regularspacing inside steel piles to ensure their rigid connection with concrete infill. Alternatively,expanding agents may be adopted in concrete mixes to ensure that there is no shrinkageafter the concreting process.11. Why are steel tubular marine piles often driven open-ended? 39
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUIn marine structures where piles are constantly subject to significant lateral and upliftforces induced by berthing operation and wave action, it is necessary to drive the piles tomuch greater depth. To avoid premature refusal so that insufficient soil cover may developwhich is incapable of providing the required lateral and uplift resistance, tubular piles arenormally driven open-ended so that they are driving to greater depths than piles with closedends. Fig. 5.1 Typical details of marine piles.12. For typical pile bents in marine piers, how is vertical loads related to horizontalcapacity of the pile bents?Let’s consider a pile bent with a top slab supported by two ranking piles, each inclining atan equal angle to the pier slab. In designing such a system, truss action is normally adoptedto analyze the pile bent. When the reaction forces of these piles, horizontal forces (e.g. dueto berthing and deberthing of vessels) and vertical forces (e.g. superimposed deck loads)are analyzed by drawing a force polygon, it is noted that lateral resistance of the pile bent isdependent on the vertical load, i.e. lateral resistance is small when vertical loads are high. Fig. 5.2 Force polygon of pile bent. 40
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHU13. For underwater concreting, tremie pipes are normally used with the aid ofhoppers. Sometimes tubes are inserted inside the hoppers. Why?In placing concrete by tremie pipes, hoppers are connected to their top for receiving freshlyplaced concrete. However, air may be trapped inside the tremie pipes if there is rapidfeeding of fresh concrete. To release the trapped air inside the tremie pipes, hoses (calledventilation tubes) are inserted and lowered down through the hoppers. Reference is made toCarl A. Thoresen (1988).14. Why is shallow bedrock condition unfavorable for open berth piers?The most severe load on piers generally is the horizontal load due to berthing of largevessels. Since the widths of open berth piers are relatively small so that they provides ashort lever arm to counteract the moment induced by berthing loads. Moreover, the deadload of open berth piers are normally quite light and therefore the resisting momentprovided by the dead load of pier structures may not be sufficient to counteract the momentgenerated by berthing loads.To aid in providing adequate resistance to the overturning moment by the berthing load, thesoil resistance above bedrock contributes to stabilizing moment. For commonly adoptedmarine piling type, i.e. driven steel tubular piles with reinforced concrete infill, driven pilescan at most be founded on top of rockhead surface. In case the rockhead level is shallow,then the little soil cover may result in insufficient lateral resistance to the berthing load.15. Why are high and narrow beams not desirable in concrete piers?Based on past experience in other countries (Carl A. Thoresen (1988)), high and narrowbeams after several years of construction showed signs of serious deterioration at thebottom of the beams. However, the deterioration of pier slabs was not significant whencompared with that of the deep beams. The main reason to account for this is due to theclose proximity of the deep beams to the sea level. To avoid these problems, eitherbeamless slab or wide with shallow beams are normally designed.16.What is the mechanism of formation of soil plugs in marine driven steel piles withreinforced concrete infill?During initial driving process, open-ended steel piles are driven through the soils at theirbases. However, shaft friction will gradually develop between the steel piles and soilsinside piles at some time after pile driving. The hitting action of driving hammers inducesforces to the soil and later it comes to a stage when the inertial forces of inside soils,together with the internal frictional forces exceeding the bearing capacity of soils at piletoes. Consequently, the soil plug formed is brought down by the piles. Reference is made toM. J. Tomlinson (1977).Note: A soil plug is a column of soil formed at the bottom portion of marine pile type of steel tubular pileswith reinforced concrete infill.17. Should stiff or soft fenders be designed for berthing in piers? 41
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUThe elasticity of fenders is related to the ability to release the stored energy during berthingof vessels. However, it has no effect on the reaction force and the deflection of fendersystem. The amount of energy that a fender can absorb is dependent on thereaction-deflection curve and is represented by the area under the curve. The higher is thereaction force, the higher amount of energy would be absorbed by the fender provided thatthe resistance of ships’ hull is sufficient to withstand the force without permanentdeformations. Although stiff and soft fender may have the same deflection under the samemaximum reaction force acting on the berthing vessel, the amount of energy absorbed bystiff fenders is much higher than that of soft fenders. Consequently, stiff fenders should beemployed for berthing purpose.On the other hand, in mooring operations where vessels are constantly subject to waveaction, it is desirable to keep the tension force on the rope to a low value. In this connection,it is recommended to use soft fenders.18. What is the significance of direction of approaching velocities of ships duringberthing operation?One of the major effects of angle of approaching velocities of ships is its influence of theenergy to be absorbed by the fender system. Consider several ships berth on the same pierat the same speed but with different angle of approach, though their kinetic energies are thesame, the amount of energy absorbed by fender differs. The amount of energy absorbed byfender is:W = 0.5mv2 (k2+r2cos2Φ)/ (k2+r2)where W= energy absorbed by the fender m= mass of the ship v=velocity of the ship k= radius of gyration of the ship r= distance of centre of gravity of the ship to the point of contact of the fender Φ=direction of velocityHence, when the direction of approaching velocity of a ship is normal to the fender system(i.e. Φ=90 ), the amount of energy absorbed is smaller when compared with that of a shipwhose velocity is tangential to the shoreline. Reference is made to F. Vasco Costa (1964). 42
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUChapter 6 – Roadworks1. How can unreinforced concrete pavement function without mesh reinforcement?For concrete carriageway, it is normally classified into two types: reinforced andunreinforced concrete pavement. The reinforcement in reinforced carriageway (in the formof mesh) is used for controlling cracking. Then one may query how unreinforced pavementcan control cracking without the use of mesh reinforcement. To answer this question, oneshould pay attention to the features of unreinforced concrete pavement. In accordance withHighways Standard Drawing No. H1109, an approximately 3mm wide groove with a depthof about one-third to one-fourth of slab thickness is designed with a regular spacing(normally 5m). The grooves are designed to be too narrow for stones to fall into when thecracks are open due to concrete contraction. The sectional area in which the groove islocated is a plane of weakness and thus this groove acts a potential crack-inducing devicein which any potential cracks due to shrinkage and thermal contraction may form.Consequently, the cracks are formed at the base of the groove and thus it would not causeany unpleasant visual appearance on the exposed surface of unreinforced concretepavement. Fig. 6.1 Crack formed in unreinforced concrete pavement.2. Why are concrete profile barriers designed with curved surface profiles?Safety fencings are designed to contain vehicles in the carriageway in which they aretraveling and prevent them from rebounding into the road and causing hazards. For normalfencing design, when vehicles crash into safety fencings, it will give way so as to absorb asmuch energy as possible, thus reducing the impact forces on the vehicles. Moreover, itserves to realign the vehicles along the carriageway when vehicles hit on them. However,for concrete profile barriers they are not designed to absorb energy during vehicle crashing,but to hold the vehicles hitting on them. In this connection, concrete profile barriers aredesigned with curved profiles so that vehicles can mount and go up partly on them, and yetthey will not cause overturning of vehicles. Reference is made to Arthur Wignall, Peter S.Kendrick and Roy Ancil.For shallow-angle crashing of cars, they would climb on the lower slope face of concreteprofile barriers. On the other hand, when a car hits at a large angle to the barrier, the 43
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUbumper collides with the upper sloping face of concrete profile barrier and the car ridesupwards. This provides the uplift of the car whose wheels move up the lower sloping faceof the barrier. It is not intended to lift the car too high, otherwise it may result in rolling.Since the friction between the wheels and barriers provide extra lifting forces, it isundesirable to design rough finish on these faces. In essence, the kinetic energy of the carduring collision is transformed to potential energy during its lifting up on profile barrierand finally converted back to kinetic energy when the car returns to the road.Note: For details of concrete profile barriers, reference is made to HyD Standard Drawing No. H2101A.3. Should joints of concrete kerbs be in line with the joints in concrete carriageway?In normal practice, joints are provided in road kerbs to cater for concrete expansion andcontraction. However, the location of joints in kerbs is not arbitrary and they should matchwith joints in concrete carriageway. Otherwise, it is very likely that cracks may form inconcrete kerbs at location of pavement joints (Ministry of Transport (1955)).4. Why is the slump specified in concrete carriageway comparatively low (30mm)when compared with normal concrete (75mm)?The slump of concrete carriageway is purposely specified to be a relatively low value, i.e.30mm. For concrete carriageway, traffic loads directly act on concrete pavement surfaceand therefore the surface strength is detrimental to its future performance. In freshly placedconcrete, segregation (may be in the form of bleeding) occurs within the mixture of cementpaste and aggregates. The degree of resistance to segregation is related to workability ofconcrete. If substantial segregation is allowed to take place, then the relatively porous andweak laitance layer will be formed on the carriageway surface and the aggregates willconcentrate in the bottom. Hence, concrete which has insignificant bleed possesses astronger surface layer and is more abrasion resistant. Consequently, a small slump value isspecified to increase the wearing resistance of concrete and to achieve a suitable surfacetexture of concrete pavements.Moreover, a low-slump concrete facilitates the use of slipforms when constructing theconcrete pavement. With concrete of a low slump value, it still remains its compactedshape and is not liable to deform when the paving machines go away. However, if a highslump concrete is used instead, the pavement surface would drop and the edges maydeform readily.5. Can all utility detectors detect the depth of utilities?In Hong Kong, underground utility detectors are normally divided into two types:electromagnetic detector and ground penetrating radar (GPR).For electromagnetic detector, it can detect the signals emitted by metallic utilitiesthemselves by passive mode. While in active mode, the detector has to pick up the signalsthrough a transmitter and sonda connected directly to the non-metallic utility. Both thealignment and depth can be found in active mode while only alignment can be found inpassive mode. The electromagnetic detector available in market can detect utilities up todepth of 3m. 44
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUFor ground penetrating radar, it sends radio waves into the ground and receives signalsfrom reflections from utilities. It has the advantage of locating both the depth andalignment of utilities. More importantly, it can detect both metallic and non-metallicutilities. However, it suffers from the disadvantage that it is quite expensive andinterpretation of data is not simple. Reference is made to LD, DSD (2000).6. What is the importance of air void content in bituminous pavements?The air void content of bituminous materials is an important control parameter for thequality of bitumen being laid and compacted. If the air void content is too high, it allowsfor intrusion of air and water. Moreover, it also increases the rate of hardening of binderswhich produce premature embrittlement of pavements. In addition, too high a void contentwill also lead to differential compaction subject to traffic loads and result in formation ofruts and grooves along the wheel track.However, a minimum amount of air void should be maintained to avoid instability duringcompaction process and to provide space for bitumen flow in long-term consolidationunder traffic loads. A sufficient amount of air voids should be designed to make room forexpansion of binder in summer and compaction by road traffic as suggested by NationalAssociation of Australian State Road Authorities (1968), otherwise bleeding and loss ofstability may occur and the pavement will deform readily under severe loads.7. In concrete pavement, why is the requirement of 95% by mass of quartz grains arespecified in contract?In General Specification of Civil Engineering Works (1992 Edition), in Clause 10.09 itstates “Fine aggregate for concrete shall be natural river-deposited sand consisting of atleast 95% by mass of quartz grains”. The aim of such specification is to control the qualityof river sand. As quartz is a durable and hard material, using a high percentage of quartz inaggregates of concrete can enhance the strength and durability of the surface texture ofconcrete carriageway.In addition, such specification requires a high percentage of quartz content, therebyreducing the probability of presence of impurities like shell.8. What is the load transfer mechanism for paving blocks in pedestrian footway?In Hong Kong, footway is normally designed with paving slabs/interlocking blocks insteadof concrete because the extensive use of concrete in pavement is boring. Moreover, poorappearance will result in concrete pavement due to frequently trench openings for utilitywork. In addition, owing to the prolonged setting and curing time of concrete, the use ofconcrete pavement inevitably generates disturbance to the general public.The pedestrian loads are taken up through the following ways:(i) Load carrying capacity of paving slabs/interlocking blocks are derived from their individual strength;(ii) Pedestrian loads are also supported by interlocking forces provided by friction transfer through the sand in vertical joints (K. K. Tang & Robert P. Cooper (1986)). 45
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHU9. What is the function of a sand layer underlying paving slab/interlocking blocks?Normally after the laying of sub-base layer of the paving slab/interlocking blocks, a 30mmthick sand bedding is screeded and tamped over the pavement area. Then paving slabs arelaid horizontally with joints of 2-3mm wide and are laid in uphill direction. Aftercompleting the laying of paving slabs, sand used for filling joints is spread over the surfaceof the units and brushed into the joints such that all joints are completely filled. The pavingslabs are then bedded into final position by using plate vibrators.The sand layer serves the same purpose of normal blinding layer under concrete structure:(i) Provide a level and flat surface for the paving slab/interlocking blocks to lay on;(ii) Protect the foundation (i.e. underground subgrade and sub-base layer) against adverse outside conditions (e.g. bad weather) during construction of the laying work of paving slab/interlocking blocks.10. What is the function of longitudinal joints in concrete road pavements?A longitudinal joint consists of a tie bar placed at the mid-depth of a concrete pavementand it is not intended for joint lateral movement. Then one may doubt the reasons ofplacing longitudinal joints in concrete pavements. In fact, longitudinal joints are normallydesigned at a regular spacing e.g. 4.5m to accommodate the effect of differential settlementof pavement foundation. When uneven settlement occurs, the tie bars in longitudinal jointsperform as hinges (Ministry of Transport (1955)) which allow for the settlement ofconcrete carriageway. Moreover, it also serves to cater for the effect of warping of concretedue to moisture and temperature gradients by permission of a small amount of angularmovement to occur so that stresses induced by restrained warping can be avoided.Dowel bars are provided in longitudinal joints for the following reasons:(i) In case of the occurrence of uneven settlement between adjacent panels, it helps to maintain a level surface by transfer of loads through dowel bars.(ii) Keep the longitudinal joints close.11. For rigid pavement, what are the advantages of using lean concrete sub-baseinstead of traditional granular sub-base?There are several shortcomings of using granular sub-base in concrete carriageway:(i) Since sub-base is permeable, water can seep through sub-base and soil particles will be pumped out through contraction/expansion joints when subject to traffic load. Consequently, voids are formed underneath the pavement structure and the concrete pavement may crack under severe traffic loading.(ii) Lean concrete increases the strength and renders the roads capable of carrying heavy traffic loads (David Croney and Paul Croney (1992)).(iii) Due to workmanship problem, it may have uneven distribution of sub-base and this results in cracking of concrete carriageway when subject to severe traffic loading.12. In General Specification for Civil Engineering Works (1992 Edition), the design ofroadbase material is based on recipe approach. Why? 46
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUThe design of roadbase material is based on recipe approach (David Croney and PaulCroney (1992)) because Hong Kong government follows the traditional British practice byadopting recipe design in which the aggregate grading envelope, the quantity and grade ofbitumen are specified in the bituminous mix. This recipe of bituminous mix is derivedbased on past experience and good workmanship during construction. In fact, manycountries nowadays adopt special design mix of roadbase which proves to producesatisfactory bituminous mixes to suit different site and design conditions.In fact, recipe specification of bituminous materials does suffer from several drawbacks.Firstly, the conditions of traffic and climate of newly constructed bituminous road maydiffer from the conditions on which the recipe design is based. In case adjustment has to bemade to the recipe design, it is very difficult to determine and assess the modificationsrequired. Secondly, it poses problem to site engineers to assess the effects of minornon-compliance if recipe specification is adopted. Finally, the recipe mix may not be themost economical design which is dependent on site conditions.13. If the construction of concrete carriageway is carried out in summer, canexpansion joints be omitted?If the construction of concrete carriageway is carried out in summer, expansion joints maynot be necessary as suggested by Arthur Wignall, Peter S. Kendrick and Roy Ancil.Expansion of concrete carriageway is mainly due to seasonal changes with an increase intemperature from that during construction to the ambient temperature (i.e. the temperaturein summer). However, if the construction of concrete carriageway takes place in summer,the concrete carriageway will undergo contraction in the following winter, thus the spaceavailable in contraction joints can accommodate the future expansion in the next summer.14. If there is a delay of bituminous laying on top of sub-base, should tack coat beapplied on the top surface of sub-base?When there is a delay between bituminous laying of different bituminous layers (i.e.roadbase, base course etc.), a tack coat is applied on top of the bituminous layers because ithelps to enhance better bonding between bituminous materials. If there is insufficientbonding between adjacent bituminous layers, they behave as separate independent layerswhich can hardly resist the traffic loads. When applying the tack coat, it should be sprayeduniformly on the bituminous surface and allowed for sufficient curing. The hot bituminousmaterial laid on top of the coat would soften it, enabling the tack coat to partly fill voids inthe bituminous materials. For emulsified asphalt type tack coats, they are normally dilutedwith water in order to achieve a more uniform application without excessive usage ofasphalt. After the subsequent compaction is carried out, the coat would be interlocked withthe bituminous materials. On the other hand, care should be taken to ensure that excessivecoat would not be laid, otherwise slippage or shear cracks in the bituminous material wouldoccur due to the relative thick layer of the tack coat applied.However, for sub-base surface, priming coat instead of tack coat may be applied in theevent of a delay in laying of bituminous layer on top of the sub-base layer. The function ofthe primer serves to maintain the existing surface condition for a longer period and it alsoprovides an impermeable surface to prevent ingress of water or water loss by evaporation.Moreover, it fills the surface voids and protects the sub-base from adverse weatherconditions. In addition, it also helps to promote adhesion between adjacent road layers and 47
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUto harden the surface.15. What is difference in purpose for conducting surface regularity test and sandpatch test (test on texture depth)?The purpose of surface regularity test is to measure the riding quality of pavements and thesame requirement and standard is applied to both concrete and bituminous carriageway. Onthe other hand, sand patch test is used for checking the skid resistance of road pavements.Moreover, it is related to traffic noise because the intensity of noise generated from roadtraffic is related to texture depth of carriageway.16. In General Specification for Civil Engineering Works (1992 Edition), it specifiesthe temperature requirements for bituminous material during and after mixing. Whatis the reason behind this?Temperature is one of the factors that govern the compaction of bituminous material andthe air void content is found to decrease with an increase in compaction temperature. Thisphenomenon is explained by the viscosity-temperature relations: the higher is the viscosityof binders, the greater is the resistance to compaction. Therefore, in normal contract forbituminous laying, the temperature requirements for bituminous material during and aftermixing are specified.17. Can a sub-base layer serve as a drainage layer to remove water from pavement?Besides providing load distribution in post-construction stage and working platform inconstruction stage, sub-base can also serve as a drainage layer to remove water comingfrom the pavement. For thick layers of road pavement, it is likely that the water leakagefrom pavement is insignificant and therefore the sub-base layer mainly serves to supportthe traffic stresses. However, for thin pavement layers, water penetration is quitesubstantial and therefore sub-base may also act as a drainage layer to remove these water.18. For unreinforced concrete carriageway, what is the sequence of closing andopening of expansion joints and contraction joints?Let’s take an example to illustrate the sequence of closing and opening of joints (Ministryof Transport (1955)). For instance, an unreinforced concrete carriageway is constructed inwinter. When temperature rises in the following summer, the section between expansionjoints will expand as a whole single element resulting in the closure of expansion joints.This section of concrete pavement will move outwards from the mid-point between theexpansion joints. In the next winter, each bay (i.e. concrete pavement between adjacentcontraction joints) of concrete contracts about the midpoint of its length with opening ofcontraction joints. 48
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUFig. 6.2 Movement of joints in summer and winter.19. Are kerbs necessary in road pavements?In general, kerbs are essential in road pavements due to the following reasons (based onArthur Wignall, Peter S. Kendrick and Roy Ancil):(i) They provide strength to the sides of road pavements and avoid lateral displacement of carriageway due to traffic loads.(ii) In terms of road safety, they serve as a separation line between footway and carriageway and aid car drivers in driving safely.(iii)They act as a vertical barrier to guide the surface runoff collected in road pavements to the gullies.Fig. 6.320.What are the design considerations for dowel bars in joints of concretecarriageway?The behaviour of dowel bars resembles that of piles in soils subject to lateral loads. Failureof the joint occurs by yielding of steel under bending action or by crushing of concrete dueto bearing stresses. 49
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUIn general, the spacing of dowel bars should not be too close which may pose problemsduring construction. However, it should be not too wide to allow the occurrence of bendingbetween the dowel bars. On the other hand, regarding the length of dowel bars, it shouldnot be too long because the induced stress at the end of long dowel bars is insignificant andis not effective in transferring loads between adjacent concrete panels. However, if thedowel bars are too short, the stress at the face of joint is increased resulting in concretecrushing. Reference is made to Ministry of Transport (1955).21. What is the function of a separation membrane between concrete pavement slaband sub-base?The separation membrane between concrete pavement slab and sub-base has the followingfunctions:(i) It aids in reducing the frictional forces between concrete slab and sub-base and helps to movement of concrete slab with respect to sub-base owing to changes in temperature and moisture.(ii) It prevents the loss of cement and water in immature concrete which significantly affects the strength and durability of hardened concrete.(iii)It avoids the mixing up of sub-base materials and freshly placed concrete.Polythene sheeting, which is a waterproof material, is commonly used as separationmembrane.22. Should emulsified asphalts or cutback asphalts be selected as tack coat inbituminous roadworks?Emulsified asphalt is a suspension of asphalt in water by using an emulsifying agent whichimposes an electric charge on asphalt particles so that they would be join and cementtogether. On the other hand, cutback asphalt is simply asphalt dissolved in petroleum. Thepurpose of adding emulsifying agent in water or petroleum is to reduce viscosity of asphaltin low temperatures.The colour of emulsion for tack coat is brown initially during the time of application. Later,the colour is changed to black when the asphalt starts to stick to the surrounding and it isdescribed as “break”. Finally, when water has all evaporated, the emulsion is said to have“set”. Similarly, for cutback emulsion, it is described to “cure” when the solvent hasevaporated. However, there are several problems associated with cutback asphalts:(i) Emulsified asphalt can be diluted with water so that a low application rate could be achieved.(ii) The evaporation of petroleum into atmosphere for cutback asphalt poses environmental problem.The cost of production of petroleum is higher than that of emulsifying agent and water. 50
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUChapter 7 – Pumping Station1. What is the difference among cement plaster, cement render and cement screed?Under what situations should each of the above be used?The purpose of plastering, rendering and screeding is to create a smooth, flat surface toreceive finishes like paint, wallpaper etc.Plastering is the intermediately coating of building materials to be applied on the internalfacade of concrete walls or blockwalls.Rendering is the intermediate coating for external walls only.Screeding is the coating laid on floors to receive finishes like tiles, carpet, and marble...Hence, these terms differ basically from the locations at which they are applied. Due todifferent locations of application of plasterwork, the proportion of material component forplaster and render is different. For example:(i) Cement plasterUndercoat- cement:lime:sand (by volume) = 1:4:16Finishing coat - cement:lime:sand = 1:12:30(ii) Cement renderUndercoat- cement:lime:sand (by volume) = 1:2:6Finishing coat - cement:lime:sand = 1:3:62. In the design of corbel beams in a pumping station, why are shear links designed inthe top 2/3 of the section?What is the general advice on the design?Corbel beams are defined as z/d<0.6 where z is the distance of bearing load to the beams’fixed end (or called shear span) and d is depth of beams. The design philosophy is based onstrut and tie system. To establish the design model, it is firstly assumed the failure surface,i.e. shear cracks extending to 2/3 of depth of beam. Experiment results verified that thefailure cracks extended only to 2/3 of beam while the remaining 1/3 depth of concretecontributed as concrete strut to provide compressive strut force to the bearing loading.Horizontal links are normally provided to corbel beams because experimental resultsindicated that horizontal links were more effective than vertical links when shearspan/depth is less than 0.6. For shear span/depth>0.6, it should be not considered as corbelbeams but as cantilevers.In designing corbel beams, care should be taken to avoid bearing load to extend beyond thestraight portion of tie bars, otherwise the corners of corbel beams are likely to shear off.Reference is made to L. A. Clark (1983). 51
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHU3. Given a 1m high staircase resting on solid concrete, would it be adequate to designnominal reinforcement for the staircase?For the design of staircase, there are three main scenarios:(i) Stairs spans longitudinallyThis kind of stairs refers to stairs spanning between landings only without any sidesupports. In this case, the staircase should be designed as a beam between two end supports(i.e. landing) and the main reinforcement is provided at the bottom of staircase slabs.(ii) Stairs spanning transverselyThis kind of staircase is supported by sidewalls only and it may also be supported bystringer beams. For the case of sidewalls, it acts as a cantilever beam and the mainreinforcement are provided the top surface of slab. For the case of staircase supportedsideways by both sidewall and stringer beam, it should be designed transversely with endsupports as sidewall and stringer beam and reinforcement is provided at the bottom of thestaircase.(iii) Stairs resting on solid supportFor stairs resting on solid supports, only nominal steel reinforcement is provided to controlthermal and shrinkage cracking.4. In selecting screw pumps in polder scheme projects, what are the factors that affectthe design capacity of screw pumps?The commonly used angles of inclination for screw pumps are 30o, 35o and 38o. For screwpumps of relatively high lifting head, like over 6.5m, angle of inclination of 38o is normallyused. However, for relatively lower head and high discharge requirement, angle ofinclination of 30o shall be selected. In general, for a given capacity and lifting head, thescrew pump diameter is smaller and its length is longer for a screw pump of 30o inclinationwhen compared with a screw pump of 38o inclination.To increase the discharge capacity of screw pumps, a larger number of flights should beselected. In fact, screw pumps with 2 flights are more economical that that with 3 flights interms of efficiency and manufacturing cost. Moreover, the discharge capacity is also 52
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUdetermined by the screw pump diameter and sizes of 300mm to 5000mm are available incurrent market.5. What are the components of a waterproofing system in the roof of a typicalpumping station?In the design of a waterproofing system at the roof of a pumping station, normally thefollowing components are:(i) Above the structural finish level of the concrete roof, a screed of uniform thickness is applied to provide a smooth surface for the application of waterproofing membrane. (Screed of varying thickness can also be designed on the roof to create a slope for drainage.) The screed used for providing a surface for membrane should be thin and possess good adhesion to the substrate. Moreover, the screed aids in the thermal insulation of the roof.(ii) Above the screed, waterproofing membrane is provided to ensure watertightness of the roof.(iii) An insulation board may be placed on top of waterproof membrane for thermal insulation. In cold weather condition where the loss of heat at the roof is significant, the insulation board helps to reduce these losses. On the contrary, in summer the roof is heated up by direct sunlight and the insulation layer reduces the temperature rise inside the pumping station.6. In pumping stations one of the choices for the material of water tanks isfibre-reinforced plastic (FRP). What are the advantages associated with this kind ofmaterial?There are two main advantages for FRP water tanks:(i) It possesses high strength to weight ratio and this leads to the ease of site handling.(ii) It is highly resistant to corrosion and thus it is more durable than steel water tank.7. In the construction of pump troughs for accommodation of screw pumps, what isthe construction method to ensure close contact between the screw pumps and thepump trough?In the construction of screw pump troughs, trapezoidal-shaped troughs are usually formedby using normal formwork. In order to enhance close contact between screw pumps andtroughs, upon lifting the screw pumps into the troughs screeding works is carried out.Screw pumps are set to rotate and screeds are placed between the gap of screw pumps’blade and trapezoidal-shaped troughs during the rotating action of screw pumps. After thescreed sets, it serves to prevent leakage of water during the pumping operation of screwpumps.8. Why are voids filled with lightweight infilling material in raft foundation ofpumping stations?To reduce the dead load and hence to reduce the settlement of pumping stations, the voidsinside the raft foundations are filled with light material. If instead concrete is placed insidethese voids, it poses severe thermal cracking problem and drastically increases loads to 53
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUpumping stations. The use of general fill is also not desirable because its self-weight iscomparable to that of concrete. On the contrary, if these voids are left vacant, water maypenetrate into these voids during future operation and increases the dead load of pumpingstations during its normal operation. Therefore, lightweight infill material, which isnon-water-absorbing and non-biodegradable, is designed inside these voids to avoid ingressof water and to reduce the dead load of the structure.9. What is the difference in arranging pumps in series and in parallel?For identical pumps with similar functions, if the pumps arranged in series, the total head isincreased without a change to maximum discharge. On the other hand, for pumps arrangedin parallel to one another, the discharge is increased without any changes to maximumhead.10. In terms of pumping performance, how should engineers determine the use ofradial flow pumps and axial flow pumps?Specific speed is usually defined for a pump operating at its maximum efficiency. In orderto minimize the cost of future operation, it is desirable to operate the pumps as close to themaximum efficiency point as possible. The specific speed for radial flow pumps isrelatively small when compared with that of axial flow pumps. This implies that radial flowpumps tend to give higher head with lower discharge while axial flow pumps tend to givehigher discharge with lower head. 54
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUChapter 8 – Reclamation1. What are different approaches for reclamation in deep water region and shallowwater region?To illustrate the different approaches adopted for reclamation in deep water and shallowwater region, the following example is used:In deepwater region, consider the seabed level is –8.5mPD. After laying of geotextiles and1.5m thick sand blanket, the top level of sand blanket is about –7mPD. Split barges aredeployed for dumping public fill to –2.5mPD. Afterwards, end dipping of public fill bytrucks will be carried out up to +2.5mPD which is the designed reclamation level. Betweenlevel –2.5mPD and +2.5mPD, it is too shallow for split barges to enter the water, thus themethod of end dipping is used instead.For shallow water region, the seabed level is taken as –5.5mPD in this example. With thelaying of geotextiles and 1.5m sand blanket into position, the top level of sand blanket isabout –4mPD. In this case, split barges are also used for reclamation work between thelevel –4mPD and –2.5mPD. After that, if end dipping is used for reclamation workabove –2.5mPD, then in considering the relative thin layer of fill above seabed (1.5m sandblanket + 1.5m sand blanket), it stands a high chance that mud wave would occur in seabed.Therefore, half-loaded derrick barges are employed for reclamation up to level 0mPD.With a thicker layer of public fill now, end dipping can then be used for reclamationbetween 0mPD and +2.5mPD.This above reclamation sequence is just an example to demonstrate the differentconsiderations for reclamation in deep water and shallow water region.2. In case mud waves occur during reclamation, what are the possible solutions torectify the situation?(i) Option 1 – Complete Removal of All Disturbed MudTo remove all disturbed mud once mud waves occur is the fastest way to treat the problem.After that, filling material is used for replacing the disturbed mud. However, this option is arather expensive option because it involves dredging of all disturbed mud and replacementof large amount of fill.(ii) Option 2 – Accelerated consolidation of Disturbed MudThis option involves placement of surcharging loads on top of mud waves, together withinstallation of band drains to accelerate the consolidation of disturbed mud. This methodsuffers from the drawback that sufficient long time is required for the consolidation processof mud.(iii) Option 3 – Partial Removal of Disturbed MudThis option is a combination of the first two options in which the top weak layer of mud isremoved while the lower mud is treated with surcharging with band drain installation.Note: Mud waves refer to excessive displacement of mud due to successive slip failure during reclamation.3. What is the importance of geotextiles and sand in reclamation works? 55
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUFor geotextiles used in reclamation, they serve mainly the following two purposes:(i) they separate reclamation fill from marine mud;(ii) they may act as reinforcement to enhance the stability of reclamation. However, the reinforcement function is still under heated debate because its performance as reinforcement depends on several factors like the directional strength of woven geotextiles and damage effect by installation of vertical band drains.For sand:(i) it spreads the load of future public dump on top of it;(ii) it acts as drainage path for dissipation of excess pore water pressure for band drain installation.4. Geotechnical Instrumentation is frequently employed for monitoring the conditionof reclamation. Sometimes two piezometers are installed inside the same borehole.What is the reason behind this?For standpipes, they normally contain one plastic tube between its intention is to measurewater level only. However, for piezometers, they are used for measuring pore waterpressure in a certain depth below ground. For instance, if there are two clayey layers belowground at different depths, a multiple piezometer including two separate piezometers maybe sunk at the same borehole to determine the pore water pressure at these layersrespectively. This arrangement has the advantage that it saves the cost of installation ofseparate boreholes for several piezometers. However, the installation of multiplepiezometers within the same borehole is affected by occurrence of leakage along the pipesas suggested by Marius Tremblay (1989).5. What is the difference between standpipe, standpipe piezometer and piezometer?A standpipe normally contains plastic pipes with perforated holes at the base. The annularspace between the perforated tube and casing is filled with gravel or sand backfill. Undersuch an arrangement, standpipe is used to measure water level of a certain region.A standpipe piezometer is a type of piezometer which measures pore water pressure at acertain level. It consists of plastic pipes without holes. The tip of the standpipe piezometeris perforated and the annular space between the tip of the piezometer and soil is filled withsand while the annular space between other parts of plastic tube and soil is filled withcement/bentonite grout to seal off water from entering the region of piezometer tip. Thisenables the pore water pressure in the region of piezometer tip to be measured. In essence,standpipe piezometers are installed to study the pore water pressure of a specified depthbelow ground. However, it suffers from the disadvantage that the response time is relativelyslow in clayey soils. Reference is made to Marius Tremblay (1989).6. For drained reclamation, what is the significance of smear zone induced byinstallation of band drains?During installation of band drains, smear zones are created in which a zone of soilsurrounding the band drains are disturbed. The compressibility of surrounding soils isincreased and it results in the reduction of their permeability. In fact, the surrounding soilsare remoulded during the installation process and the effectiveness of band drains is 56
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUreduced. In essence, for the reduced permeability of soils around band drains, it takeslonger time to complete the consolidation process.7. In case a road passes through a reclaimed land and an existing land, what is themain concern regarding the design of pavements?For an existing land, it is anticipated that there will be no major settlement within thedesign life of pavement structures. However, for a recently reclaimed land, even withsurcharging and installation of vertical drains, some settlement will still occur after theconstruction. If a road pavement has to be constructed connecting these two areas, specialdesign has to be made in this transition region. In order to avoid the occurrence ofdifferential settlement which may damage the pavement structure, a transition slab may bedesigned to accommodate such movement (J. S. M. Kwong (1996)).8. In dredged reclamation, what are the considerations in selecting between trailersuction hopper dredgers and grab dredgers?Trailer suction hopper dredgers are vessels which remove material off the seabed throughhydraulic suction by using pumps. During the dredging operation, a mixture of soil andwater is transported through suction pipe to storage hoppers. Significant turbulence insidethe hoppers keeps the dredged mixture in suspension and this should be minimized toenhance the material to settle swiftly prior to the process of overflowing. Trailer suctionhopper dredgers are mounted with draghead or dragarm pumps which increases thedredging depth and trims down the occurrence of cavitation as suggested by John B.Herbioh (1992). This machine is limited to dredging relatively low-strength material.Moreover, they cannot be deployed in very shallow waters and instead grab dredgersshould be used. However, its dredging capacity is higher than that of grab dredger and itcan be mobilized in relatively deep-water region.Trailer suction hopper dredgers are renowned for their mobility, versatility and capability tooperate in unfavorable sea conditions.9. What are the considerations in selecting marine plants and land plants forinstallation of band drains?For installation of band drains by marine plants, it must have sufficient water depth toaccommodate the marine plants in the first place. However, due to the effect of tides andwaves, the establishment of the position for installation of band drains and the subsequentinstallation works may be affected. In addition, the establishment cost of marine plants ishigher than that of land plants.For installation of band drains by land plants, difficulty may be encountered during theinstallation of band drains through the reclaimed layer e.g. C&D material. Land plants maytake longer construction time due to the above-mentioned difficulty. Sometimes when thesupply of public fill is increased suddenly, it may be preferable to place these fillimmediately into position and in this situation the installation of band drains (originallyinstalled by marine plants) is delayed so that the construction of band drains is changed tousing land plants.10. For installation of silt curtains, why is it not desirable to design the curtain to 57
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUtouch the seabed?Silt curtains are impermeable vertical barriers extending from the seawater surface to itsdesigned depth. The curtains are held in a vertical position by the carrier float on their topand a curtain weight at their bottom. A tension cable is designed at the carrier float to resiststresses incurred by currents. Moreover, the silt curtains are anchored to the seabed to holdthem in the designed configuration.In essence, the depth of silt curtains should not be so long and touch the seabed because thebottom segment of the silt curtains would be trapped inside the newly accumulatedsediment, thus resulting in sinking of the curtain. Consequently, it is difficult to removethese sunken curtains. Moreover, reversal tidal and current actions may cause themovement of bottom region of curtains which stir up the settled suspensions and induceadditional turbidity.11. What are the functions of slip joints in blockwork seawalls?Slip joints are joints which are formed through a complete vertical plane from the copelevel to the toe level of seawalls. These joints are designed in blockwork seawalls to caterfor possible differential settlements between adjacent panels of seawalls. The aggregatesinside the half-round channels in slip joints allow for the vertical movements induced bydifferential settlement and at the same time providing aggregate interlocking forces amongadjacent panels of seawalls to link the panels in one unit against the lateral earth pressureexerted on seawall.Besides, slip joints provide a path for the relief of water pressure developed and allow thelateral movement (e.g. contraction) due to seasonal variations.Note: For details of slip joints, reference is made to CEDD Standard Drawing No. C3008C. 58
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUChapter 9 – Water Retaining Structure and Waterworks1. When designing a water storage tank, should movement joints be installed?In designing water storage tanks, movement joints can be installed in parallel with steelreinforcement. To control the movement of concrete due to seasonal variation oftemperature, hydration temperature drop and shrinkage etc. two principal methods indesign are used: to design closely spaced steel reinforcement to shorten the spacing ofcracks, thereby reducing the crack width of cracks; or to introduce movement joints toallow a portion of movement to occur in the joints.Let’s take an example to illustrate this. For 30m long tanks wall, for a seasonal variation of35 degree plus the hydration temperature of 30oC, the amount of cracking is about 8.8mm.It can either be reduced to 0.3mm with close spacing or can be absorbed by movementjoints. Anyway, the thermal movement associated with the seasonal variation of 35oC iscommonly accounted for by movement joints.For water-retaining structure like pumping stations, the crack width requirement is evenmore stringent in which 0.2mm for severe and very severe exposure is specified in BS8007.It turns out to a difficult problem to designers who may choose to design a heavyreinforced structure. Obviously, a better choice other than provision of bulky reinforcementis to allow contraction movement by using the method of movement joints together withsufficient amount of reinforcement. For instance, service reservoirs in Water SuppliesDepartment comprise grids of movement joints like expansion joints and contraction joints.2. What is the crack pattern induced by hydration due to internal restraint?Let’s take a circular column as an example to illustrate this.When the temperature is rising, the inner concrete’s temperature is higher than outerconcrete’s temperature and the inner concrete is expanding. This induces pressure to theoutside and the induced compressive stress will result in formation of radial cracks near thesurface of concrete.When the temperature drops, the concrete at the outside drops to surrounding temperaturewhile the concrete at the central region continues to cool down. The contraction associatedwith inner concrete induces tensile strains and forms cracks tangential to the circularradius.3.What is the purpose of adding cooling pipes or even using cold water for concrete inconcreting operation?All these measures aim at reducing the placing temperature and reducing thermal cracksinduced during concreting of massive pours. Since the final concreting temperature shouldbe the ambient temperature, reducing the initial placing temperature will also lower thepeak hydration temperature. Therefore, the temperature difference between the hydrationpeak and the ambient temperature is reduced accordingly and subsequently the thermaleffect to concrete structure can be reduced by controlling the placing temperature.4. Is the material of formwork (timber or steel) helps to reduce thermal cracks in 59
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUconcreting operation?To answer this question, one must fully understand the effect of formwork on thetemperature of concreting structure. Without doubt, with better insulation of structure bytimber formwork, the overall rise of temperature and hence the peak hydration temperatureis also increased. However, for a well-insulated structure, the temperature gradient acrossconcrete element is reduced. Therefore, the use of well-insulated formwork (like timber)increases the maximum temperature and reduces the temperature gradient across thestructure at the same time. Hence, whether steel or timber formwork should be used tocontrol thermal cracking is dependent on the restraints and the size of section.If the section under consideration is thick and internal restraint is the likely cause tothermal cracking, then timber formwork should be used. On the other hand, if externalrestraint is the main concern for thermal cracking, then steel formwork should be usedinstead.5. What is the importance of critical steel ratio in calculating thermal reinforcement?The fulfillment of critical steel ratio means that in construction joints or planes of weaknessof concrete structure, steel reinforcement will not yield and concrete fails in tension first.This is important in ensuring formation of more cracks by failure of concrete in tension,otherwise failure in steel reinforcement would produce a few wide cracks which isundesirable.6. In selection of waterstop, shall engineers use plain dumb-bell type or center-bulbtype?The plain dumb-bell type is used for joint location where small movements are anticipated.Therefore, construction joints are desirable locations of this type of waterstop. On the otherhand, center-bulb type waterstop is suitable for expansion joints or locations where lateraland shear movements occur due to settlement or deflection. Reference is made to W. L.Monks (1972).7. Why do BS8007 specify the allowable crack width of water retaining structure as0.2mm for severe or very severe exposure?For crack width less than 0.2mm, it is assumed that the mechanism of autogenous healingwill take place in which the crack will automatically seal up and this would not cause theproblem of leakage and reinforcement corrosion in water retaining structure.When the cracks are in inactive state where no movement takes places, autogenous healingoccurs in the presence of water. However, when there is a continuous flow of water throughthese cracks, autogenous healing would not take place because the flow removes the lime.One of the mechanisms of autogenous healing is that calcium hydroxide (generated fromthe hydration of tricalcium silicate and dicalcium silicate) in concrete cement reacts withcarbon dioxide in the atmosphere, resulting in the formation of calcium carbonate crystals.Gradually these crystals accumulate and grow in these tiny cracks and form bonding so thatthe cracks are sealed. Since the first documented discovery of autogenous healing by theFrench Academy of Science in 1836, there have been numerous previous proofs that cracksare sealed up naturally by autogenous healing. Because of its self-sealing property, 60
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUdesigners normally limit crack width to 0.2mm for water retaining structures.8. In designing reservoirs, the indirect tensile strength of the concrete mix is specifiedto be less than a specific value (e.g. 2.8N/mm2) for potable water. Why shouldengineers put an upper limit of indirect tensile strength?The crack width formation is dependent on the early tensile strength of concrete. Theprinciple of critical steel ratio also applies in this situation. The amount of reinforcementrequired to control early thermal and shrinkage movement is determined by the capabilityof reinforcement to induce cracks on concrete structures. If an upper limit is set on the earlytensile strength of immature concrete, then a range of tiny cracks would be formed byfailing in concrete tension. However, if the strength of reinforcement is lower thanimmature concrete, then the subsequent yielding of reinforcement will produce isolated andwide cracks which is undesirable for water-retaining structures. Therefore, in order tocontrol the formation of such wide crack widths, the concrete mix is specified to have anindirect tensile strength at 7 days not exceeding a certain value (e.g. 2.8N/mm2 for potablewater). Reference is made to R. D. Anchor, A.W. Hill and B. P. Hughes (1979).9. Shall reversible moisture movement be taken into account in estimating movementfor movement joints?The size of concrete is affected by changes in atmospheric humidity: moisture causesexpansion while drying causes shrinkage. Such moisture movement is reversible. This istotally different from drying shrinkage in which concrete slowly loses moisture duringhardening, thus causing irreversible shrinkage.In fact, the variation of humidity and the estimated reversible moisture movement is notsignificant (about 30%) and therefore, its contribution to movement does not justify formovement joints as suggested by MN Bussell & R Cather (1995).10. In the design of watermains, how to decide the usage of double air valves andsingle air valves?Single air valves allow squeezing air out of the pipeline in automatic mode in high-pressurecondition and are normally designed in high points of watermain in which air voids arepresent. Double air valves basically serve the same purpose except that it has anotherimportant function: it can get air into/out of the pipeline during low-pressure condition.In WSD practice, watermain are normally divided into sections by installation of sectionalvalves to facilitate maintenance. In a single isolated pipeline section bounded by twosectional valves, at least a double air valve should be installed. During normal maintenanceoperation like cleansing of watermain, water inside pipelines is drawn from washout valves.However, as normal watermain is subject to very high pressure like 1.5MPa and the suddenwithdrawn of water will cause a transient vacuum condition and will damage the watermain.Therefore at least one double air valve should be present to allow air to squeeze in tobalance the pressure and this protects the pipeline from damaging.In essence, for local high points single air valves should be installed. Within a section ofpipeline, at least one double air valve should be installed. 61
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHU11. Why are two gate valves required in normal practice to form a washout valve?In fact, the situation is analogous to that of fire hydrants in which two gates valves areinstalled with a single fire hydrant. Washout valves are used for normal maintenance workof watermain like allowing flowing out of water during cleaning of watermain. At thejunction where a tee-branch out to a washout point, a gate valve is installed to separate thetwo pipelines. However, this gate valve is open during normal operation while another gatevalve further downstream is installed (closed during normal operation). If the downstreamgate valve is not installed in position, then the pipe section of branched-out watermain willbe left dry during normal operation and there is a high probability that damage towatermain and frequent leakage would occur. With the downstream gate valve installed,the segment of branched-out watermain contains water in normal operation. In case there isany leakage, it can be readily detected by using the two gate valves.12. After the construction of watermain, prior to hydrostatic pressure test, swabbingis carried out. What is the purpose of swabbing?Pipelines should be tested before commissioning to check the strength of watermain andthe absence of leak. Before carrying out hydrostatic pressure test, swabbing is conducted toclear out rubbish and dirt left inside the pipeline during construction. Swabbing is requiredfor pipes less than 600mm diameter because for larger size of pipes, they can be inspectedinternally to ensure cleanliness.After carrying out of hydrostatic pressure test, test for water sterilization is then conductedwhich involves collecting water sample from the pipeline. The purpose is to check thewater quality like colour, turbidity, odor, pH value, conductivity etc. and is compared withthe quality of water drawn from water supply point.13. In the design of watermain, the normal practice is to use ductile iron for pipe sizeless than 600mm and to use steel for pipe size more than 600mm. Why?For watermain pipe size less than 600mm, ductile iron is normally used because internalwelding for steel pipes below 600mm is difficult to be carried out. Moreover, it requiresonly simple jointing details which allow for faster rate of construction. For watermain pipesize above 600mm, steel pipes are recommended because steel pipes are lighter than ductileiron pipes for the same material strength and therefore the cost of steel pipes is less thanthat of ductile iron pipes. In addition, in areas of difficult access the lighter mild steel pipespose an advantage over ductile iron pipes for easy handling.14. In the design of service reservoirs, horizontal reinforcement in walls of reservoirsis placed at the outer layer. Why?Since service reservoirs are designed as water-retaining structures with stringentrequirement of crack width control, the design of reinforcement of service reservoirs isunder the control of serviceability limit state. For the walls of service reservoirs,contraction and expansion of concrete are more significant in the horizontal direction ofwalls because of their relatively long lengths when compared with heights. In thisconnection, in order to minimize the usage of reinforcement, horizontal bars are placed atthe outmost layer so that the distance of reinforcement bars to concrete surface is reduced.Since the shorter is the distance to the point of concern, the smaller is the crack width and 62
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUhence with such reinforcement arrangement advantages are taken if the reinforcement barsin the critical direction are placed closest to concrete surface.15. In the design of service reservoirs, how are reservoir floors designed to preventleakage of water due to seasonal and shrinkage movements?There are in general two main approaches in designing floors of service reservoirs:(i) In the first method, movement joints are designed in each panel of reservoir floors so that they can expand and contract freely. Each panel is completely isolated from one another and a sliding layer is placed beneath them to aid in sliding.(ii) The second method, on the contrary, does not make provision to free movement. Due to seasonal and shrinkage movements, cracks are designed to occur in the reservoir floors such that very tiny cracks are spread over the floor and these cracks are too small to initiate corrosion or leakage. However, in this case, the amount of reinforcement used is much larger than the first approach.16. What is the difference between air chamber and surge tank?Air chambers and surge tanks are normally installed in watermain to ease the stress on thesystem when valves or pumps suddenly start up and shut down. A surge tank is a chambercontaining fluid which is in direct contact with the atmosphere. For positive surge, the tankcan store excess water, thus preventing the water pipes from expansion and water fromcompression. In case of downsurge, the surge tank could supply fluid to prevent theformation of vapour column separation. However, if the surge pressure to be relieved isvery large, the height of surge tank has to be designed to be excessively large andsometimes it is not cost-effective to build such a chamber. On the contrary, a air chambercan be adopted in this case because air chamber is a enclosed chamber with pressurizedgases inside. The pressure head of gas inside the air chamber is the component to combatthe hydraulic transient. However, air chamber has the demerits that regular maintenancehas to be carried out and proper design of pressure level of gas has to be conducted. 63
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUChapter 10 – Pipe Jacking and Microtunneling1. In the design of pipe jacking, what particular areas on pipe joints should engineerstake care of?Since in pipe jacking, the jacked pipes could hardly be jacked in the designed level andalignment and some deviation from the original one is commonly acceptable provided thatthe deviation are within the tolerance of the Contract. However, in order to avoid damagemade to the pipe joints due to overstressing, it is necessary to estimate the stressconcentrations resulting from these angular deflections.Note: Pipe jacking is a trenchless method in which pipes are jacked underground from jacking pits andreceiving pits.2. What are the differences in design between normal precast concrete pipes and pipesused for pipe jacking?For pipes used for pipe jacking, they should possess the following characteristics:(i) Pipes should have high concrete strength to withstand the stress induced during the jacking process.(ii) There is tight tolerance in pipe dimension and the pipe joints are specially designed to provide trouble-free joint details. Two commonly available joints are rebated joint and butt end joint.(iii) Pipes preferably should have smooth external concrete finishes to reduce the friction between the pipes and surrounding soil.3. Why are intermediate jacks designed in some pipe jacking projects?When the process of pipe jacking stops, building up of resistance is very fast in some soil.For instance, increase in jacking force of 20%-40% is required for a stoppage of pipejacking for just several hours. Hence, it is recommended that pipe jacking should be carriedout in a continuous operation.For a long pipeline, the frictional forces established between the jacking pipes and soil ishigh. Sometimes, such resisting forces may be so high that they can hardly be overcome bythe jacks in jacking pits. Moreover, even if the jacks can overcome the high frictionalforces induced during jacking, high loads are experienced in jacking pipes during driving.Jacking pipe’s material e.g. concrete may not have sufficient strength to resist thesestresses and hence pipe strength is another factor that govern the need for consideration ofusing intermediate jacks.4. What is the function of packing materials in the joint of concrete pipes in pipejacking?Packing materials are about 10mm to 20mm thick and are normally made of plywood,fibreboard or other materials. In case packing materials are absent in pipe joints for pipejacking, then any deflection in the joints reduces the contact area of the concrete and itleads to spalling of joints due to high stresses induced. With the insertion of packingmaterial inside the pipe joints, the allowable deflection without damaging the joint during 64
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUthe pipe jacking process can be increased.5. In pipe jacking/microtunneling, it is commonly accepted that cover depths ofjacking pipes cannot be too shallow (i.e. less than 2D where D is the diameter ofjacking pipes). Why?For pipe jacking/microtunneling, the causes of large settlement are loss of face stability,failure to stabilize ground around shafts, presence of annular space around pipes and shield,drag along pipe joints, etc. The settlement mechanism of shallow depths of pipejacking/microtunneling is the formation of a settlement trough on top of the jacking pipes.The width of the trough depends on soil properties; the larger is the cover depth of jackingpipes, the larger is the width of settlement trough. For the same soil volume loss due to pipejacking/microtunneling, the width of settlement trough for shallow cover depth is smallerand therefore it results in a larger vertical maximum settlement.6. In precast concrete jacking pipes, sometimes grout holes are designed inside theseprecast pipes. Why?Grout holes are present in precast jacking pipes for the following reasons:(i) They serve as the locations for injection of bentonite or other lubricant. Lubricant is used for both granular soils and cohesive soils to trim down the frictional resistance. For cohesive soils, the soils cannot get onto the pipes by the presence of lubricant and the shearing plane lies within the lubricant as suggested by R. N. Craig (1983). On the other hand, for granular soils, the lubricant mixes with soils with a significantly reduced friction. With the use of lubricant, longer pipe lengths can be jacked without the use of intermediate jacking station.(ii) They provide the inlet locations for subsequent grouting works after completion of pipe jacking to fill completely the void space between the pipes and surrounding soils.(iii)They are used as lifting holes when placing the precast jacking pipes into rails inside the jacking pits. 65
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUChapter 11 – Piles and Foundation1. It is not necessary to design nominal reinforcement to piles. Is it true?In BS8110 and BS5400 Pt.4, they require the provision of nominal reinforcement forcolumns. However, for pile design the requirement of nominal reinforcement may not benecessary. Firstly, as piles are located underground, the occurrence of unexpected loads topiles is seldom. Secondly, shear failure of piles is considered not critical to the structuredue to severe collision. Moreover, the failure of piles by buckling due to fire is unlikelybecause fire is rarely ignited underground.However, the suggestion of provision of nominal reinforcement to cater for seismic effectmay be justified. Reference is made to J P Tyson (1995).2. How do rock sockets take up loads?The load transfer mechanism is summarized as follows:When a socketed foundation is loaded, the resistance is provided by both rock socket walland the socket base and the load distribution is a function of relative stiffness of foundationconcrete and rock mass, socket geometry, socket roughness and strength. At smalldisplacements the rock-socket system behaves in an elastic manner and the loaddistribution between socket wall and socket end can be obtained from elastic analysis. Atdisplacements beyond 10-15mm, relative displacement occurs between rock andfoundation and the socket bond begins to fail. This results in reduction of loads inrock-socket interface and more loads are transferred to the socket end. At furtherdisplacements, the interface strength drops to a residual value with total rupture of bondand more loads are then distributed to the socket end.3. In designing mini-piles, should the strength of grout be neglected during assessmentof loading carrying capacity?In designing min-piles, there are two approaches available:(i) In the first approach, the axial resistance provided by the grout is neglected and steel bars take up the design loads only. This approach is a conservative one which leads to the use of high strength bars e.g. Dywidag bar. One should note that bending moment is not designed to be taken up by min-piles because of its slender geometry.(ii) In the second approach, it involves loads to be taken up by both grout and steel bars together. In this way, strain compatibility requirement of grout and steel has to be satisfied.4. What are the considerations in determining whether casings should be left in formini-piles?Contrary to most of pile design, the design of min-piles are controlled by internal capacityinstead of external carrying capacity due to their small cross-sectional area.There are mainly two reasons to account for designing mini-piles as friction piles: 66
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHU(i) Due to its high slenderness ratio, a pile of 200mm diameter with 5m long has a shaft area of 100 times greater than cross-sectional area. Therefore, the shaft friction mobilized should be greater than end resistance.(ii) Settlements of 10%-20% of pile diameter are necessary to mobilize full end bearing capacity, compared with 0.5%-1% of pile diameter to develop maximum shaft resistance.Left-in casings for mini-piles have the following advantages:(i) Improve resistance to corrosion of main bars;(ii) Provide additional restraint against lateral buckling;(iii) Improve the grout quality by preventing intrusion of groundwater during concreting;(iv) Prevent occurrence of necking during lifting up of casings during concreting.5. What is the purpose of post-grouting for mini-piles?Post-grouting is normally carried out some time when grout of the initial grouting work hasset (e.g. within 24 hours of initial grouting). It helps to increase the bearing capacity ofmini-piles by enhancing larger effective pile diameter. Moreover, it improves the behaviourof soils adjacent to grouted piles and minimizes the effect of disturbance caused duringconstruction. In essence, post-grouting helps to improve the bond between soils and grout,thereby enhancing better skin friction between them.During the process of post-grouting, a tube with a hole at its bottom is lowered into the pileand grout is injected. The mechanism of post-grouting is as follows: the pressurized groutis initially confined by the hardened grout and can hardly get away. Then, it ruptures thegrout cover and makes its way to the surrounding soils and into soft regions to develop aninterlock with harder soil zones. In order to enhance the pressurized grout to rupture theinitial grout depth, a maximum time limit is normally imposed between the time of initialgrouting and time of post-grouting to avoid the development of high strength of initialgrout. Consequently, the effect of soil disturbance by installation of casings and subsequentlifting up of casings would be lessened significantly.6. In designing the lateral resistance of piles, should engineers only use the earthpressure against pile caps only?In some design lateral loads are assumed to be resisted by earth pressure exerted against theside of pile caps only. However, it is demonstrated that the soil resistance of pile lengths docontribute a substantial part of lateral resistance. Therefore, in designing lateral resistanceof piles, earth pressure exerted on piles should also be taken into consideration.In analysis of lateral resistance provided by soils, a series of soil springs are adopted withmodulus of reaction kept constant or varying with depth. The normal practice of using aconstant modulus of reaction for soils is incorrect because it overestimates the maximumreaction force and underestimates the maximum bending moment. To obtain the profile ofmodulus of subgrade reaction, pressuremeter tests shall be conducted in boreholes in siteinvestigation. Reference is made to Bryan Leach (1980).7. In some codes, they limit the ratio of weight of hammer to weight of pile for piledriving. What is the reason behind this? 67
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUWhen a hammer with initial motion collides with a stationary pile, the transfer of energy ismost efficient when the two masses are comparable. That is the reason why some codeslimit the ratio of weight of hammer to the weight of pile to be more than 0.5. If the weightof hammer is too low, most of energy during hammer driving is distributed to the hammerand this causes tension induced in hammer and results in inefficient transfer of energy.8. Should engineers rely solely on Hiley’s formula in the design of H-piles?About 90% of H-piles adopt Hiley’s formula for design. However, this formula is onlyapplicable to pile lengths less than 30m and is suitable for course-grained materials (notsuitable to fine-grained soils) as suggested by GEO (1996). In Hiley’s formula, byobserving the penetration of piles after the hammer impact, the pile capacity could bereadily obtained from the response of the impacting force. Therefore, the individual pilecapacity could be obtained by this dynamic method.However, in normal foundation, groups of H-piles are present and the soil foundation maynot be able to support these H-piles simultaneously even though individual piles are provento have sufficient capacity by using dynamic method. In this case, static method should beemployed to ascertain if the soil foundation could support these H-piles.9. What is the function of drilling fluid in rotary drilling in site investigation?Drilling fluid in rotary serves two main purposes:(i) Facilitate the rotation of drilling tube during rotary drilling;(ii) Act as a cooling agent to cool down heat generated during drilling operation.Traditionally, water is normally employed as drilling fluid. However, it suffers from thefollowing drawbacks:(i) It affects the stability of nearby ground with the introduction of water into the borehole (borehole for soil; drillhole for rock);(ii) It affects the quality of sample by changing the water content of soil samples collected from the borehole/drillhole.Substitutes are available in market to replace water as drilling fluid (e.g. white foam).10. What are the differences in function between rock anchors and rock sockets?Rock anchors are used primarily for resisting uplift forces. On the contrary, rock socketsserve three main purposes:(i) Rock socket friction and end bearing to resist vertical load;(ii) Passive resistance of rock sockets contribute to resistance of lateral load; and(iii) Socket shaft friction is also used for resisting uplifting forces. But only 70% of this capacity should be used because of the effect of negative Poisson ratio.Note: Rock anchors, which may consist of a high tensile bar or a stranded cable, are provided for tension pileswhen there are insufficient soil covers to develop the required uplifting resistance.11. What are the functions of cap block, drive cap and pile cushion in driven piles? 68
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUCap block is installed between the hammer end and the drive cap to control the hammerblow in order to protect both the hammer and the pile from damage. When the hammer hitsthe cap block, it compresses elastically and reduces the peak forces, thereby lengtheningthe time of hammer blow. Moreover, it should be capable of transmitting the hammerenergy effectively to the piles.Drive cap is inserted at hammer tip to enhance uniform distribution of hammer energy tothe pile. Pile cushion is positioned between the drive cap and the pile top. It intends toprotect the pile from driving stress induced during hammer blows. Moreover, it also servesto provide a uniform driving load on top of the pile.12.What is the significance of driving sequence of driven piles?For basement construction, if piles are driven from the centre to the perimeter, there is atendency of soils to move outwards. Such lateral movement of soil may cause damage tonearby structures and utilities.However, if piles are driven from the outside perimeter inwards, there are little soil lateralmovements. This results in a well-compacted centre with an excess pore water pressurebuilt up to resist the loading of piles. Consequently, shorter pile lengths than the originaldesigned ones may result. However, some time after the pile driving operation, the excesspore water pressure is dissipated and the shorter driven piles may not be able to take up theoriginal design loads. In this situation redriving is required to drive the piles to deeperdepths after dissipation of excess pore water pressure.13. What is the function of followers in driven H-piles?A follower is an extension between the pile head and the hammer that transfers the blow tothe pile in which the pile head cannot be reached by the hammer or is under water .Forconstruction of driven piles, the piling frame and hammer are normally erected on existingground level but not at the base of pile caps. However, H-piles are designed to beterminated near the base of pile caps. If piles are driven at ground level, a certain length ofH-piles is wasted and cut when constructing pile caps. In this connection, pile followers areused so as to save the wasted section of H-piles because followers can be removed duringsubsequent construction of pile caps.14. What are the advantages of using top-down approach in basement construction?The advantages of top-down approach are listed below:(i) The structures above ground can be carried out simultaneously with the structures below ground. This greatly reduces the time for construction.(ii) By using this approach, settlement can be reduced.(iii) Since the permanent columns and slabs can be utilized to support loadings during construction, it saves the cost of formwork.Note: Top-down approach means construction of basement is carried out from ground level downwards.15. What are the methods to tackle negative skin friction? 69
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHU(i) Use slender pile sections (e.g. H-pile or precast pile) because smaller pile area when subject to the same working load would produce higher deformation, thus increasing the relative downward movement of piles.(ii) In a certain region of H-piles for ground water table fluctuation, painting is applied on the surface of H-piles because the rise and fall of water table contribute to the corrosion of H-piles. On the other hand, to reduce the effect of additional loads brought about by negative skin friction, bitumen is applied on the pile surface corresponding to the region of soils that has negative skin friction. However, bitumen should not be applied to the whole section of H-piles because it would be unable to derive the designed frictional reaction from soils.(iv) Design the piles as end-bearing so that they can take up more load.16. In piling works, normally founding levels of bored piles are defined by using totalcore recovery or rock quality designation (RQD). Are there any problems with suchspecification?The use of total core recovery to determine the founding level may not be able to indicatethe quality of rock foundation for piles because it depends on the drilling technique anddrilling equipment (GEO (1996)). For instance, if standard core barrels are used to collectsamples, it may indicate sufficient core recovery for samples full of rock joints andweathered rock. On the other hand, if triple tube barrels are used for obtaining soil samples,samples with joints and weathered rock can also achieve the requirements of total corerecovery.In case RQD is adopted for determining founding levels, it may also result in incorrectresults. For instance RQD does not indicate the joints and infilling materials. Moreover, asit only measures rock segments exceeding 100mm, rock segments exceeding 100mm isconsidered to be of good quality rock without due consideration of its strength and jointspacing.17. What are the head details of H-piles under compression and subject to bendingmoment?For steel sections referred to in BS5950, universal bearing pile is characterized by havingequal flange and web thickness while universal column has different flange and webthickness. Universal columns can also be used as bearing piles.In the design of the head details of H-piles, there are three typical cases to be considered,namely compression piles, tension piles and piles with bending moment at the head inaddition to tension or compression. The design of these piles recommended by G. M.Cornfield (1968) is listed below:(i) Compression pilesFor this type of piles, H-piles should be embedded 150mm in concrete pile caps and it isnot necessary to use any dowels and capping plates in their connection.(ii) Tension pilesA number of hook-ended bars are welded to the top of H-piles. 70
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHU(iii) Piles with bending moment at their head (tension or compression)The depth of embedment of piles into pile caps is substantially increased and loads aretransferred by horizontal bars welded to piles’ flanges.18. In deep excavation, adjacent ground water table is drawn down which may affectthe settlement of nearby buildings. What is the remedial proposal to rectify thesituation?One of the methods to control settlement of nearby buildings due to excavation work is byrecharging. Water collected in wells in deep excavation is put back to the top of excavationin order to raise the drawn-down water table. The location of recharge should be properlyselected to ensure the soil is sufficiently permeable to transfer the pumped water back nearthe affected buildings.19. What is the significance of quality of bentonite slurry in the construction ofdiaphragm walls?The quality of slurry plays an important role in the quality of diaphragm walls. Firstly, if athick slurry cake is formed in the interface between slurry and in-situ soil, it has a tendencyto fall off during concreting works and it mixes with freshly placed concrete. Moreover,large thickness of slurry cake would reduce the concrete cover and affect the futuredurability performance of diaphragm walls.20. During concreting of diaphragm walls, three tremie pipes are used in one time.However, only one concrete truck is available. How should the concreting works becarried out? 71
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUThe most ideal situation is to supply each tremie pipe with a single concrete truck.However, if only one concrete truck is available, all the fresh concrete in the truck shouldnot be placed in one single tremie pipe. With all fresh concrete placed in one single tremiepipe while the others left void, then due to the huge supply of concrete to the tremie pipe, asmall concrete hump may form at the base of the tremie pipe and it is likely that it maycollapse and trap the slurry inside the diaphragm walls. Therefore, the fresh concreteshould be evenly shared among the tremie pipes to avoid such occurrence.21. What is the purpose of conducting load test for piling works?Pile load test provides information on ultimate bearing capacity but not settlement behavior.In essence, it can determine if the load is taken up by the stratum designed or if the centreof resistance is at the design location in piles as suggested by Robert D. Chellis (1961).After conducting load tests, the curve of movement of pile head (Settlement against load)and the curve of plastic deformation can be plotted. By subtracting the curve of plasticdeformation from the curve of pile head movement at each load, the curve of elasticdeformation can be obtained. For piles of end-bearing type unrestrained by friction, thetheoretical elastic deformation can be calculated from e=RL/AE where e is elasticdeformation, L is pile length, A is area of pile, E is Young’s Modulus of pile material andR is the reaction load on pile. By substituting e in the formula, the elastic deformation readfrom the curve of elastic deformation, L can be obtained which shows the location of thecentre of resistance corresponding to that load.22. Why are vibrators not used in concrete compaction in piling works?Concrete for piles should be a high-slump self-compacting mix which is capable of flowingbetween reinforcement cage with ease. Since concrete is designed to be self-compacting,vibrators are not used for providing further compaction. Moreover, the concrete in piles iscompacted by energy derived from free falling. However, if vibrators are used, the vibratedconcrete may be compacted to the sides of the concrete casings and hinders the lifting up ofcasings. Reference is made to GEO (1996).23. In Hiley’s formula for driven piles i.e. R=E/(s+0.5c), why is a coefficient of 0.5 72
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUapplied for the term elastic deformation of piles and soil?Hiley’s formula is based on the principle of energy conservation in which the energybrought about by hammers during the action of hitting are transferred to piles in ground.When the hammer force and displacement is plotted, the energy absorbed by piles is thearea under the curve. Since the curve of elastic component is linear with a positive slope,the area i.e. energy should be the area of triangle (0.5xRxc) where R is reaction force and cis elastic compression due to helmet, piles and soil system. For settlement, it is ofhorizontal line in force-displacement diagram and hence the energy transferred to pile-soilsystem is (Rxs).24. For a rigid pile cap with vertical piles at the middle and raking piles at the sides,what is the pattern of load distribution of piles in such arrangement?Due to the effect of interaction of individual piles, the central piles tend to settle more thanthe edge piles when the pile cap is under a uniform load. Therefore, raking piles at the edgetake up a higher fraction of total loads and are subject to higher axial and bending loads incase the pile cap is stiff. In the extreme case, failure of these raking edge piles may occur.25. What are the problems associated with prestressed concrete piles (Daido)?The origin of Daido piles comes from Japan where these prestressed concrete piles are usedas replacement plies. Holes are pre-formed in the ground and Daido piles are placed insidethese pre-formed holes with subsequent grouting of void space between the piles andadjacent ground. However, in Hong Kong Daido piles are constructed by driving intoground by hammers instead of the originally designed replacement method. Since theinstallation method of Daido piles is changed, construction problems like deformation ofpile tip shoes, crushing of concrete at pile tip etc. occur. Reference is made to B. W. Choy(1993).26. Which one is a better choice, a large diameter piles or a system of several smallerpiles with the same load capacity? 73
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUThe choice of a large diameter pile suffers from the disadvantage that serious consequenceswould occur in case there is setting out error of the pile. Moreover, in terms of costconsideration, for the same load capacity the cost of a group of small diameter piles isgenerally lower than that of a large diameter pile. On the other hand, for small diameterpiles i.e. mini-piles, they are advantageous in site locations with limited headroom andspace. In addition, in some structures with only a few piles, it is uneconomic because of itshigh mobilization cost. Reference is made to Dr. Edmund C Hambly (1979).27. What is the difference between capping beams and ground beams for piles?Capping beams for piles aim at transferring loads from closely spaced columns or wallsinto a row of piles. On the other hand, ground beams are beams provided between adjacentpile caps and they perform as compression struts or ties in an attempt to prevent lateraldisplacement or buckling of piles under uneven distribution of loads on pile caps. Both ofthem have to be specially designed to cater for differential settlement of piles.Capping beam performs the same functions as pile caps. However, ground beams arestructural elements to connect adjacent pile caps to improve the stability of foundation.28. In modeling a nonrigid mat foundation by using elastic springs, should a uniformmodulus of subgrade reaction be used along the whole base of mat?By using a bed of springs to simulate the flexible behaviour of mat subject to loads, careshould be taken in selection of the modulus of subgrade reaction. In fact, the modulus ofsubgrade reaction depends on many factors like the width of the mat, the shape of the mat,the depth of founding level of the mat etc. In particular, the modulus of subgrade reaction issmaller at the center while it is larger near the mat’s edges. If a constant modulus ofsubgrade reaction is adopted throughout the width of the mat, then a more or less uniformsettlement will result when subject to a uniform load. However, the actual behaviour is thatsettlement in the center is higher than that at side edges. Consequently, it leads to anunderestimation of bending moment by 18% to 25% as suggested by Donald P. Coduto(1994).In general, a constant value of modulus of subgrade reaction is normally applied forstructure with a rigid superstructure and the rigid foundation. However, a variable modulusof subgrade reaction is adopted instead for non-rigid superstructure and non-dominance offoundation rigidity to account for the effect of pressure bulbs.29.What is the difference between direct circulation drilling and reverse circulationdrilling?For direct circulation drilling and reverse circulation drilling, the major difference indrilling method is related to the direction of movement of drilling fluid. For directcirculation drilling, the drilling fluid is circulated from the drill stem and then flows up theannulus between the outside of the drill stem and borehole wall. The drilling fluid thatcarries the drill cuttings flows to the surface and the subsequent settlement pits. Pumps areemployed to lift the cuttings free fluid back to the drill stem. 74
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUFor reverse circulation drilling, the direction of flow of drilling flow is opposite to that ofdirect circulation drilling. Drilling fluid flows from the annulus between the drill stem andhole wall to the drill stem. The drilling fluid is pumped to an nearby sump pits wherecuttings are dropped and settled.30. What is the difference between “hammer efficiency” and “coefficient ofrestitution” when using Hiley’s formula in pile driving?Hammer efficiency refers to the ratio of kinetic energy of the hammer to the rate energy (orpotential energy). In essence, there is undoubtedly certain energy losses induced by thehammer itself prior to the actual impact on the driven pile. For instance, these losses mayinclude misalignment of the hammer, energy losses due to guiding friction, inaccuratedropping height etc…Coefficient of restitution refers to a value indicating the strain energy during collisionregained after the bodies reverted back to their original shapes. If the coefficient ofrestitution is equal to unity, it means that the collision is elastic and all energy has beenreturned after the impact action. Hence, this is a index showing the degree the impactaction in terms of elasticity.In mathematical forms,Coefficient of restitution = -(v1-v2)/ (u1-u2)Where u=initial velocity and v=final velocity after impact 75
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUChapter 12 – General1. What is the difference between working stress approach and limit state approach?For working stress approach, service loads are used in the whole design and the strength ofmaterial is not utilized in the full extent. In this method of design, stresses acting onstructural members are calculated based on elastic method and they are designed not toexceed certain allowable values. In fact, the whole structure during the lifespan may onlyexperience loading stresses far below the ultimate state and that is the reason why thismethod is called working stress approach. Under such scenario, the most economicaldesign can hardly be obtained by using working stress approach which is now commonlyused in the design of temporary works.For limit state approach, for each material and load, a partial safety factor is assignedindividually depending on the material properties and load properties. Therefore, eachelement of load and material properties is accurately assessed resulting in a more refinedand accurate analysis of the structure. In this connection, the material strength can beutilized to its maximum value during its lifespan and loads can be assessed with reasonableprobability of occurrence. Limit state approach is commonly used for the majority ofreinforced concrete design because it ensures the utilization of material strength with thelowest construction cost input.2. What are the functions of different components of paint?For normal paint application, there are mainly three main components of paint, namelyprimer, undercoat and finishing coat.Primer: This is the first layer of a typical painting system and it is used to inhabit corrosionand provide a good bond for subsequent coats.Undercoat: This component acts as a barrier to corrosion agents and even out irregularitiesof bonding surface. It also serves to hide the underlying background and prevent the detailsand colour of the area of application to affect the designed colour and finishing details ofpaint.Finishing coat: This is the final layer of a typical painting system and it protects theunderlying layers from the effect of adverse weather conditions (e.g. sunlight) and toprovide the designed properties of paint like colour, impermeability, wearing resistance,etc.3. If the contractor is liable for defective works for 12 years with contract under seal(6 years with contract not under seal), then what is the significance of MaintenancePeriod?Defective works constitute a breach of contract in accordance with Limitation Ordinance(Cap. 347).An action founded on simple contract (not under seal) shall not be brought after expirationof 6 years while an action founded with contract under seal shall not be brought afterexpiration of 12 years. For construction works, the date of counting these actions should be 76
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUthe date of substantial completion.To answer the above question, one should note that under the contractual requirement, thecontractor during Maintenance Period has the right to rectify the defects and the employerhas also the right to request the contractor to make good defective work. However, after theexpiry of Maintenance Period, in case of any arising of defects, the employer has to employothers to rectify these works and bring the action to court to claim the contractor for thecosts associated.4. In checking the quality of weld, what are the pros and cons of variousnon-destructive weld inspection methods i.e. ultrasonic test, radiographic inspectionand magnetic particle flaw detection test?Currently, there are three common non-destructive testing of weld, namely radiographicinspection, ultrasonic testing and magnetic flaw detection test.The method of radiographic approach was used commonly in the past until the arrival ofultrasonic inspection technique. The major difference between the two is that ultrasonictesting detects very narrow flaws which can hardly be detected by radiographic method.Moreover, it is very sensitive to gross discontinuities. Tiny defects, which characterizewelding problems, are normally not revealed by radiographic inspection.Moreover, ultrasonic inspection possesses the advantages that it can accurately andprecisely locate a defect as well as figure out its depth, location and angle of inclination.In the past, it was expensive to adopt ultrasonic means for inspection. Nowadays, the ratesfor both inspection methods are comparable. Most importantly, the x-ray and gamma rayused in radiographs are radioactive and pose potential safety hazard to testing technicianson site. Reference is made to Paul G. Jonas and Dennis L. Scharosch.Magnetic flaw detection test can only be used for checking flaws in any metallic objects.This method is commonly used for inspecting surface cracks and slightly sub-surfacecracks. However, surface and sub-surface cracks can be readily detected by radiographsand ultrasonic inspection.5. Why should acetylene gas cylinders used for gas welding be erected in uprightposition?Acetylene gas is commonly used for gas welding because of its simplicity of productionand transportation and its ability to achieve high temperature in combustion (e.g. around5,000oF). Acetylene is highly unstable and flammable and would explode in elevatedpressure when reacting with oxygen in air. Storing acetylene gas in cylinders underpressure is very dangerous. Hence, for welding purpose, gas acetylene is stored in cylindersof liquid acetone contained in porous material (like firebrick) to enhance there is no freespace left for acetylene gas and for cooling purpose in the event of thermal decomposition.It also prevents the formation of high pressure air pockets inside the cylinder. Dissolvedacetylene in acetone will no longer in contact with oxygen and is not subject todecomposition. On the other hand, acetone is used because it is capable of dissolving largeamount of acetylene gas under pressure without changing the nature of the gas. 77
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUThe cylinders for gas welding i.e. oxygen cylinders and acetylene cylinders, when not inuse should be stored separately because any mixture of these gases resulting fromaccidental leakage can be highly explosive. When in use, acetylene cylinders should alwaysbe kept in upright position because acetone liquid will be drawn from the cylinders with thegas if they are kept horizontally. Consequently, significant leakage of acetone liquid willresult.Note: Oxygen and acetylene gas cylinders are commonly used in construction sites for gas welding.6. Is stainless steel really stainless in construction application?Stainless steel refers to alloy steels with more than 10.5% of chromium and consists ofseveral groups like austenitic, ferritic, martensitic etc. Austenitic stainless steel is normallyused in structural applications because of its high corrosion resistance. Austenitic andferritic types of stainless steel cover about 95% of stainless steel applications. Stainlesssteel is not stainless although it is corrosion resistant under a wide range of conditions.A passive layer of chromium oxide is formed on stainless steel’s surface which renders itcorrosion resistant. This chromium oxide layer acts as a stiff physical barrier to guardagainst corrosion and makes it chemically stable. Moreover, when this layer is damaged, itcan perform self repairing where there is a sufficient supply of oxygen. However, stainlesssteel will still corrode by pitting in marine environment where chloride attack occurs.Therefore, appropriate grades and types of stainless steel have to be selected in pollutedand marine environment to minimize the problem of corrosion. Reference is made to EuroInox and the Steel Construction Institute (2002).7. Is the procurement of third party insurance necessary to be incorporated incontract for construction works?The purpose of third party insurance is to protect contractors from bankruptcy in case thereare severe accidents happened to the third party due to the construction work. Therefore, ingovernment contracts, contractors are requested contractually to procure third partyinsurance from the commencement of contract until the end of Maintenance Period. Ifcontractors have the financial capability to handle the claims due to accidents to third party,the client is not bound to include this requirement in the contract.8. What is the mechanism of protection by hot dip galvanizing?Hot dip galvanizing protects steel/iron from corrosion by:(i) It forms a metallic zinc and zinc-iron alloy coating on top of steel surface. This zinc coating reacts with moisture in atmosphere to from zinc salts which act as an insulating layer for steel/iron.(ii) Zinc is higher than steel/iron in the galvanic series and when these dissimilar metals with different electrical potential are in contact, the zinc anode corrodes and offers sacrificial protection to steel/iron and hence steel/iron is protected from corrosion.9. The insurance policy of insurance companies has changed recently. What is themajor change? 78
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUOriginal Clause 4.6.1“Liability in respect of death, bodily injury, illness or disease suffered by any personemployed by an insured Contractor or employed by any party to whom part or parts of theinsured Contract have been sub-contracted. However, this exclusion shall not apply to anyliability which may attach to any sub-contractor insured under this Policy in respect ofdeath, bodily injury or illness or disease suffered by a person employed by any othersub-contractor.”Revised Clause 4.6.1“Liability in respect of death, bodily injury, illness or disease suffered by:1) Any person employed by any insured party i.e. principal contractors, sub-contractors, sub-sub-contractors for the purpose of execution of insured contract or any parts thereof and2) Any person to whom part or parts of the insured contract have been sub-contacted including but not limited to self employed sub-contractors.”In essence, the original clause 4.6.1 has no cover for death/injury to employees ofcontractors or sub-contractors because they should have separate insurance cover underemployee’s compensation ordinance. However, it does not exclude the liability for “workerto worker” i.e. sub-sub-contractors. For the revised Clause 4.6.1, it rules out the liability fordeath/injury to employees of any insured party.10. Should design life be the same as return period for design conditions?Design life means the minimum duration a structure is expected to last. The longer is thedesign life; the higher is the cost of a project. Therefore, in choosing the design life for astructure, engineers should consider the design life which generates a economical projectwithout sacrificing the required function.In selection of return period of certain design conditions, winds, waves, etc., one shouldconsider the consequences of exceedance. In fact, there are normally no extreme maximumvalues of these design conditions and its selection is based on the probability of exceedancewhich is related to return period.Therefore, design life may not be equal to return period of design conditions because theirselections are based on different considerations.11. What is the difference between sureties and security?In construction contracts, if a contractor fails to perform the works, the employer wouldsuffer from severe financial loss and therefore some forms of protection has to beestablished in the contract.For surety bond, the contractor obtains a guarantee from a third party i.e. a bank or aninsurance company, which in return for a fee, agrees to undertake the financialresponsibility for the performance of contractor’s obligations. This third party will pay tothe employer in case there is a contractor’s default.For security, a sum of money is deposited in the employer’s account and upon satisfactoryfulfillment of contractor’s obligations, the sum will be repaid to the contractor. 79
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHU12. What is the difference between fasteners, bolts and screws?Fastener is a general term to describe something which is used as a restraint for holdingthings together or attaching to other things.The main physical distinction between screws and bolts is that screws are entirely full ofthreads while bolts contain shanks without threads. However, a better interpretation of thedifferences between the two is that bolts are always fitted with nuts. On the contrary,screws are normally used with tapped holes.13. What is the function of washers when using bolts?The purpose of installing washers in a typical bolting system is to distribute the loads underbolt heads and nuts by providing a larger area under stress. Otherwise, the bearing stress ofbolts may exceed the bearing strength of the connecting materials and this leads to loss ofpreload of bolts and creeping of materials. Alternatively, flanged fasteners instead of usingwashers could be adopted to achieve the same purpose.14. What is the difference between normal bolts and high friction grip bolts?High friction grip bolts are commonly used in structural steelwork. They normally consistof high tensile strength bolts and nuts with washers. The bolts are tightened to a shanktension so that the transverse load across the joint is resisted by the friction between theplated rather than the bolt shank’s shear strength. 80
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUReferenceArthur Wignall, Peter S. Kendrick and Roy Ancil Roadwork Institution of Works andHighways Management pp.95, 110, 219-225Brian Pritchard (1992) Bridge Design for Economy and Durability: Concepts for New,Strengthened and Replacement Bridges ThomasTelford, London pp.15-30BS8007: 1987 Design of Concrete Structures for Retaining Aqueous Liquids BritishStandards InstitutionBS6349: Part 2: 1988 Maritime Structures – Design of Quay Walls, Jetties and DolphinsBSI pp. 102-103Bureau of Public Roads (1965) Design of Roadside Drainage Channels Bureau of PublicRoads pp.6-11B. W. Choy (1993) Hong Kong Engineer December 1993 – Damages to Prestressed HighStrength Concrete Piles During Driving: Causes and Prevention HKIE OctoberBryan Leach (1980) Hong Kong Engineer December 1980 – The Lateral Loading ofCaisson Foundations HKIECharles F. McDevitt (2000) Public Roads – Basics of Concrete Barriers March/April 2000Vol. 63 No.5 U. S. Department of TransportationCIRIA Report 147 Care and Treatment of Steel Reinforcement and the Protection of StarterBars pp. 11-12Carl A. Thoresen (1988) Port Design – Guidelines and Recommendations Tapir Publisherspp. 206, 219-221, 257-261CED (1992) General Specification for Civil Engineering Works Vol. 1, 2 & 3Dr. Edmund C Hambly (1979) Bridge Foundations and Substructures Building ResearchEstablishment pp. 27-29, 31, 56, 87Donald P. Coduto (1994) Foundation Design: Principles and Practices Prentice HallInternational Editions pp. 264-269DSD Drainage Services Department Standard DrawingsDavid J. Lee The Theory and Practice of Bearings and Expansion Joints for BridgesCement and Concrete Association pp. 32 – 37David Croney and Paul Croney (1992) The Design and Performance of Road PavementsMcGraw-Hill pp. 212-226Euro Inox and the Steel Construction Institute (2002) Design Manual for StructuralStainless Steel the Alden Group, Oxford 81
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUE. C. Hambly Bridge Deck Behaviour pp. 61-63ETWB (1999) General Conditions of Contract for Civil Engineering Works PrintingDepartmentF. Vasco Costa (1964) The Berthing Ship – The Effect of Impact on the Design of Fenders andBerthing Structures Ward and Foxlow Ltd.G. P. Manning (1924) Reinforced Concrete Design Longmans, Green and Co. pp. 46-47G. M. Cornfield (1968) Steel Bearing Piles British Steel Corporation pp. 28, 30GEO (1996) Pile Design and Construction pp.47-49, 60-61, 137HyD (1995) Highways Standard DrawingsInternational Road Federation (1977) A Report on the Design and Construction ofSegmental Prestressed Concrete Bridge in Western Europe 1977 pp. 37J P Tyson (1995) Design of Reinforcement in Piles Transport Research Laboratory pp.25-26Jorg Schlaich & Hartmut Scheef (1982) Concrete Box-girder Bridges pp.18 & 23J. S. M. Kwong (1996) A Review of Some Drained Reclamation Works in Hong KongSpecial Projects Division of CED pp. 15John B. Herbioh (1992) Handbook of Dredging Engineering McGraw-Hill, inc. pp.4.1-4.23K. W. J. Treadaway (1988) Corrosion-protected and Corrosion-resistant Reinforcement inConcrete Building Research EstablishmentK. K. Tang & Robert P. Cooper (1986) Hong Kong Engineer June 1986 – PedestrianPaving in Urban Areas: The Path Ahead HKIEL. A. Clark (1970) The Provision of Reinforcement in Simply Supported Skew Bridge Slabsin accordance with Elastic Moment Fields, Cement & Concrete Association ReportL. A. Clark (1983) Concrete Bridge Design to BS5400 Construction Press, Longman GroupLimited pp.102-103Longman Scientific and Technical (1987) Concrete Technology Longman SingaporePublishers (Pte) Ltd. pp. 66-67, 304-308Lars Forssblad (1981) Vibratory Soil and Rock Fill Compaction Robert Olsson TryckeriAB pp. 6-9, 40-45LD, DSD (2000) Report No. RD 1003/1 Review of Underground Utilities Detection 82
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUEquipment – GeneralMarius Tremblay (1989) Pore Pressure Measurement – Reliability of Different SystemsSwedish Geotecnhical Insitute pp. 14-30MN Bussell & R Cather (1995) Design and Construction of Joints in Concrete StructuresCIRIA pp.14-15Ministry of Transport (1955) Concrete Roads Lowe and Brydone (Printers) Ltd. pp.205-209, 223-224, 227-228M. J. Tomlinson (1977) Pile Design and Construction Practice E & FN Spon pp. 109-110National Association of Australian State Road Authorities (1968) Principles and Practiceof Bitumious Surfacing Volume II Plant Mix WorkOdd E. Gjorv (1994) Advances in Concrete Technology Natural Resources CanadaO. C. Young and J. J. Trott Buried Rigid Pipes Elsevier Applied Science Publishers pp.72-73P. Kumar Mehta (1991) Concrete in the Marine Environment Elsevier Applied SciencePaul G. Jonas and Dennis L. Scharosch Ultrasonic Inspection of Butt Welds in HighwayBridges National Technical Information ServiceRobert D. Chellis (1961) Pile Foundations McGraw-Hill Book Company pp. 455-467R. N. Craig (1983) Pipe jacking: A State-of-the–art Review Construction Industry Researchand Information Association pp. 36R. D. Anchor, A.W. Hill and B. P. Hughes (1979) Handbook on BS 5337:1976 A ViewpointPublication pp. 15Sandberg Consulting Engineers Report 18380/X/01 Investigation Study on Blackening andMould Growth on Concrete Bridges in Hong Kong Highways DepartmentW. L. Monks (1972) The Performance of Waterstops in Movement Joints Cement andConcrete Association pp. 1WSD Civil Engineering Design Manual 83
    • 200 Questions and Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works Vincent T. H. CHUBackcoverAbout the AuthorIr. Vincent T. H. CHU is the author of The Civil FAQ in the Hong KongEngineer published by the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers and is famedas walking encyclopedia of civil engineering. Inspired by his fascination withcivil engineering, he always buried himself in journals and books in this fieldsince he was at college and developed great interest in it. He has regularlypublished articles in some engineering journals and is also the author of CivilEngineering Practical Notes A-Z which shall be published very soon. This ishis second book in less than one year. 84