I found an old 1930s footage of African's Pygmy tribe building a bridge over crocodiles infested river. It is quite amazing.
If you never heard about the Pygmies: they are ancient primitive tribe and short in statue (about 3 to 4 ft tall), live deep in the jungle and survive by means of hunting/gathering. (The footage interestingly shows the Pygmies eating raw elephant meat they killed). They are currently endangered because their way of living is cut short by land clearing and development. They are being forced out of the jungle and struggle mightily in adjusting to modern lifestyle which is totally foreign concept for them, for instance the use of currency and employment.
The bridge was built using some kind of woody vines and suspended between two large trees stretching several hundred feet across the river. Apparently the vines were bundled together to create a much stronger rope, similar concept to making wire ropes we use for bridges. The bridge needed to be suspended high above the river since it would experience sagging as much as 20 feet.
The Pygmies are very brave and amazing engineers, building the bridge vine by vine high up above the river while the hungry crocodiles patiently waiting under for possible feast.
You can watch the footage at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYvaA0Lz70A&feature=related
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Pioneer of wind engineering died
Alan Davenport who is widely considered as the pioneer in wind design for tall buildings recently passed away. He was 76. He and his company RWDI in Ontario (Canada) have long dominated the field of wind tunnel testing and analysis for tall buildings and bridges, such as those for the New York Twin Towers and Sears Tower in Chicago.
Given the complex and dynamic nature of wind behaviors, if I am not mistaken, there are only two companies in North America who have the capability to perform detailed wind analysis and testing: Davenport's firm RWDI and CPP in Colorado.
One interesting side note about Davenport: he was commisioned by Sports Illustrated in 2002 to study the famous and unpredictable wind at the Augusta Golf Course area called "Amen Corner". He concluded what golfers already knew: change in golf course elevation in all directions (not to mention tree obstructions) causes havocs in wind movement.
The rest of the article can be read at this link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/science/26davenport.html?src=linkedin.
Given the complex and dynamic nature of wind behaviors, if I am not mistaken, there are only two companies in North America who have the capability to perform detailed wind analysis and testing: Davenport's firm RWDI and CPP in Colorado.
One interesting side note about Davenport: he was commisioned by Sports Illustrated in 2002 to study the famous and unpredictable wind at the Augusta Golf Course area called "Amen Corner". He concluded what golfers already knew: change in golf course elevation in all directions (not to mention tree obstructions) causes havocs in wind movement.
The rest of the article can be read at this link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/science/26davenport.html?src=linkedin.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Save lives and billions.......with checklist
Back in early 2009, USA Today cited a interesting study published in New England Journal of Medicine. This study found that using a checklist during surgery reduced the number of deaths by more than 40 percent. It further said that if all hospitals used the same checklist, they could save tens of thousands of lives and $20 billion in medical costs.
The checklist has nothing to do with high tech procedures, instead, it focuses on basic safety measures and only covers 19 points out of hundreds of steps.
The beauty of it: it only takes two minutes to go through this checklist!
This article re-affirms my belief about how crucial it is to do a design checklist on every project. As an engineer I am not at the same level in terms of pay or precision as that of a surgeon, but, I can argue, many lives depend on the soundness of my work.
I have to admit that I, more often than not, so focus in analysis and problem solving that I forget, or have no time, to do basic but essential detailing and checking.
Simple check such as "Did I specify control joints and corner reinforcing in the concrete walls ?", or, "Have all header beams been checked for the loads coming from above?" are easy to remember but many of us are not good at remembering all of them all the time.
We already know that a project's success or failure often hinges on this kind of simple check, not on the brilliance of a high powered design. Missing simple details and notes often lead to confusions, construction delay, and, worse, structural problems that are costly to fix and increase our exposure to litigation.
The study also says checklist can be simple and short. Longer may be even better in my opinion. My checklist, which was originally developed from ACEC/CASE quality control checklist, only takes a maximum of twenty minutes to complete and covers three primary areas: plan and details , designs and calculations.
I do hesitate sometimes to complete and "submit" to my checklist, especially when deadline looms near and there is not a moment to waste. But, skipping it is not really an option either given its benefits.
I would say it is twenty minutes well spent. And, my clients deserve that.
The checklist has nothing to do with high tech procedures, instead, it focuses on basic safety measures and only covers 19 points out of hundreds of steps.
The beauty of it: it only takes two minutes to go through this checklist!
This article re-affirms my belief about how crucial it is to do a design checklist on every project. As an engineer I am not at the same level in terms of pay or precision as that of a surgeon, but, I can argue, many lives depend on the soundness of my work.
I have to admit that I, more often than not, so focus in analysis and problem solving that I forget, or have no time, to do basic but essential detailing and checking.
Simple check such as "Did I specify control joints and corner reinforcing in the concrete walls ?", or, "Have all header beams been checked for the loads coming from above?" are easy to remember but many of us are not good at remembering all of them all the time.
We already know that a project's success or failure often hinges on this kind of simple check, not on the brilliance of a high powered design. Missing simple details and notes often lead to confusions, construction delay, and, worse, structural problems that are costly to fix and increase our exposure to litigation.
The study also says checklist can be simple and short. Longer may be even better in my opinion. My checklist, which was originally developed from ACEC/CASE quality control checklist, only takes a maximum of twenty minutes to complete and covers three primary areas: plan and details , designs and calculations.
I do hesitate sometimes to complete and "submit" to my checklist, especially when deadline looms near and there is not a moment to waste. But, skipping it is not really an option either given its benefits.
I would say it is twenty minutes well spent. And, my clients deserve that.
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