ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF A PLANNING ENGINEER

A planning engineer has one of the most important roles in construction projects. Planning Engineers are responsible for ensuring that the project will be completed as per project management plan deadlines. He should raise any potential risks before it happens and guide the whole team through the project different stages. 

1. FIELD KNOWLEDGE 

Strong construction background required to understanding the scope of the project and identify the activities and activities dependency. This experience could be gained by working as a Site Engineer for a period of time or by monitoring and observing the work progress.

2. SOFTWARE SKILLS 

He should be familiar with project management terms and techniques such as EVM (Earned Value Management), CPM (Critical Path Method) etc, as PMP (Project Management Professional Certificate) will cover this point.  He should know how to process the planning techniques via software and produce visual aids to help explain the schedule of work. Primavera, MS Project, MS Excel are essential, which are used in the market now.

3. ATTENTION TO DETAILS 

Accuracy is the main core of Planning Engineers works. The main difference between successful planning engineer and another engineer is to pay attention to details, engineering common sense , data analysis and filtration. Planning engineers are dealing with the big amount of data every day. However, they should figure out what this data try to say and not just pass them to others.

4. COMMUNICATION AND INTERPERSONAL SKILLS

Planning Engineers are a key player in a construction project. They communicate almost with the whole project team, attend variance meetings with different parties and prepare a lot of reports. Therefore Good communication and interpersonal skills are required.

5. RESPONSIBILITIES

Simply the planning engineer should prepare a plan to complete the works on time and within budget. This plan cannot be done by planning engineer only. However, the planning engineer responsibility is to coordinate with all project team and collect pieces of information from different parties and put them all together on one workable project management plan.

Ø  Understanding the scope of the project

Ø  Identifying the best series of events in the correct order for the project to finish on time and on a budget.

Ø  Presenting the schedule of work to others in the company and the client organization involved with the project.

Ø  Developing detailed yet simple to understand schedule and graphs

Ø  Providing visual aids to help explain the schedule of work, including bar charts and network diagrams.

Ø  Using specialized computer software to help keep the project on course.

Ø  Monitoring the progress of the project at different stages of its development.

Ø  Making sure the achieved progress on the project fits the progress anticipated in the schedule.

Ø  Keeping in contact with the project manager.

Ø  Making adjustment to schedules if necessary.

Ø  Liaising with individuals on the project .

Ø  Ensuring that all the separate elements of the project fit together and working towards a correct direction.

  

Difference b/w Architect and Civil Engineer

Civil engineering and architecture are similar, overlapping majors and occupations, with some key differences.

Architecture

Build public or private structures.Focus on the aesthetic principles of design. In school, you will take more art-related classes and fewer engineering- and science-related courses.Acquire the relevant certifications in the field of architecture.

Engineering

Build public or private structures, with a focus on public structures.Also build hydroelectric dams, canals, roadways, or other structures with useful functions in society.Focus on science and engineering. In college, you will take fewer art-related classes and learn a lot more engineering and physics than you would if you majored in architecture. This major is usually considered more “difficult.”Acquire the relevant certifications in the field of civil engineering.

As you can see, there is a large crossover in what you can do with either degree. As an architect or a civil engineer, you can build public or private structures. Civil engineers typically do a lot more work on large public ventures like airports however than they do on private homes. But that doesn’t mean a civil engineer can’t also build a house.

Architects cannot do everything that civil engineers can do, since they lack the scientific and engineering knowledge required for many jobs. An architect can build a house or even an airport, but probably will not be given the job of designing a power dam or a roadway for example. Those jobs require more technical knowledge and planning, and architecture school doesn’t really give you that knowledge since it is focused more on aesthetics.

Civil engineering’s main drawback is that it is a longer, more challenging pathway, and if you have no interest in technical projects, it would be more logical to avoid doing all that extra work just so you can build houses. Architecture isn’t offered as often as civil engineering however, so you may have an easier time finding a civil engineering course than an architecture course. So in summary, civil engineering is a broader degree field which allows you to do more types of projects after you graduate, but architecture is a more direct route if you already know you want to focus on more aesthetic projects. Talking to an advisor will help you figure out what you should do, but hopefully this gives you some starting guidance.

Self Consolidation Concrete

Self-consolidating concrete or self-compacting concrete

(SCC) is characterized by a low yield stress, high deformability, and moderate viscosity necessary to ensure uniform suspension of solid particles during transportation, placement (without external compaction), and thereafter until the concrete sets.

Such concrete can be used for casting heavily reinforced sections, places where there can be no access to vibrators for compaction and in complex shapes of formwork which may otherwise be impossible to cast, giving a far superior surface than conventional concrete. SCC was conceptualized in 1986 by Prof. Okamura at Ouchi University, Japan.

The first generation of SCC used in North America was characterized by the use of relatively high content of binder as well as high dosages of chemicals admixtures, usually superplasticizer to enhance flowability and stability. Such high-performance concrete had been used mostly in repair applications and for casting concrete in restricted areas. The first generation of SCC was therefore characterized and specified for specialized applications.

The relatively high cost of material used in such concrete continues to hinder its widespread use in various segments of theconstruction industry, including commercial construction, however the productivity economics take over in achieving favorable performance benefits and works out to be economical in pre-cast industry. The incorporation of powder, including supplementary cementitious materials and filler, can increase the volume of the paste, hence enhancing deformability, and can also increase the cohesiveness of the paste and stability of the concrete. The reduction incement content and increase in packing density of materials finer than 80 µm, like fly ash etc. can reduce the water-cement ratio, and the high-range water reducer (HRWR) demand. The reduction in free water can reduce the concentration of viscosity-enhancing admixture (VEA) necessary to ensure proper stability during casting and thereafter until the onset of hardening. It has been demonstrated that a total sand content of about 50% of total aggregate is favorable in designing for SCC.

Electrical Tower Transmission

Electrical Transmission Tower Types and Design

The main supporting unit of overhead transmission line is transmission tower. Transmission towers have to carry the heavy transmission conductor at a sufficient safe height from ground. In addition to that all towers have to sustain all kinds of natural calamities. So transmission tower designing is an important engineering job where all three basic engineering concepts, civil, mechanical and electrical engineering concepts are equally applicable.

A power transmission tower consists of the following parts, 1) Peak of transmission tower 2) Cross arm of transmission tower 3) Boom of transmission tower 4) Cage of transmission tower 5) Transmission Tower Body 6) Leg of transmission tower 7) Stub/Anchor Bolt and Base plate assembly of transmission tower. The main parts among these are shown in the pictures.

Peak of Transmission Tower

The portion above the top cross arm is called peak of transmission tower. Generally earth shield wire connected to the tip of this peak.

Cross Arm of Transmission Tower

Cross arms of transmission tower hold the transmission conductor. The dimension of cross arm depends on the level of transmission voltage, configuration and minimum forming angle for stress distribution.

Cage of Transmission Tower

The portion between tower body and peak is known as cage of transmission tower. This portion of the tower holds the cross arms.

Transmission Tower Body

The portion from bottom cross arms up to the ground level is called transmission tower body. This portion of the tower plays a vital role for maintaining required ground clearance of the bottom conductor of the transmission line.

Design of Transmission Tower

During design of transmission tower the following points to be considered in mind, a) The minimum ground clearance of the lowest conductor point above the ground level. b) The length of the insulator string. c) The minimum clearance to be maintained between conductors and between conductor and tower. d) The location of ground wire with respect to outer most conductors. e) The mid span clearance required from considerations of the dynamic behavior of conductor and lightening protection of the line. To determine the actual transmission tower height by considering the above points, we have divided the total height of tower in four parts, 1. Minimum permissible ground clearance (H1) 2. Maximum sag of the conductor (H2) 3. Vertical spacing between top and bottom conductors (H3) 4. Vertical clearance between ground wire and top conductor (H4).

Types of Transmission Tower

According to different considerations, there are different types of transmission towers. The transmission line goes as per available corridors. Due to unavailability of shortest distance straight corridor transmission line has to deviate from its straight way when obstruction comes. In total length of a long transmission line there may be several deviation points. According to the angle of deviation there are four types of transmission tower- 1. A – type tower – angle of deviation 0^o to 2^o. 2. B – type tower – angle of deviation 2^o to 15^o. 3. C – type tower – angle of deviation 15^o to 30^o. 4. D – type tower – angle of deviation 30^o to 60^o.

As per the force applied by the conductor on the cross arms, the transmission towers can be categorized in another way- 1. Tangent suspension tower and it is generally A - type tower.

2. Angle tower or tension tower or sometime it is called section tower. All B, C and D types of transmission towers come under this category.

Apart from the above customized type of tower, the tower is designed to meet special usages listed below,

These are called special type tower

1. River crossing tower

2. Railway/ Highway crossing tower

3. Transposition tower

Based on numbers of circuits carried by a transmission tower, it can be classisfied as- 1. Single circuit tower

2. Double circuit tower

3. Multi circuit tower.

Intermediate Transition Zone (ITZ) in concrete

What is ITZ and how it is developed in concrete

ITZ in civil engineering terminology is known as interfacial transition zone or intermediate transition zone. This is the phase present in concrete where two different phases meet with each other. As you can see in the picture you can see clearly the layer of ITZ presence 

In concrete aggregate is considered as one phase and surrounding paste is considered as another. For concrete to bear load, it is imperative that there should be stress distribution between paste and aggregate.

When these two phases of concrete meet, there is always an ITZ layer present. This layer has properties which are neither of aggregate phase nor to the paste phase.

What happens is when that near aggregate slurry (water+cement) accumulates causing a layer which is shown in picture below. This layer is week because of its chemical composition.

Strength

In reality, ITZ has probably the lowest strength properties therefore under loadsstress in aggregate phase will be different than that of the paste for same strain level. This type of non-uniform stressdistribution will cause ineffective transmission of forces between paste and aggregate. If ITZ is not taken care of than this can lead to stress concentration which will ultimately cause cracking