Blog Archives

Airport in Frankfurt on the Main

Posted by on 24/ 11/ 15

One of the best-known applications of an SMA mixtures for airfields is the northern runway of the airport in Frankfurt on the Main (Fraport). It has become famous not only because of the SMA application but also because of the atypical arrange­ment of the reconstruction of the runway pavement. The 2-year long removal of the worn-out concrete pavement and the laying of a new asphalt structure was completed in 2005.

Fraport is one of the largest airports in the world, with a colossal traffic capac­ity and an impressive number of takeoffs and landings—more than 200,000 per year. The replacement of the northern runway pavement was carried out exclu­sively at night to reduce reconstruction-related air traffic problems...

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Subsurface Drainage System

Posted by on 24/ 11/ 15

Subsurface drainage is made up of different parts but all are linked directly with the surface drainage system and all are, fundamentally, taking care of groundwater or water that infiltrates through the pavement surface.

13.3.4.1 Drainage Regime

Part of the rainfall-runoff infiltrates into the ground and continues as subsurface flow. Part of this may, in turn, continue as a sub-horizontal subsurface flow, depend­ing on the permeability of different soil layers. This can lead to increases in the moisture level under the pavement, reducing the bearing capacity. To decrease this phenomenon, the scheme design should note that:

• it is a good practice in embankments in the Mediterranean countries either to keep the thickness between the underside of the pavement and the natural soil to at le...

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Optimization techniques

Posted by on 24/ 11/ 15

Having constructed an optimization model, one must choose an optimization technique to solve the model. The way that one solves the problem depends largely on the form of the objective function and constraints, the nature and number of variables, the kind of computational facility available, and personal taste and experiences. Mays and Tung (1992) provide a rather detailed discus­sion on linear programming, dynamic programming, and nonlinear program­ming techniques. In this subsection, brief descriptions are given to provide
readers with some background about these techniques. A list of applications of various optimization techniques to hydrosystems engineering problems can be found elsewhere (Mays and Tung, 2005).

Linear programming (LP)...

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STEP2 Install the Interior Doors

Posted by on 24/ 11/ 15

Once the underlayment is down, start installing the prehung doors. I have lived in older houses that required work on sticky doors, misaligned locks, and squeaky hinges. Quality doors open and close with ease even after years of use—if you take the time to install them with care. Remember that doors and jambs should last for the life of the house. That won’t happen if you buy junk. Doors and trim are finish work and are seen and used on a daily basis, so try to buy units that are both attractive and durable (see the side – bar on p. 244).

The first step in setting prehung doors is lo check the plans and see which way they open into a room. It’s helpful to set each door near its opening before nailing any of them in place. This should eliminate installing the wrong door in an opening...

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And Crown Molding

Posted by on 24/ 11/ 15

As noted in "The Case for Not Leveling Trim,” on p. 415, baseboard and crown molding should follow floors and ceilings, rather than level lines projected across the walls. If floors and ceilings are level, fine. Otherwise, leveled trim next to out-of-level surfaces is glaringly obvious.

INSTALLING BASEBOARDS

Install the finish floors first, with a slight gap, typically i<2 in., between the wood flooring and the walls so that wood strips or planks can expand and contract seasonally. Baseboards thus cover that gap along the base of the walls. You should also install door casing before baseboards, so that baseboards can butt to side casing or plinth blocks...

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Pros and Cons of SMA for Airfields

Posted by on 24/ 11/ 15

Despite the fast growth of applications on road pavements, SMA does not enjoy great success on airfields. This is because of the unique requirements for airfield pave­ments and special problems with SMA, which include the following:

• Combining high macrotexture with low permeability

• Low-initial antiskid properties and the impossibility of using gritting (FOD risk)

• Risk of segregation (e. g., fat spots, porosity) locally changing the surface properties

Regardless of the cited weak points of SMA, airport managers sometimes decide to apply it, taking into consideration the strong points known from the road industry. A comprehensive survey of SMA applications on airports may be found in Prowell et. al. (2009).

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Interior Trim, Cabinets, Countertops, and Clost

Posted by on 24/ 11/ 15

WHEN ГМ FEELING NOSTALGIC, I think about the fancy, vvell-crafted toolkit I carried

from job to job before 1 switched to a 5-gal. plastic bucket. That kit had a place for all my finish tools—handsaws, levels, small hammers, razor-sharp chisels with their blades wrapped in soft cotton, and planes that left long curls of wood with each pass. My brother, Jim, still has his shiny, metal miter box with its long backsaw—that’s what we used to make perfect cuts in trim before chopsaws came along. Back in the late 40s and early ’50s, those were the tools that master builders passed down to us “kids" as they taught us the craft.

Today, carpentry is different...

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Surface Drainage System

Posted by on 24/ 11/ 15

The surface drainage system should remove all flow of rainwater from the road’s sur­face, and from the highway slopes as well as the runoff from adjacent land. Surface drainage systems are also important in the proper management of polluted runoff and in minimizing environmental impacts. The surface drainage can be divided into transverse drainage and longitudinal drainage.

Transverse Drainage – Typically used to allow existing water courses to pass under/over the road which would, otherwise, form a physical barrier. These are normally constructed as aqueducts or culverts (see Chapter 12, Fig. 12.3).

Longitudinal Drainage – The main objective is the fast collection and removal of the rainwater that falls upon the road’s immediate surroundings, and of the water from the adjacent areas, e...

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The transport canals – the magic canal (Lingqu)

Posted by on 24/ 11/ 15

In the very same year that the Zhengguo canal came into service, a twelve-year-old child named Zheng ascends to the throne of Qin. Because of all the irrigation works, he soon inherits unprecedented economic power, and he becomes the first emperor.

In 225 BC Zheng uses the Hong canal for the supply of grain to his army, during his gradual advances toward the south.[399] [400] The main grain storage and distribution center becomes established at the junction of this canal and the Yellow River. Later, this virtu­al nerve center will become the imperial granary.

The victory of Zheng over the Chu ends the warring states period in 221 BC. The conqueror takes the imperial name of Shi Huangdi (or Che Houang-ti)...

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Dropping the stringer

Posted by on 24/ 11/ 15

A simple adjustment often needs to be made at the bottom of the stringer to keep the first riser the same height as the rest, because if you nail а 3/нп. board to the first tread, for example, the step increases to 8 in. from JVa in. (see the drawing on the facing page). This is important for safety, because all risers need to be the same height. So subtract the thickness of the finish tread from the bottom of the stringer.

There are many different variations on this detail. If the subfloor is to be car­peted and treads sheathed with 3/ип.

Dropping the stringer

plywood and finished with 3/нп. hard­wood, the stringer has to be dropped by 1Vi in. for every riser to be the same. If the stair is nailed to the subfloor and both treads and subfloor will be covered with 3/4-in...

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