As I was looking for some pictures I came across some oddball pictures, of sewer grates I took as we were doing some very last minute walking around the Gold Souk area in Dubai.
Taking taxis, the amazing train system, and walking around Dubai you can’t really stop looking at all of the buildings that have been built over the last few years. But me with my Civil Engineering background, I like to see how some of the infrastructure works. I started to look all over the place for things to take pictures of. I think it was just way too hot to really get the cameras out and take photos like I thought I would. While walking in the harsh desert heat we were pretty much looking for the next chilly building to escape the sun. Here are a couple pictures of sewer grates. Nothing special but not something you probably see posted on the internet.
I wonder when I will find the crazy drainage stuff I took pictures of while in South East Asia?
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Over the last eight months we have successfully submitted our Civil Engineering plans to varying cities and have gained approval on the 1st try, either over the counter or through the plan check process.
I was holding off on mentioning this until we submitted our large mixed use project on Lankershim, North Hollywood. I was crossing my fingers as we went to meet with the plan checker at Los Angeles Building and Safety on the 7th floor. He looked over the plans in a lot of detail and said they look good and were approved. We didn’t get those planned approved through the Stormwater section over the counter. But that was more on the account that they wanted a formal submittal. So we will see if we can continue this streak. We are proud of being able to draw up a set of plans to quickly meet any of our client’s deadlines and get them approved faster than anyone else I have heard of. In fact we have taken on projects that other companies straight out won’t touch because the deadlines are too fast. As long as we have the survey and siteplan I can generally tell you exactly how many days something will take, and we can normally beat that original timing given out.
Next up is a project from the past coming back to life over near The Getty on Sepulveda. This is a a pretty large single family home that the owner will be redoing inside and out. The big issue on the site is a matter of an illegally built wall built by the neighbor on the wrong property. This unpermitted wall has been falling over and holds up a sewer main. So we are going to design a new retaining wall below and fill in between both walls. There will be some other tricky designs such as getting a large backyard into a pump to drain out to Sepulveda. The alternative would be connecting to the storm drain directly, but the cost involved with closing off a major street and trenching said street to the other side would be way too expensive.
In the not so distant future we will be working on a nearly impossible multiple home site on Mulholland overlooking the Hollywood Sign and Griffith Observatory. We have been working on getting a road to work up the hillside. Our Civil Engineering firm, B+W Engineering and Design, has been growing slowly but surely, and we look forward to start working on some more complicated to nearly impossible jobs in the future.
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I decided to make a simple 3D animation of the contact case model that I made back in 1997.
I mention to clients that when we do earthwork takeoffs that we can render the grading plans into something that can be looked at outside of the typical engineer grading plan views. Here is an example of what I am talking about. A rendering for earthwork would not show the true building, unless we were given a 3D model of the building. But we can make the land look pretty similar to what the contours would look like in real life. To model with texture mapping is too time intensive for these purposes, as a photo realistic fly through is not too important since the Architect already has rendered plans. Anyone who has a hillside grading project may like seeing what their project will look like, even without all of the fancy textures.
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I sometimes wonder if they still teach hand drafting in high school. Or do engineering majors of today know how to hand draft?
Now as a mechanical engineer, I don’t typically encounter legacy operating systems (COBOL, anyone?), but I have had to dig up some very old technical drawings. Blast from the Past
I was reminded of my early high school days when I first knew that I wanted to be some type of engineer. I wasn’t sure what type of engineer, but I was drawn in with my first class called Mechanical Drafting. I drew and drew and drew and loved that class. I became one of those who excelled and was given different type of work from most of the other students. I was the only one who got to ink my drawings to mylar. This turned out to be a good experience for later, as I learned how to letter, different ways to erase on mylar, and everything associated with hand drafting. Little did I know that hand drafting would soon become antiquated as computers really came into being the only tool to use as I started college in 1997.
As I entered the School of Engineering at UC Irvine I walked into the computer lab surrounded by Autocad. This was Autocad R14 and my very first time seeing the GUI. We were taught how to use this software purely through the command line. I was hard headed and decided to still hand draft as I was faster at that then learning a new software. I started not getting A+’s on my drawings and knew I needed to switch. If my hand drafting wasn’t coming out of the computer I was not going to get a good enough grade in my first drafting course in college. I took a day or so learning on an educational copy and was able to draw what was needed so much faster. And then my grades went right back up. I realized at the end that completing the final might have taken too long by hand as they wanted us to make a full set of plans for a flyable paper airplane. I know that sounds silly, but talk about forcing us to learn the basics of the software very quickly. This method became more apparent as for the class the next quarter we would end up rendering an object of our choosing and make the full set of plans. I probably shouldn’t have picked a contact case, but that really taught me how to use the software. Lesson learned, drafting on the computer was many times faster and more precise than hand drafting.
Fast forward to my first job where I went into an Engineering and Survey company which used an older DOS based drafting software. I had to learn a completely new set of commands. The commands made no sense at first, but after a few weeks of drafting up Parcel and Tract Maps I could draft in my sleep on this older, yet new software to me. I mentioned that I really liked understanding how engineers and surveyors did this work in the past, and the old school guys decided to break out the Leroy Machine. The Leroy Machine is so uncommon now that I can’t even find a proper link to a description searching on Google. Just think of the Leroy as a lettering guide that when used properly can write text very quickly and look like an exact font on a set of plans. Seemed interesting to learn about older equipment, but I didn’t know I would eventually end up using this on the job.
At my next job I was working with an older project manager who could draft a grading plan by hand and make the plans look like a computer spit them out. We became good friends and he liked to teach me how to engineer and draft on both the computer and by hand. I would get little assignments almost like homework from him. I started out learning to design smaller subdivisions on mountains. Then he would show me how to do the earthwork by hand using a planimeter, always being told this is the way I could see the entire site in 3D from a flat piece of paper or using the monitor. I couldn’t get enough of these small challenges. I was then given the task of finding the earthwork for a large subdivision. I got to take about half of the site that kept changing and will never forget, I was calculating about 6+ million cubic yards of cut and fill. I kept thinking to myself, how many younger engineers get the opportunity to do something like this? And how many engineers in general have done something like this. Designing part of this large subdivision on my own still to this day is something i will never forget. This was a 500 lot 1/2 acre per lot major subdivision that after all the fine tuning would have 6+ million cubic yards of dirt pushed around. This was around the point where I was given my own team. We did pretty well on our next major lot subdivision I have to say, applying everything that I was taught.
And then what happens? Time to hand draft on old mylars for some older projects. Out came the Leroy Machine. I laughed and told the project manager I can’t believe I am about to use one of these. I am laughing right now as I type this. I knew how to use a Leroy Machine previously for fun, but he showed me really how to use the device. Little did I know how useful this would become when we started B+W Engineering and Design.
To this day we are still hand drafting street plans onto original mylars that we have to check out from certain cities. I use a lettering guide as a Leroy Machine is pretty hard to come by. I owe quite a bit to all of those past Civil Engineers I worked with who took the time out of their busy schedule and would keep teaching me everything they knew. Reading the Blast From the Past article made me remember all of these amazing old school devices that still work to this day in the engineering field.
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What could be better than travelling from Southern California to Northern California, and doing the travel by high speed rail?
Besides my love for the automobile and how that mode of transportation has become such a focus for Los Angeles, a high speed rail sounds like a great idea. As with any major construction project there are some huge hurdles to overcome. Besides the obvious money factor and how a high speed rail will eventually be funded, the
engineering for the high speed rail is amazing.
There are many detractors to the idea of building something like this. The main problem being where is the money going to come from? Sure the State has voted for this to go through, but like all major projects sometimes you can’t foresee exactly what will be needed as they dig deeper into creating such a massive new project. One way or another this is going to happen whether the California population wants the train or not. Why? Mainly that this is a great way to create jobs. Not only during construction, but this has the potential to make commuting back and forth much easier and faster. And let’s not forget how much of a pain and time sync that travelling by plane has become. I myself would be very happy to take a day trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco by train instead of driving. And this coming from someone who finds a lot of pleasure taking PCH all the way up North and back just to relax.
As with all large projects no one will really know how useful a high speed rail line is until the train has finished and is taking people back and forth. As much as people are tired of government spending these types of projects probably have to be pushed through to make them happen. As an civil engineer I am very interested in the type of construction that will happen, as there are some land masses that the constructions companies will have to go through and not around.
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The future is full of amazing engineering coming faster than you can say Warp Speed.
I am remembering back in College in a structural engineering class when the professor mentioned soon that buildings would be made out of plastic. The class tried to not laugh as this particular professor was well respected in the Structural Engineering community and had been doing many lectures on exactly this funny idea. Obviously a structure wouldn’t be made out of lego blocks or what we typically think of as plastic. Though the idea still seems somewhat further away than when I was sitting in a classroom in 1999.
Working in collaboration with sculptor Rinus Roelofs, Ruijssenaars is creating a world’s first: A 3D-printed building. The plans for the building consist of printing 6 x 9 meter sections of the building from a material that consists of sand and an inorganic binder. 3D-Printed Buildings by 2014?
Now we are in the year 2013 where scientists are starting to play around with science on a whole new level. Sometimes amazing products and inventions happen because of this. Other times these inventions start to make our wildest dreams come true. Enter the 3D printer. Sure you may have seen a 3D printed model at a lecture or conference. They generally look like what you would expect, a 3D model of something in some type of mold. You can’t really do much with the model, except look and be amazed that maybe one day we can start making working widgets that pop out of a vending machine. I was intrigued at the idea of 3D printing a full scale building.
Though the building won’t be completely made out of printed materials, this project is on the right track. Imagine that you hire all of the different designers and they draw up their work in CAD. The next step is to send the drawings to the fabricator who can print out every part and ship to the project site. Or even have your engineer print out the steel and concrete together on site for the contractor to really put up your new building like a giant lego set. My mind wanders thinking about the possibilities that case study projects like this bring into the real world. I look forward to printing out my wildest dreams in the future, thanks to some brilliant engineering today.
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As both myself and Wilson have close friends stationed overseas we would like to give a big thank you to the Men and Women serving this fine country.
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We decided to take a trip to attempt to see the Space Shuttle Endeavour on its final pass through the historic areas that played a major role in the creation of the project. We started by making our way towards Griffith Observatory, even though the news was saying it was packed while having to take shuttles to the top. After sitting in traffic just trying to get off of the freeway, I had the idea of trying the top of Beachwood Drive which is one of the closest spots to see the Hollywood Sign. Talk about a good choice to view the Space Shuttle from.
After looking for parking and finally getting it near the top of the street, we made the small hike up the trails. I have to say that I was shocked that there were not that many people waiting in this location. Across the way, the entire ridge was filled, but not in this location. Even better for us. The anticipation was growing as others were calling out the location of the Shuttle Endeavour from the twitter feeds and news. Those with binoculars caught the first glimpse and every started to get really excited.
Now what could possibly happen as we are on the top of this with the Shuttle almost in plain site? I get a phone call from a client. To make things worse, i have little to no reception at this spot. I could only make out a word or two and hopefully the client knew that it was too choppy to hold a conversation. Not to mention this had to be the worst timing ever to get a phone call. I hope our clients understand I do really try to take all of my calls if I can even during this historic moment that I wanted to film.
So after getting off of the phone I scrambled to get a good view and it turned out this wasn’t the pass. The Shuttle with F-16 entourage was making a loop to go somewhere else. Everyone was now pumped up. It was evident from the crowd that there was a lot of excitement waiting to be freed. Soon we are about to get what we were waiting for. As everyone was now talking and the mood was quickly feeling like a rollercoaster the Shuttle peaked out of the clouds and smog and it was on. This was the pass everyone came to see. And Endeavour did not disappoint. There was such a great feeling from the crowd as different things were being said. I heard chants of USA, USA, in the background. Others were clapping, others were yelling, parents were now talking louder to their kids, and just a general great feeling that has been lost recently with the age of digital crowds. I don’t remember the last time I saw so many people interacting together in this way. Maybe not since cell phones became normal.
As the shuttle passed us, I was wondering was that it? How come people were staying. It turns out the entourage was circling Universal Studios and making its way back for one more fly by. I feel everyone who went to the Observatory location got a special treat by seeing the Shuttle do this twice. And while the shuttle passed again, the exact same feeling was in the crowd. What an amazing few minutes to see this historic last flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour.
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I saw this highly technical robot built out of paper, gears and all, on you tube and had to share. One of my roommates while at UCI was a Mechanical Engineering major and his goal was to create robots to take over the world. Amazing what can be done with just some very simple tools and pieces of paper.
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Lightning storms and heavy rains wreaked havoc on Southern California earlier today.
Today seemed more odd being in Los Angeles than usual because this has been the Summer of hot hot hot nonstop. Did I mention how hot it has been? I normally decide to wash my car, end up having to go to a rush meeting and then it rains just enough to make it all for not. I feel like I can start to tell the future as I chose not to wash the car this week as I knew there would be a few out of nowhere meetings. Do these meetings coincide with the weather? I could write a formula that might back up my feelings being fact. But math is sometimes boring and the flash floods had me more glued to the news than normal. So what did I learn today instead of some made up equation?
I learned that the most recent storms that hit Southern California are good examples of why Civil Engineers do what they do. Watching the news and seeing the flooding really puts drainage plans into perspective. How do these go together? We must design our drainage or grading plans to drain the water off of a property to go somewhere. That somewhere is generally into the street fronting the property. From there the water normally collects into a gutter which goes into a storm drain catch basin. Next the water travels from the storm drain to the ocean, nice and unfiltered. Yes most people don’t know that the little do not put garbage into the storm drain really does mean this goes straight to the ocean. The sewer and storm drain are two different things.
Now what does the storm drain and storm water have to do with anything? Everything! We consistently have clients asking why we are sizing drainage devices to be so large even though it barely ever rains in Los Angeles or Southern California. The answer is that the type of rain Southern California gets is actually pretty intense. I won’t go into what we do exactly. But we use Hydrology manuals and a calculator or Excel spreadsheet which determines the amount of storm water that will occur on a particular site based on some given criteria. The main criteria lately has been do we design for the 25 or 50 year storm. Most cities accept designing for a 25 year storm as a minimum. So we do this when it makes sense. Though we like to design for a 50 year storm as a safety factor.
This latest storms reminds me that I need to show videos of these storms to explain how important proper drainage design is on a site. This has more to do with pipe sizing as most storm water must now be guided into drainage devices that will filter the water and when possible send the majority of that storm water into infiltration pits. And then any overflow will go into the public storm drain system. So next time it rains, take a look at the infrastructure surrounding you as there is a lot more going on with your everyday environment.
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