Civil Engineering Practical

Notes A-Z

Second Edition

Vincent T. H. CHU
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

CONTENTS

Preface 3

1. Bridge Works 4

2. Concrete Works 23

3. Drainage Works 48

4. Geotechnical Works 63

5. Marine Works 74

6. Piles and Foundation 81

7. Roadworks 94

8. Steelworks 112

9. Waterworks and Tunneling 119

References 132

About the author 138

2
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Preface

This book is intended primarily to arouse the interests of graduate

engineers, assistant engineers and engineers in the technical aspect of
civil engineering works. The content of the book mainly focuses on
providing the reasons of adoption of the various current practices of
civil engineering. By understanding the underlying principles of
engineering practices, graduate engineers/assistant engineers/engineers
may develop an interest in civil engineering works and hence to make
improvements to existing practices in civil engineering. It is also
intended that the book will serve as a useful source of reference for
practicing engineers.

The author is currently writing the book "200 Questions and Answers
on Practical Civil Engineering Works Part II" and he sincerely invites
the submission of civil engineering questions to email to
askvincentchu @yahoo.com.hk to facilitate the completion of the book.
For those questions selected by the author to be published in his
new book, a free copy of the book shall be delivered to the author of
those questions.

It is glad to publish this second edition of book. In this edition, many

new topics (about 30 items) are introduced when compared with first
edition which, I believe would further enrich the content of this book.
Should you have any comments on the book, please feel free to send to
my email askvincentchu @yahoo.com.hk and discuss.

Vincent T. H. CHU
April 2009

3
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Chapter 1. Bridge Works

Advantages of continuous multiple-span deck over simply

supported multiple-span deck

Movement joints are normally added to bridge structures to

accommodate movements due to dimensional changes arising from
temperature variation, shrinkage, creep and effect of prestress.
However, the provision of excessive movement joints should be
avoided in design because movement joints always encounter
problems giving rise to trouble in normal operation and this increases
the cost of maintenance.

Some designers may prefer to add more movement joints to guard

against possible occurrence of differential settlements. However, the
effect of continuity is disabled by this excessive introduction of
movement joints.

From structural point of view, the use of continuous deck enhances the
reduction of bridge deck thickness. Moreover, deck continuity allows
the potential increase in headroom in the mid-span of bridges by using
sucker deck principle.

Some designers may prefer to employ the use of simply supported

multiple-span deck to guard against possible occurrence of differential
settlements. However, the effect of continuity is undermined by the
introduction of movement joints. In essence, the structural reserve
provided by a continuous bridge is destroyed by the multiple-span
statically determinate structure resulting from the addition of joints.

Moreover, the reduction of joints in bridge structures represents

substantial cost savings arising from the construction and maintenance
costs of movement joints. The reduction of deck thickness helps to cut
the cost for both the deck and foundation. In particular, the number of
bearings in each piers is substantially reduced when compared with the
case of simply supported multiple-span deck.

4
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Benefits of using the bridge form of precast prestressed beams

supporting in-situ concrete top slab

The potential benefits of using the bridge form of precast prestressed

beams supporting in-situ concrete top slab are:

(i) For bridges built on top of rivers and carriageway, this bridge
form provides the working platform by the precast beams so
that erection of falsework is not required.
(ii) This bridge form generally does not require any transverse
beams or diaphragms (except at the location of bridge
supports), leading to reduction of construction time and cost.
(iii) It creates the potential for simultaneous construction with
several spans.

Coatings at the back faces of abutments

There are different views on the necessity of the application of
protective coatings (may be in the form of two coats of paint) to the
back faces of bridge abutment [30]. The main purpose of this coating
serves to provide waterproofing effect to the back faces of abutments.
By reducing the seepage of water through the concrete, the amount of
dirty materials accumulating on the surface of concrete would be
significantly decreased. Engineers tend to consider this as an
inexpensive method to provide extra protection to concrete. However,
others may consider that such provision is a waste of money and is not
worthwhile to spend additional money on this.

Fig. 1.1 Coatings at back faces of an abutment.

5
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Dimples in Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)

PTFE is a flurocarbon polymer which possesses good chemical
resistance and can function in a wide range of temperature. The most
important characteristic of this material is its low coefficient of friction.
PTFE has the lowest coefficients of static and dynamic friction of any
solid with absence of stick-slip movement [43]. The coefficient of
friction is found to decrease with an increase in compressive stress.
However, PTFE do have some demerits like high thermal expansion
and low compressive strength [43].

In designing the complementary contact plate with PTFE sliding

surface, stainless steel plates are normally selected where the plates
should be larger than PTFE surface to allow movement without
exposing the PTFE. Moreover, it is recommended that the stainless
steel surface be positioned on top of the PTFE surface to avoid
contamination by possible accumulation of dirt and rubbish on the
larger lower plates. Lubricants are sometimes introduced to reduce the
friction between the PTFE surface and the upper stainless steel plate.
Dimples are designed on PTFE surfaces to act as reservoirs for
lubricant and these reservoirs are uniformly distributed over the
surface of PTFE and normally they cover about 20%-30% of the
surface area. Hence, the PTFE may be designed with dimples to avoid
the lubricant from squeezing out under repeated translation
movements.

Discontinuity of joint – position of bearing

Expansion joints in a bridge structures cater for movements in
transverse, longitudinal, vertical and rotational forms. The layout and
position of expansion joins and bearings have to be carefully designed
to minimize the future maintenance problem.

The position of bearings affects the discontinuity of a joint [43]. If the

location of a bearing is too far away from a bridge joint, discontinuity
of the joint would be experienced when there is an excessive angular
rotation at the joint. Hence, by keeping the bearings and movement
joints close in position, the discontinuity in the vertical direction can

6
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

be avoided.

Fig. 1.2 The effect of position of

bearing to the discontinuity of joint.

Diaphragms in bridges
The main function of diaphragms is to provide stiffening effect to deck
slab in case bridge webs are not situated directly on top of bearings.
Therefore, diaphragms may not be necessary in case bridge bearings
are placed directly under the webs because loads in bridge decks can
be directly transferred to the bearings [56]. On the other hand,
diaphragms also help to improve the load-sharing characteristics of
bridges. In fact, diaphragms also contribute to the provision of
torsional restraint to the bridge deck.

7
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Fig. 1.3 Diaphragm.

Excessive movement joints in bridges
Movement joints are normally added to bridge structures to
accommodate movements due to dimensional changes arising from
temperature variation, shrinkage, creep and effect of prestress.
However, the provision of excessive movement joints should be
avoided in design because movement joints always encounter
problems giving rise to trouble in normal operation and this increases
the cost of maintenance.

Some designers may prefer to add more movement joints to guard

against possible occurrence of differential settlements. However, the
effect of continuity is disabled by this excessive introduction of
movement joints. In essence, the structural reserve provided by a
continuous bridge is destroyed by the multiple-span statically
determinate structure resulting from the addition of excessive joints.

Earth pressure on abutment

The magnitude of earth pressure coefficient in calculating the earth
pressure on bridge abutment depends significantly on the degree of
restraint provided by the abutment [30]. For example, active earth
pressure is usually adopted for cantilever abutment because there is

8
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

possible occurrence of small relieving movements. However, for

abutment founded on piles, the at-rest earth pressure can be assumed in
assessing the earth pressure as the abutment is considered to be rigidly
supported by piles and is fully restrained against lateral movement.

Effect of bridge piers across a stream

The presence of bridge piers across a stream causes constricted flow in
the openings because of the decrease of width of stream owing to the
presence of the piers. Moreover, it creates the following problems from
hydraulic point of view:

(i) Local scouring at the piers and bed erosion may take place. To
avoid the damage to the foundation of piers, some protective layers
of stone or concrete apron could be provided around the piers.
(ii) The head loss induced by the bridge piers causes the backwater
effect so that the water level upstream is increased. Consequently,
this may result in flooding in upstream areas.

Functions of sleepers in railway

The functions of sleepers [7] in railway works are as follows:

(i) The primary function of a sleeper is to grip the rail to gauge and to
distribute the rail loads to ballast with acceptable induced pressure.
(ii) The side functions of a sleeper include the avoidance of both
longitudinal and lateral track movement.
(iii)It also helps to enhance correct line and level of the rails.

9
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Fig. 1.4 Sleepers.

Joint continuity influenced by inclined bridge deck

Bearings are usually designed to sit in a horizontal plane so as to avoid
the effect of additional horizontal force and uneven pressure
distribution resulting from non-horizontal placing of bearings [43]. For
an inclined bridge deck subject to a large longitudinal movement, a
sudden jump is induced at the expansion joint and discontinuity of
joint results. To solve this problem, an inclined bearing instead of a
truly horizontal bearing is adopted if the piers can take up the induced
horizontal forces.

Fig. 1.5 The effect of inclined bridge deck on joint discontinuity.

10
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Knife edge loads – representation of wheel axles?

In BS5400 the traffic loads for HA loading are given by the uniformly
distributed loads along the loaded length and a knife edge load. In the
code, it is not intended that knife edge loads simulate a wheel axle of
vehicles [16]. Instead, it is just a tool to provide the same uniformly
distributed loading to imitate the bending and shearing effects of actual
traffic loads.

Limitations of grillage analysis

In designing the number of cells for concrete box girder bridges, in
case the depth of a box girder bridge exceeds 1/6 or 1/5 of the bridge
width, then it is recommended to be designed as a single cell box
girder bridge. However, if the bridge depth is smaller than 1/6 of the
bridge width, then a twin-cell or multiple cell is a better. However, one
should note that even for wider bridges with small depths, the number
of cells should be minimized because there is not much improvement
in transverse load distribution when the number of cells of box girder
is increased to three or more.

For structural analysis of bridges, grillage analysis, which involves the

structure to be modeled as a series of longitudinal and transverse
elements which are interconnected at nodes, is normally adopted.

Grillage analysis suffers from the following shortcomings:

(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.

Grillage analysis cannot be used to determine the effect of distortion

and warping. Moreover, the effect of shear lag can hardly be assessed
by using grillage analysis. By using fine mesh of elements, local
effects can be determined with a grillage. Alternatively, the local
effects can be assessed separately and put in the results of grillage

11
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

analysis.

Local Scour at obstructions (e.g. bridge piers) in rivers

When the water flow in river is deflected by obstructions like bridge
piers, scouring would occur arising from the formation of vortexes.
The mechanism of formation of vortices is as follows: the flow hits the
bridge piers and tends to move downwards. When the flow reaches the
seabed, it would move in a direction opposite to its original flow
direction before hitting the bridge piers. Hence, this movement of flow
before the bridge piers results in the formation of a vortex. Owing to
the formation of this vertical vortex, seabed material is continuously
removed so that holes are formed at the seabed and this result in local
scour at bridge piers. As the shape of vortices looks like horseshoes, it
is sometimes called “horseshoe vortex”.

Multiple-cell box girder: cells connected by top flanges vs cells

connected both by top and bottom flanges

When the depth of a box girder bridge exceeds 1/6 or 1/5 of the bridge
width, it is recommended to be designed as a single cell box girder
bridge. However, if the bridge depth is smaller than 1/6 of the bridge
width, then a twin-cell or multiple cell is a better choice [56]. However,
even for wider bridges with small depths, the number of cells should
be minimized because there is not much improvement in transverse
load distribution when the number of cells of box girder is increased to
three or more.

For multiple-cell box girders, there are generally two arrangements.

The first one is that independent cells are connected by their top
flanges only while the other one is that the cells are connected both at
the top and bottom flanges. From the structural point of view, it is
recommended to adopt the second arrangement. For the case of cells
connected by top flanges only, their flanges are heavily stressed in the
transverse direction owing to flexure which cannot be effectively
distributed across the cross section.

12
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Fig. 1.6 Box girder with cells connected by top flanges and cells
connected both by top and bottom flanges.

One-way prestressing vs two-way prestressing

During prestressing operation at one end, frictional losses will occur
and the prestressing force decreases along the length of tendon until
reaching the other end. These frictional losses include the friction
induced due to a change of curvature of tendon duct and also the
wobble effect due to deviation of duct alignment from the centerline.
Therefore, the prestress force in the mid-span or at the other end will
be greatly reduced in case the frictional 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 is
carried out to enable a even distribution and to provide symmetry of
prestress force along the structure.

In fact, stressing at one end only has the potential advantage of lower
cost when compared with 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 higher prestress
force at the location of maximum positive moment. On the contrary,
jacking from the end of the shorter span would be conducted if the
negative moment at the intermediate support controls the prestress
force. However, if the total span length is sufficiently long, jacking
from both ends should be considered.

13
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Overlays on concrete bridge deck

After years of servicing, some overlays may be applied on the top
surface of bridges. Overlays on concrete bridge decks achieve the
following purposes [8]:

(i) It aims to provide a smooth riding surface. Hence, it may be

applied during the maintenance operation to hide the uneven and
spalling deck surface and offers a smoother surface for road users.
(ii) The use of overlays can extend the life of the bridge deck.

Preset in bridge bearing

“Preset” is a method to reduce the size of upper plates of sliding
bearings in order to save cost. The normal length of an upper bearing
plate should be composed of the following components: length of
bearing + 2 x irreversible movement + 2 x reversible movement.
Initially the bearing is placed at the mid-point of the upper bearing
plate without considering the directional effect of irreversible
movement. However, as irreversible movement normally takes place at
one direction only, the bearing is displaced/presetted a distance of
(irreversible movement/2) from the mid-point of bearing in which the
length of upper plate length is equal to the length of bearing +
irreversible movement + 2 x reversible movement. In this arrangement,
the size of upper plate is minimized in which irreversible movement
takes place in one direction only and there is no need 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 upper bearing plates during installation of bearings.

14
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Fig. 1.7 Preset in sliding

bearing.

Parasitic forces for prestressing

In statically determinate structures, prestressing forces would cause the
concrete structures to bend upwards. Hence, precambering is normally
carried out to counteract such effect and make it more pleasant in
appearance. However, for statically indeterminate structures the
deformation of concrete members are restrained by the supports and
consequently parasitic forces are developed by the prestressing force
in addition to the bending moment generated by eccentricity of
prestressing tendons [53]. The developed forces at the support modify
the reactions of concrete members subjected to external loads and
produces secondary moments (or parasitic moments) in the structure.

Purpose of dowel bars in elastomeric bearing

Elastomeric bearing is normally classified into two types: fixed and
free. For fixed types, the bridge deck is permitted only to rotate and

15
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

the horizontal movements of the deck are restrained. On the other hand,
for free types the deck can move horizontally and rotate. To achieve
fixity, dowels are adopted to pass from bridge deck to abutment.
Alternatively, in case there is limitation in space, holes are formed in
the elastomeric bearings where anchor dowels are inserted through
these holes. It is intended to prevent the “walking” of the bearing
during its operation.

Reason of loading on alternative spans to obtain maximum

positive moment in a span of a continuous beam

To acquire a maximum sagging moment in a span of a continuous

beam, the general rule is to load the span under consideration and
alternative spans on each side of the span. To account for this rule, let’s
consider the following example. For instance, loads are applied to the
mid-span of a multiple-span continuous beam. It is noticed that this
loads induce positive moments near mid-span in all even spans.
Therefore, if all even spans are loaded simultaneously, this will result
in the increase of positive moments in all other loaded spans.

Similarly, to obtain maximum negative moment at a support, load

adjacent spans of the support and then alternative spans on each side.

Shear lag in typical box-girder bridge

For multiple-cell box girders, there are generally two arrangements.
The first one is that independent cells are connected by their top
flanges only while the other one is that the cells are connected both at
the top and bottom flanges. From the structural point of view, it is
recommended to adopt the second arrangement. For the case of cells
connected by top flanges only, their flanges are heavily stressed in the
transverse direction owing to flexure which cannot be effectively
distributed across the cross section.

In the structural analysis of bridges, shear lag have to be considered in

design in some circumstances. Shear lag takes place when some parts
of the cross section are not directly connected. For a box-girder bridge,

16
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

not all parts of flanges are joined directly to webs so that the connected
part becomes highly stressed while the unconnected flanges are not
fully stressed. In particular, for wide flanges of box-girder bridges
axial loads are transferred by shear from webs to flanges which result
in the distortion in their planes. Consequently, the plane sections do
not stay plane and the stress distribution in the flanges are not uniform.
Moreover, there is a tendency for longitudinal in-plane displacements
of bride deck away from the flange/web connection to lag behind those
parts of the bridge in close vicinity to the flange/web connection.

The effect of shear lag causes the longitudinal stress at flange/web

connection to be higher than the mean stress across the flange.
Therefore, the effect of shear lag has to be catered for in the design of
box-girder bridges, especially for those with wide flanges.

Shear stiffness in elastomeric bearing

For elastomeric bearing, the shear stiffness is an important parameter
for design because it influences the force transfer between the bridge
and its piers. In essence, elastomers are flexible under shear
deformation but it is relatively stiff in compression. However,
elastomeric bearings should not be used in tension.

Elastomeric bearing should be designed in serviceability limit state

only. The cross sectional area is normally determined by the
compressive stress limit under serviceability limit state. The shape
factor, i.e. plan area of the laminar layer divided by area of perimeter
free to bulge, affects the relation between shear stress and the
compressive load. In essence, higher capacity of bearings could be
obtained with higher shape factor.

The long side of the bearing is usually oriented parallel to the principle
axis of rotation because it facilitates rotational movement. The
thickness of bearings is limited and controlled by shear strain
requirements. In essence, the shear strain should be less than a certain
limit to avoid the occurrence of rolling over at the edges and
delamination due to fatigue. Hence, it follows that higher rotations and
translations require thicker bearing. On the other hand, the vertical
stiffness of bearings is obtained by inserting sufficient number of steel

17
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

plates. In addition, checks should be made on combined compression

and rotation to guard against the possible occurrence of uplifting of
corners of bearings under certain load combinations.

Shock transmission unit in bridges

Shock transmission unit is basically a device connecting separate
structural units. It is characterized by its ability to transmit short-term
impact forces between connecting structures while permitting
long-term movements between the structures.

If two separate structures are linked together to resist dynamic loads, it

is very difficult to connect them structurally with due allowance for
long-term movements due to temperature variation and shrinkage
effect [54]. Instead, large forces would be generated between the
structures. However, with the use of shock transmission unit, it can
cater for short-term transient loads while allowing long-term
movements with negligible resistance. It benefits the bridge structures
by acting as a temporary link between the structures to share and
transfer the transient loads.

Fig. 1.8 Shock transmission unit.

Spalling reinforcement for prestressing works in anchor blocks

Reinforcement of anchor blocks in prestressing works generally
consists of bursting reinforcement, equilibrium reinforcement and
spalling reinforcement. Bursting reinforcement is used where tensile
stresses are induced during prestressing operation and the maximum
bursting stress occurs where the stress trajectories are concave towards

18
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

the line of action of the load. Reinforcement is needed to resist these

lateral tensile forces. For equilibrium reinforcement, it is required
where there are several anchorages in which prestressing loads are
applied sequentially.

During prestressing, spalling stresses are generated in the region

behind the loaded faces of anchor blocks [14]. At the zone between
two anchorages, there is a volume of concrete surrounded by
compressive stress trajectories. Forces are induced in the opposite
direction to the applied forces and it forces the concrete out of the
anchor block. On the other hand, the spalling stresses are set up owing
to the strain compatibility relating to the effect of Poisson’s ratio.

Stress corrosion of prestressing steel

Stress corrosion is the crystalline cracking of metals under tensile
stresses in the presence of corrosive agents [44]. The conditions for
stress corrosion to occur are that the steel is subjected to tensile
stresses arising from external loading or internally induced stress (e.g.
prestressing). Moreover, the presence of corrosive agents is essential to
trigger stress corrosion. One of the main features of stress corrosion is
that the material fractures without any damage observed from the
outside. Hence, stress corrosion occurs without any obvious warning
signs.

Transition slabs in bridges

In some designs, transition slabs are provided on the approach to
bridges. For instance, soils in embankment supporting the roads may
settle due to insufficient compaction and sharp depressions would be
developed at the junction with the relatively rigid end of bridge decks
[53]. This creates the problem of poor riding surfaces of carriageway
and proper maintenance has to be carried out to rectify the situation.
As a result, transition slabs are sometimes designed at these junctions
to distribute the relative settlements between the approaching
embankments and end of bridge decks so that the quality of riding
surface between these junctions could be significantly improved and

19
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

substantial savings could be obtained by requiring less maintenance.

Truss with K-bracing

In the arrangement of triangulated framework in truss structures, it is
more economical to design longer members as ties while shorter ones
as struts (e.g. Pratt truss). As such, the tension forces are taken up by
longer steel members whose load carrying capacities are unrelated to
their lengths. However, the compression forces are reacted by shorter
members which possess higher buckling capabilities than longer steel
members [34].

For heavy loads on a truss structure, the depth of the truss is

intentionally made larger so as to increase the bending resistance and
to reduce deflection. With the increase in length of the vertical struts,
buckling may occur under vertical loads. Therefore, K-truss is
designed in such as way that the vertical struts are supported by
compression diagonals.

Vierendeel girder
The Vierendeel girder design is sometimes adopted in the design of
footbridges. In traditional truss design, triangular shape of truss is
normally used because the shape cannot be changed without altering
the length of its members. By applying loads only to the joints of
trusses, the members of truss are only subjected to a uniform tensile or
compressive stress across their cross sections because their lines of
action pass through a common hinged joint.

The Vierendeel truss/girder is characterized by having only vertical

members between the top and bottom chords and is a statically
indeterminate structure. Hence, bending, shear and axial capacity of
these members contribute to the resistance to external loads. The use
of this girder enables the footbridge to span larger distances and
present an attractive outlook. However, it suffers from the drawback
that the distribution of stresses is more complicated than normal truss
structures [42].

20
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Fig. 1.9 Vierendeel

Truss.

Waterproofing for bridge decks

Waterproofing materials like membranes are applied on top of bridge
deck surface because:

(i) Vehicular traffic (e.g. tanker) may carry dangerous chemicals and
the leakage of such chemicals in the absence of waterproofing
materials may endanger the life of bridges. The chemicals easily
penetrate and cause the deterioration of concrete bridge decks.
(ii) In some countries where very cold weather is frequently
encountered, salt may be applied for defrosting purpose. In case
waterproofing is not provided, the salt solution penetrates through
the concrete cracks of the bridge and causes the corrosion of
reinforcement.
(iii)In the event of cracks appearing on concrete deck, water penetrates
the bridge deck and brings about steel corrosion.

Warren Truss, Howe Truss and Pratt Truss

A truss is a simple structure whose members are subject to axial
compression and tension only and but not bending moment. The most
common truss types are Warren truss, Pratt truss and Howe truss.
Warren truss contains a series of isosceles triangles or equilateral
triangles. To increase the span length of the truss bridge, verticals are
added for Warren Truss.

21
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Pratt truss is characterized by having its diagonal members (except the

end diagonals) slanted down towards the middle of the bridge span.
Under such structural arrangement, when subject to external loads
tension is induced in diagonal members while the vertical members
tackle compressive forces. Hence, thinner and lighter steel or iron can
be used as materials for diagonal members so that a more efficient
structure can be enhanced.

The design of Howe truss is the opposite to that of Pratt truss in which
the diagonal members are slanted in the direction opposite to that of
Pratt truss (i.e. slanting away from the middle of bridge span) and as
such compressive forces are generated in diagonal members. Hence, it
is not economical to use steel members to handle compressive force.

Fig. 1.10 A typical Howe Truss.

Fig. 1.11 Warren Truss and Pratt Truss.

22
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Chapter 2. Concrete Works

Bond breaker for joint sealant

Joint sealant should be designed and constructed to allow free
extension and compression during the opening and closure of joints. In
case joint sealants are attached to the joint filler so that movement is
prohibited, they can hardly perform their intended functions to seal the
joints against water and debris entry. Polyethylene tape is commonly
used as bond breaker tape.

To facilitate free movement, it can be achieved by adding bond breaker

tape in-between the joint sealant and joint filler. Primers may be
applied to the sides of joints to provide a good bond between them.

Fig. 2.1 Bond breaker tape for concrete

joints.

Bonding performance to concrete: Epoxy-coated bars vs

galvanized bars

Based on the findings of CEB Bulletin 211 [11], the bonding of

galvanized bars to concrete is lower in early age owing to hydrogen
release when zinc reacts with calcium hydroxide in concrete and the
presence of hydrogen tend to reduce the bond strength between
galvanized bars and concrete. However, bonding will increase with
time until the full bond strength of ungalvanized bars is attained.

For epoxy-coated bars, there is a 20% decrease in bond strength for

23
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

bars placed at the bottom of concrete sections while for bars placed on
the top there is no major difference in bond compared with uncoated
bars.

Coating on concrete – complete impermeability to moisture?

In designing protective coating on concrete structures, stoppage of
water ingress through the coating is normally required. Since chloride
ions often diffuse into concrete in solution and cause deterioration of
concrete structures, the prevention of water transmission into the
coating certainly helps to protect the concrete structure. However, if
water gets behind the coating from some means and becomes trapped,
its effect may not be desirable. Firstly, vapour pressure would be
developed behind the surface treatment and this leads to the loss of
adhesion and the eventual peeling off of the coating. Moreover, the
water creates a suitable environment for mould growth on concrete
surface.

In fact, the surface treatment should be so selected that it is

impermeable to liquid water but it is permeable to water vapour. This
“breathing” function enhances the concrete to lose moisture through
evaporation and reject the uptake of water during wet periods.

Crack width limitation (<0.5mm) = control reinforcement

corrosion?

In many standards and code of practice of many countries, the

allowable size of crack width is normally limited to less than 0.5mm
for reinforced concrete structure to enhance the durability of concrete.
The limitation of crack width can serve the aesthetic reason on one
hand and to achieve durability requirement by avoiding possible
corrosion of steel reinforcement on the other hand. Regarding the latter
objective, site surveys and experimental evidence do not seem to be in
favor of the proposition. Beeby [6] showed that there was no
correlation between surface crack width (<0.5mm) and durability of
reinforced concrete structure. In practice, most corrosion problems are
triggered by the presence of surface cracks parallel to the

24
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

reinforcement instead of surface cracks perpendicular to the

reinforcement.

Critical steel ratio – only consider 250mm of concrete from outer

face

The purpose of critical steel ratio is to control the cracking pattern by

having concrete failing in tension first. If steel reinforcement yields
first before the limit of concrete tensile strength is reached, then wide
and few cracks would be formed. In the calculation of critical steel
ratio, the thickness of the whole concrete section is adopted for
analysis. However, if the concrete section exceeds 500mm in thickness,
only the outer 250mm concrete has to be considered in calculating
minimum reinforcement to control thermal and shrinkage cracks [36].
It is because experimental works showed that for concrete section
greater than 500mm, the outer 250mm on each face could be regarded
as surface zone while the remaining could be regarded as core. The
minimum reinforcement to control cracking should therefore be
calculated based on a total maximum thickness of 500mm.

Corrosion protection of lifting anchors in precast concrete units

The corrosion of lifting anchors in precast concrete units has to be
prevented because the corroded lifting units cause an increase in steel
volume leading to the spalling of nearby surface concrete.
Consequently, steel reinforcement of the precast concrete units may be
exposed and this in turns results in the corrosion of steel reinforcement
and the reduction in the load carrying capacity of the precast units. To
combat the potential corrosion problem, the lifting anchors could be
covered with a layer of mortar to hide them from the possible external
corrosion agents. Alternatively, galvanized or stainless steel lifting
anchors can be considered in aggressive environment.

25
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Concrete cover to enhance fire resistance

In the event of exposing the concrete structures to a fire, a temperature
gradient is established across the cross section of concrete structures.
For shallow covers, the steel reinforcement inside the structures rises
in temperature. Generally speaking, steel loses about half of its
strength when temperature rises to about 550oC. Gradually, the steel
loses strength and this leads to considerable deflections and even
structural failure in the worst scenario. Hence, adequate cover should
be provided for reinforced concrete structure as a means to delay the
rise in temperature in steel reinforcement.

Differences between epoxy grout, cement grout and cement

mortar

Epoxy grout consists of epoxy resin, epoxy hardener and

sand/aggregates. In fact, there are various 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 does not contain any cement at all. On the other hand, epoxy
hardener serves to initiate the hardening process of epoxy grout. It is
commonly used for repairing hairline cracks and cavities 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 cement of water is more or less similar to that of concrete
[63]. Owing to the relatively high water content, the mixing of cement
with water produces a fluid suspension which can be poured under
base plates or into holes. Setting and hardening are the important
processes which affect the performance of cement grout. Moreover,
the presence of excessive voids would also affect the strength, stiffness
and permeability of grout. It is versatile in application of filling voids
and gaps in structures.

Cement mortar is normally a mixture of cement, water and sand

(typical proportion by weight is 1:0.4:3). It is intended that cement
mortar is constructed by placing and packing rather than by pouring.
They are used as bedding for concrete kerbs in roadwork. They are

26
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

sometimes placed under base plates where a substantial proportion of

load is designed to be transferred by the bedding to other members.

Disadvantages of excessive concrete covers

In reinforced concrete structures cover is normally provided to protect
steel reinforcement from corrosion and to provide fire resistance.
However, the use of cover more than required is undesirable in the
following ways [25]:

(i) The size of crack is controlled by the distance of longitudinal bars

to the point of section under consideration. The closer a bar is to
this point, the smaller is the crack width. Therefore, closely spaced
bars with smaller cover will give narrower cracks than widely
spaced bars with larger cover. Consequently, with an increase in
concrete cover the crack width will increase.
(ii) The weight of the concrete structure is increased by an increase in
concrete cover. This effect is a critical factor in the design of
floating ships and platforms where self-weight is an important
design criterion.
(iii)For the same depth of concrete section, the increase of concrete
cover results in the reduction of the lever arm of internal resisting
force.

Effectof concrete placing temperature on early thermal

movement

The rate of hydration of cement paste is related to the placing

temperature of concrete. The rate of heat production is given by the
empirical Rastrup function:

H = H o × 2 r (T −T 1)

Ho = Rate of heat production at a reference temperature

T = Temperature where rate of heat production H
T1 = Temperature where rate of heat production Ho
r = 0.084

27
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

An 12oC increase in placing temperature doubles the rate of reaction of

hydration. Hence, concrete placed at a higher temperature experiences
a higher rise in temperature. For instance, concrete placed at 32oC
produces heat of hydration twice as fast when compared with concrete
placing at 20oC. Hence, high concrete placing temperature has
significant effect to the problem of early thermal movement.

Effect of rusting on steel reinforcement

The corrosion of steel reinforcement inside a concrete structure is
undesirable in the following ways:

(i) The presence of rust impairs the bond strength of deformed

reinforcement because corrosion occurs at the raised ribs and fills
the gap between ribs, thus evening out the original deformed shape.
In essence, the bond between concrete and deformed bars
originates from the mechanical lock between the raised ribs and
concrete. The reduction of mechanical locks by corrosion results in
the decline in bond strength with concrete.
(ii) The presence of corrosion reduces the effective cross sectional area
of the steel reinforcement. Hence, the available tensile capacity of
steel reinforcement is reduced by a considerable reduction in the
cross sectional area.
(iii)The corrosion products occupy about 3 times the original volume
of steel from which it is formed. Such drastic increase in volume
generates significant bursting forces in the vicinity of steel
reinforcement. Consequently, cracks are formed along the steel
reinforcement when the tensile strength of concrete is exceeded.

Formation of pedestrian level winds around buildings

When a building blocks the wind blowing across it, part of the wind
will escape over the top of the building. Some will pass around the
edges of the building while a majority of the wind will get down to the
ground. The channeling effect of wind for an escaping path, together
with the high wind speeds associated with higher elevations, generates
high wind speeds in the region at the base of the building. At the base

28
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

level of the building, there are three locations of strong pedestrian

level winds:

(i) Arcade passages – wind flow is generated by the pressure

difference between the front and the back of the building.
(ii) At the front of the building – high wind is produced by standing
vortex.
(iii)At the corners of the building – high wind is induced by corner
flow.

GGBS – cement replacement??

From structural point of view, GGBS replacement enhances lower heat
of hydration, higher durability and higher resistance to sulphate and
chloride attack when compared with normal ordinary concrete. On the
other hand, it also contributes to environmental protection because it
minimizes the use of cement during the production of concrete.

However, it is identified that there are still some hindrances that

prevent the prevalence of its usage in local market. Technically
speaking, GGBS concrete suffers from lower rate of strength
development which is highly sensitive to curing conditions. In this
connection, certain site measures have to be introduced to the
construction industry to ensure better quality of curing process in order
to secure high quality of GGBS concrete. On the other hand, designers
have to be cautious of the potential bleeding problem of GGBS
concrete.

Another major hurdle of extensive use of GGBS concrete lies in the

little source of supply of GGBS. As Hong Kong is not a major
producer of steel, GGBS as a by-product of steel has to be imported
overseas and this introduces higher material cost due to transportation
and the supply of GGBS is unstable and unsteady.

29
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Indirect tensile strength in water-retaining structures

The crack width formation is dependent on the early tensile strength of
concrete. The principle of critical steel ratio also applies in this
situation. The amount of reinforcement required to control early
thermal and shrinkage movement is determined by the capability of
reinforcement to induce cracks on concrete structures. If an upper limit
is set on the early tensile strength of immature concrete, then a range
of tiny cracks would be formed by failing in concrete tension [4].
However, if the strength of reinforcement is lower than immature
concrete, then the subsequent yielding of reinforcement will produce
isolated and wide cracks which are undesirable for water-retaining
structures. Therefore, in order to control the formation of such wide
crack widths, the concrete mix is specified to have a tensile strength
(normally measured by Brazilian test) at 7 days not exceeding a certain
value (e.g. 2.8N/mm2 for potable water).

Joint filler in concrete expansion joints – a must??

The presence of joint filler is essential to the proper functioning of
concrete joints though some may doubt its value. For a concrete
expansion joint without any joint filler, there is a high risk of rubbish
and dirt intrusion into the joint in the event that the first line of defense
i.e. joint sealant fails to reject the entry of these materials. In fact, the
occurrence of this is not uncommon because joint sealant from time to
time is found to be torn off because of poor workmanship or other
reasons. The presence of rubbish or dirt inside the joint is undesirable
to the concrete structures as this introduces additional restraint not
catered for during design and this might result in inducing excessive
stresses to the concrete structure which may fail the structures in the
worst scenario. Therefore, joint filler serves the purpose of space
occupation so that there is no void space left for their accommodation.
To perform its function during the design life, the joint filler should be
non-biodegradable and stable during the design life of the structure to
enhance its functioning. Moreover, it should be made of materials of
high compressibility to avoid the hindrance to the expansion of
concrete.

30
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Lifting hoops in precast concrete – mild steel vs high yield steel

The strength of high yield steel is undoubtedly higher than mild steel
and hence high yield steel is commonly used as main steel
reinforcement in concrete structures. However, mild yield steel is
commonly used in links or stirrups because they can be subjected to
bending of a lower radius of curvature.

For lifting hoops in precast concrete, it is essential that the hoops can
be bent easily and hence mild steel is commonly adopted for lifting
hoops because high yield bars may undergo tension cracking when it is
bent through a small radius.

Lap length > anchorage length

In some structural codes, the lap length of reinforcement is simplified
to be a certain percentage (e.g. 25%) higher than the anchorage length.
This requirement is to cater for stress concentrations at the end of lap
bars. A smaller load when compared with the load to pull out an
anchored bar in concrete triggers the splitting of concrete along the bar
because of the effect of stress concentration. A higher value of lap
length is adopted in design code to provide for this phenomenon.

Longitudinal steel – an enhancement of shear strength

In addition to shear resistance provided by shear reinforcement, shear
forces in a concrete section is also resisted by concrete compression
force (compressive forces enhances higher shear strength), dowel
actions and aggregate interlocking. The presence of longitudinal steel
contributes to the enhancement of shear strength of concrete section in
the following ways [46]:

(i) The dowelling action performed by longitudinal reinforcement

directly contributes significantly to the shear capacity.
(ii) The provision of longitudinal reinforcement also indirectly
controls the crack widths of concrete section which consequently
affects the degree of interlock between aggregates.

31
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Longer tension lap lengths at the corners and at the top of

concrete structures

In BS8110 for reinforced concrete design, it states that longer tension

lap lengths have to be provided at the top of concrete members. The
reason behind this is that the amount of compaction of the top of
concrete members during concrete placing is more likely to be less
than the remaining concrete sections [49]. Moreover, owing to the
possible effect of segregation and bleeding, the upper layer of concrete
section tends to be of lower strength when compared with other
locations.

When the lap lengths are located at the corners of concrete members,
the degree of confinement to the bars is considered to be less than that
in other locations of concrete members. As such, by taking into
account the smaller confinement which lead to lower bond strength, a
factor of 1.4 (i.e. 40% longer) is applied to the calculated lap length.

Location of lifting anchors in precast concrete units

It is desirable that the position of anchors be located symmetrical to
the centre of gravity of the precast concrete units. Otherwise, some
anchors would be subject to higher tensile forces when compared the
other anchors depending on their distance from the centre of gravity of
the precast concrete units. As such, special checks have to be made to
verify if the anchor bolts are capable of resisting the increased tensile
forces.

Fig. 2.2 A typical concrete anchor.

32
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Location of construction joints

Construction joints are normally required in construction works
because there is limited supply of fresh concrete in concrete batching
plants in a single day and the size of concrete pour may be too large to
be concreted in one go.

The number of construction joints in concrete structures should be

minimized. If construction joints are necessary to facilitate
construction, it is normally aligned perpendicular to the direction of
the member. For beams and slabs, construction joints are preferably
located at about one-third of the span length. The choice of this
location is based on the consideration of low bending moment
anticipated with relatively low shear force [10]. However, location of
one-third span is not applicable to simply supported beams and slabs
because this location is expected to have considerable shear forces and
bending moment when subjected to design loads. Sometimes,
engineers may tend to select the end supports as locations for
construction joints just to simplify construction.

Measurement of cement and aggregates – by weight vs by volume

Measurement of constituents for concrete is normally carried out by
weight because of the following reasons [55]:

(i) Air is trapped inside cement while water may be present in

aggregates. As such measurement by volume requires the
consideration of the bulking effect by air and water.
(ii) The accuracy of measurement of cement and aggregates by weight
is higher when compared with measurement by volume when the
weighing machine is properly calibrated and maintained. This
reduces the potential of deviation in material quantity with higher
accuracy in measurement for the design mix and leads to more
economical design without the wastage of excess materials.

33
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Movement accommodation factor for joint sealant

Movement accommodation factor is commonly specified by
manufacturers of joint sealants for designers to design the dimension
of joints. It is defined as the total movement that a joint sealant can
tolerate and is usually expressed as a percentage of the minimum
design joint width [12]. Failure to comply with this requirement results
in overstressing the joint sealants.

For instance, if the expected movement to be accommodated by a

certain movement joint is 4mm, the minimum design joint width can
be calculated as 4÷30% = 13.3mm when the movement
accommodation factor is 30%. If the calculated joint width is too large,
designers can either select another brand of joint sealants with higher
movement accommodation factor or to redesign the arrangement and
locations of joints.

Minimum distance between bars and maximum distance between

bars

In some codes, a minimum distance between bars is specified to allow

for sufficient space to accommodate internal vibrators during
compaction.

On the other hand, the restriction of maximum bar spacing is mainly

for controlling crack width [49]. For a given area of tension steel areas,
the distribution of steel reinforcement affects the pattern of crack
formation. It is preferable to have smaller bars at closer spacing rather
than larger bars at larger spacing to be effective in controlling cracks.
Hence, the limitation of bar spacing beyond a certain value (i.e.
maximum distance between bars) aims at better control of crack
widths.

Minimum area of reinforcement vs maximum area of

reinforcement

Beams may be designed to be larger than required for strength

34
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

consideration owing to aesthetics or other reasons. As such, the

corresponding steel ratio is very low and the moment capacity of pure
concrete section based on the modulus of rupture is higher than its
ultimate moment of resistance. As a result, reinforcement yields first
and extremely wide cracks will be formed. A minimum area of
reinforcement is specified to avoid the formation of wide cracks [49].

On the other hand, a maximum area of reinforcement is specified to

enable the placing and compaction of fresh concrete to take place
easily.

Mild steel vs high yield steel in water-retaining structures

In designing water-retaining structures, movement joints can be
installed in parallel with steel reinforcement. To control the movement
of concrete due to seasonal variation of temperature, hydration
temperature drop and shrinkage etc. two principal methods in design
are used: to design closely spaced steel reinforcement to shorten the
spacing of cracks, thereby reducing the crack width of cracks; or to
introduce movement joints to allow a portion of movement to occur in
the joints.

For the choice of steel reinforcement in water-retaining structures,

mild steel and high yield steel can both be adopted as reinforcement.
With the limitation of crack width, the stresses in reinforcement in
service condition are normally below that of normal reinforced
concrete structures and hence the use of mild steel reinforcement in
water-retaining structure will suffice. Moreover, the use of mild steel
restricts the development of maximum steel stresses so as to reduce
tensile strains and cracks in concrete.

However, the critical steel ratio of high yield steel is much smaller
than that of mild steel because the critical steel ratio is inversely
proportional to the yield strength of steel. Therefore, the use of high
yield steel has the potential advantage of using smaller amount of steel
reinforcement [49]. On the other hand, though the cost of high yield
steel is slightly higher than that of mild steel, the little cost difference
is offset by the better bond performance and higher strength associated
with high yield steel.

35
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Mechanism of plastic settlement in fresh concrete

Within a few hours after the placing of fresh concrete, plastic concrete
may experience cracking owing to the occurrence of plastic shrinkage
and plastic settlement. The cause of plastic settlement is related to
bleeding of fresh concrete. Bleeding refers to the migration of water to
the top of concrete and the movement of solid particles to the bottom
of fresh concrete. The expulsion of water during bleeding results in the
reduction of the volume of fresh concrete. This induces a downward
movement of wet concrete. If such movement is hindered by the
presence of obstacles like steel reinforcement, cracks will be formed.

No fines concrete
In some occasions no fines concrete is used in houses because of its
good thermal insulation properties. Basically no fines concrete consists
of coarse aggregates and cement without any fine aggregates. It is
essential that no fines concrete should be designed with a certain
amount of voids to enhance thermal insulation. The size of these voids
should be large enough to avoid the movement of moisture in the
concrete section by capillary action. It is common for no fines concrete
to be used as external walls in houses because rains falling on the
surface of external walls can only penetrate a short horizontal distance
and then falls to the bottom of the walls. The use of no fines concrete
guarantees good thermal insulation of the house.

Over vibration of fresh concrete

For proper compaction of concrete by immersion vibrators, the
vibrating part of the vibrators should be completely inserted into the
concrete. The action of compaction is enhanced by providing a
sufficient head of concrete above the vibrating part of the vibrators.
This serves to push down and subject the fresh concrete to
confinement within the zone of vibrating action.

Over-vibration should normally be avoided during the compaction of

concrete. If the concrete mix is designed with low workability,

36
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

over-vibration simply consumes extra power of the vibration, resulting

in the wastage of energy. For most of concrete mixes, over-vibration
creates the problem of segregation in which the denser aggregates
settle to the bottom while the lighter cement paste tends to move
upwards [40]. If the concrete structure is cast by successive lifts of
concrete pour, the upper weaker layer (or laitance) caused by
segregation forms the potential plane of weakness leading to possible
failure of the concrete structure during operation. If concrete is placed
in a single lift for road works, the resistance to abrasion is poor for the
laitance surface of the carriageway. This becomes a critical problem to
concrete carriageway where its surface is constantly subject to tearing
and traction forces exerted by vehicular traffic.

Pulverized fly ash as cement replacement – how it works?

Pulverized fly ash is a type of pozzolans. It is a siliceous or aluminous
material which possesses no binding ability by itself. When it is in
finely divided form, they can react with calcium hydroxide in the
presence of moisture to form compounds with cementing properties.

During cement hydration with water, calcium hydroxide is formed

which is non-cementitious in nature. However, when pulverized fly
ash is added to calcium hydroxide, they react to produce calcium
silicate hydrates which is highly cementitious. This results in improved
concrete strength. This explains how pulverized fly ash can act as
cement replacement.

PFA vs GGBS
(i) Similarities

Both GGBS and PFA are by-products of industry and the use of them
is environmentally friendly. Most importantly, with GBS and PFA
adopted as partial replacement of cement, the demand for cement will
be drastically reduced. As the manufacture of one tonne of cement
generates about 1 tonne of carbon dioxide, the environment could be
conserved by using less cement through partial replacement of PFA

37
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

and GGBS.

On the other hand, the use of GGBS and PFA as partial replacement of
cement enhances the long-term durability of concrete in terms of
resistance to chloride attack, sulphate attack and alkali-silica reaction.
It follows that the structure would remain to be serviceable for longer
period, leading to substantial cost saving. Apart from the consideration
of long-term durability, the use of PFA and GGBS results in the
reduction of heat of hydration so that the problem of thermal cracking
is greatly reduced. The enhanced control of thermal movement also
contributes to better and long-term performance of concrete.

In terms of the development of strength, PFA and GGBS shared the

common observation of lower initial strength development and higher
final concrete strength. Hence, designers have to take into account the
potential demerit of lower strength development and may make use of
the merit of higher final concrete strength in design.

(ii) Differences Between GGBS and PFA

The use of GGBS as replacement of cement enhances smaller reliance

on PFA. In particular, GGBS is considered to be more compatible with
renewable energy source objectives.

The replacement level of GGBS can be as high as 70% of cement,

which is about twice as much of PFA (typically replacement level is
40%). Hence, partial replacement of GGBS can enable higher
reduction of cement content. As the manufacture of one tonne of
cement generates about 1 tonne of carbon dioxide and it is considered
more environmentally friendly to adopt GGBS owing to its potential
higher level of cement replacement.

The performance of bleeding for GGBS and PFA varies. With PFA,
bleeding is found to decrease owing to increased volume of fines.
However, the amount of bleeding of GGBS is found to increase when
compared with OPC concrete in the long term. On the other hand,
drying shrinkage is higher for GGBS concrete while it is lower for
PFA concrete.

38
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

In terms of cost consideration, the current market price of GGBS is

similar to that of PFA. As the potential replacement of GGBS is much
higher than PFA, substantial cost savings can be made by using GGBS.

Purpose of setting minimum amount of longitudinal steel areas

for columns

In some design codes it specifies that the area of longitudinal steel

reinforcement should be not less than a certain percentage of the
sectional area of column. Firstly, the limitation of steel ratio for
columns helps to guard against potential failure in tension. Tension
may be induced in columns during the design life of the concrete
structures. For instance, tension is induced in columns in case there is
uneven settlement of the building foundation, or upper floors above
the column are totally unloaded while the floors below the column are
severely loaded. Secondly, owing to the effect of creep and shrinkage,
there will be a redistribution of loads between concrete and steel
reinforcement. Consequently, the steel reinforcement may yield easily
in case a lower limit of steel area is not established.

In addition, test results showed that columns with too low a steel ratio
would render the equation below inapplicable which is used for the
design of columns:

N=0.67fcuAc+fyAs

Purpose of reducing the seasonal and hydration temperature by

one-half in the calculation of crack widths arising from thermal
movement

In the calculation of thermal movement, the following formula is used

in most codes:

wmax=s x a x (T1+T2)/2

where wmax = maximum crack width

s = maximum crack spacing

39
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

a = coefficient of thermal expansion of mature concrete

T1= fall in temperature between peak of hydration and
ambient temperature
T2= fall in temperature due to seasonal variation

For T1, it represents the situation when the freshly placed concrete is
under hydration process. Since the occurrence of high creep strain to
the immature concrete tends to offset the effect of early thermal
movement, a factor of 0.5 is purposely introduced to
take into account such effect.

For T2, it refers to the seasonal drop in temperature for the mature
concrete. Owing to the maturity of concrete in this stage, the effect of
creep on concrete is reduced accordingly. Since the ratio of tensile
strength of concrete (fct) to average bond strength between concrete
and steel (fb) increases with maximum crack spacing, the lower values
of fct/ fb in mature concrete leads to smaller crack spacing. Therefore,
the increased number of cracks helps to reduce the effect of thermal
movement brought about by seasonal variation. Hence, T2 is reduced
by one-half to cater for further creep and bond effects in mature
concrete.

Relation of pouring rate and temperature with concrete pressure

on formwork

Freshly placed concrete exerts pressure on formwork during the

placing operation. It is influenced by the rate of placing and the air
temperature. For instance, if the concrete pouring rate is too slow,
setting of concrete starts to take place. As a result, the concrete at the
bottom of the formwork sets prior to the placing of fresh concrete at
the top and the maximum pressure will be reduced.

Temperature affects the rate of hydration of concrete. The higher the

air temperature is, the higher will be the rate of hydration reaction.
Consequently, fresh concrete tends to set at a faster rate. The pressure
exerted on formwork decreases with an increase in temperature. For
this reason, formwork is subjected to a higher pressure exerted by
fresh concrete in winter than in summer.

40
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Fig. 2.3 Diagram of design concrete pressure diagram on formwork.

Reinforcement of concrete in contact with internal vibrators

During concreting, if internal vibrators are placed accidentally in
contact with some of the reinforcement bars, some undesirable effects
may result. The most obvious one is that the reinforcement bars may
become damaged or displaced if loosely tied.

Air bubbles tend to move towards the source of vibration. For poker
vibrators touching the reinforcement bars, air pockets may be trapped
in the vicinity of the reinforcement because the vibration generated by
internal vibrators attracts these air bubbles. Consequently, the bond
between the reinforcement and surrounding concrete would be
impaired.

To produce good surface finish close to densely-packed reinforcement

cage, workers may insert the poker vibrators in the gap between the
reinforcement cage and formwork because the reinforcement cage tend
to damp down the vibration effect when the vibrators are placed at a
distance from the formwork. However, concentrated vibration within
the cover region causes the migration of finer cement mortar to this
region and results in changes in concrete colour. If the concrete cover
is small, the chance of getting the poker vibrators jammed within the
gap is high and the formwork is likely to be damaged by the vibrators.

41
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Reasons for blockage in pumping concrete

Concrete pumping is commonly adopted in highly elevated locations
for which access for concrete trucks is difficult. Construction works
can be speeded up by using concrete pumping because a larger volume
of pours can be achieved within a specified duration when compared
with normal concrete placing methods.

Blockage may occur during pumping operation for the following two
common reasons [18]:

(i) For saturated concrete mixes, the pump pressures may force water
out of the concrete resulting in bleeding. The flow resistance is
then increased and may contribute to the blockage of pipelines.

(ii) If the cement content (or other components of concrete mixes that
increase the frictional forces) is high, a higher frictional resistance
to pumping may develop and the concrete may not be pumpable.

Retardation of fresh concrete

Retardation of fresh concrete has several advantages as follows:

(i) A rapid hydration process results in loss in concrete strength

because the concrete will have a poorer structure with a higher
gel/space ratio compared with the concrete with a lower hydration
rate.
(ii) During the hydration process, a substantial heat of hydration will
be generated. If the hydration process is carried out too swiftly, it
will cause a rapid rise in temperature and results in considerable
early thermal movement in concrete.
(iii)In hot weather concreting, the loss of workability is substantial. In
order to ensure sufficient compaction of fresh concrete, it is
necessary to extend the time for fresh concrete to remain plastic.

Standard mixes of concrete

In some countries like Britain, specification for concrete does not

42
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

normally require cube tests for standard mixes of concrete. The quality
control of standard mixes in Britain is achieved by checking if the
appropriate mix proportions are adopted during the mixing of concrete.
However, in Hong Kong the requirement of testing for compressive
strength is still required for standard mixes in the specification because
it is impractical to inspect and check all constituent materials (e.g.
cement, aggregates etc.) for concrete for compliance. As there is high
variability in mixing materials owing to variance in the origin of
production of constituent materials in Hong Kong, there is a risk that
the end-product concrete does not comply with the design
requirements even though the mix proportions of standard mixes are
followed closely by engineers.

Shear slump vs collapse slump in slump test

There are three types of slump that may occur in a slumps test, namely,
true slump, shear slump and collapse slump.

True slump refers to general drop of the concrete mass evenly all
around without disintegration.

Shear slump indicates that the concrete lacks cohesion. It may undergo
segregation and bleeding and thus is undesirable for the durability of
concrete [46].

Collapse slump indicates that concrete mix is too wet and the mix is
regarded as harsh and lean.

Fig. 2.4 Type of concrete slump

43
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Sealing moving cracks and non-moving cracks

In devising a suitable method to seal up cracks detected on concrete
surface, it is of paramount importance to determine if further
movement would be expected for the cracks. If the crack is not
expected to move further, it is sufficient to brush cement grout into it.
For wider cracks, other materials like latex-cement mixture may be
considered for sealing the crack.

When further movement is expected for the crack, seals wider than the
cracks are recommended to be applied over the crack in order to
reduce the strain around it to an acceptable level. Moreover, it is
desirable to apply the treatment when the cracks are widest so that the
sealing material is not subject to further extension. Care should be
taken to prevent bonding of sealing material with the bottom of the
crack to ensure that only direct tension forces are experienced in the
sealing material.

Time to remove formwork to cater for early thermal movement

Let us take a circular column as an example to illustrate effect of
internal restraint to thick sections.

When the temperature is rising, temperature in the core is higher than

that at outer zone. The inner core will have a higher expansion and
exert pressure to the outside. The induced compressive stress will
result in the formation of radial cracks near the surface of concrete.

When the temperature drops, the concrete at the outside drops to

surrounding temperature while the concrete at the central region
continues to cool down. The contraction associated with inner concrete
induces tensile strains and forms cracks tangential to the circular
radius.

It is beneficial for thick sections (say >500mm) to have late removal of

formwork to reduce early thermal cracking. This is to allow more time
for the centre of concrete section to cool down gradually to reduce the
risk of thermal cracking. This is effective in controlling the

44
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

temperature differential across the cross section of the concrete

structures and reducing the potential of internal cracking due to early
thermal movement.

Tension anchorage length vs compression anchorage length

Tension anchorage length of steel reinforcement in concrete depends
on bond strength. When steel reinforcement is anchored to concrete
and is subjected to compressive forces, the resistance is provided by
the bond strength between concrete and steel and the bearing pressure
at the reinforcement end. Tension lap length is generally longer than
compression lap length. In some design codes, instead of permitting
the use of bearing pressure at reinforcement ends, the allowable
ultimate bond stress is increased when calculating compression
anchorage length.

Tension reinforcement leads to increasing deflection in concrete

structures?

In BS8110 a modification factor is applied to span/depth ratio to take

into account the effect of tension reinforcement. In fact, deflection of
concrete structure is affected by the stress and the amount of tension
reinforcement. To illustrate their relationship, let’s consider the
following equation relating to beam curvature:

Curvature = 1/r = e/(d-x)

where r = radius of curvature

e = tensile strain in tension reinforcement
d = effective depth
x = depth of neutral axis

Provided that the tensile strain in tension reinforcement remains

constant, the curvature of concrete structure increases with the depth
of neutral axis. It is observed that the depth of neutral axis rises with
tension steel ratio. Therefore, the curvature of concrete section is
directly proportional to the tension steel ratio. In addition, the larger

45
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

value of the depth of neutral axis enhances increased area of concrete

compression so that the effect of creep on deflection appears to
become significant.

Use of primers in joint sealant

Most joint sealants applied in concrete joints are adhesive and the
recommended joint width/depth of joint sealant is from 2:1 to 1:1 as
given by BS6213 and Guide to Selection of Constructional Sealants.
When joint sealant is applied on top of joint filler in concrete joints,
additional primers are sometimes necessary because [12]:

(i) Primers help to seal the surface to prevent chemical reaction with
water;
(ii) It provides a suitable surface for adhesion of joint sealant.

Fig. 2.5 Primer in joints.

Vibration in structures – resilient bearings

When railway tunnels are built close to buildings, ground-borne
vibration is transmitted to the building by means of compression and
shear waves [36]. When structural members (e.g. wall) of a building
have natural frequencies similar to the frequency at the source, the
response of the structures would be magnified. This effect is even

46
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

more significant when the building is designed with small number of

movement joints. Consequently, the vibration can be felt inside the
building and noise associated with such vibration is produced. To
avoid this, vibration isolation can be implemented, sometimes by
providing resilient bearings at column heads in buildings.

47
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Chapter 3. Drainage Works

Application of embankment condition for drainage design

In considering the loads on buried pipeline, there are normally two
scenarios: narrow trench condition and embankment (wide trench)
condition [23].

For narrow trench condition, when the pipe is laid in a relatively

narrow trench with backfill properly compacted, the weight of fill is
jointly supported by both the pipe and the frictional forces along the
trench walls. For embankment condition, the fill directly above settles
less than the fill on the side. Consequently, loads are transferred to the
pipeline and the loads on pipeline are in excess of that due to the fill
on pipeline.

The narrow trench condition is used where excavation commences

from the natural ground surface without any fills above the surface. On
the contrary, the embankment condition applies where the pipes are
laid at the base of fill. For instance, embankment condition is normally
adopted where the pipes are laid partly in trench or partly in fill or
poor foundations to pipes are encountered so that the trenches have to
be excavated wider than the minimum requirement.

Best hydraulic section

The best hydraulic section of an open channel is characterized by
provision of maximum discharge with a given cross sectional area. As
such, channels with circular shape is the best hydraulic sections while
a rectangular channel with channel width being equal to two times the
height of channel is the best hydraulic section among all rectangular
sections. In fact, the choice of best hydraulic section also possesses
other advantages than hydraulic performance. For instance, for a given
discharge rate the use of best hydraulic section could guarantee the
least cross sectional area of the channels. Substantial savings could be
made from the reduction in the amount of excavation and from the use

48
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

of less channel linings.

Colebrook White formula suitable for shallow gradient of pipes?

Manning's Equation is commonly used for rough turbulent flow while
Colebrook-White Equation is adopted for transition between rough and
smooth turbulent flow.

For Manning's Equation, it is simple to use and has proven to have

acceptable degree of accuracy and is the most commonly used flow
formula in the world. When using Colebrook-White Equation, it is
observed that for very flat gradient (i.e. <1.5%) it tends to
underestimate the flow because as gradient approaches zero, velocity
also approaches zero. Hence, care should be taken when using
Colebrook-White Equation for flat gradients.

Concrete surround for drainage pipes

Concrete surround is normally adopted for rigid drainage pipes to
resist high traffic loads (e.g. under shallow covers) and to allow for
using pipes with lower strength. Moreover, the use of concrete
surround can minimize settlement of adjacent structures. In addition,
the highest possible accuracy in levels and gradient can be achieved by
using concrete surround as considerable settlement is expected in other
types of beddings like granular bedding.

The distribution of reinforcement in concrete pipes may not be

uniform owing to the occurrence of tensile stresses in different
locations around the circumference of the pipes [67]. For instance,
tensile stresses are highest at the inner face of pipes at invert and
crown levels and at the outer face of the two sides of pipes. An
elliptical cage may be designed in order to optimize the usage of steel
reinforcement.

49
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Fig. 3.1 Concrete surround of drains.

Difference between road gullies and catchpits

Both road gullies and catchpits are the two basic types of drainage
inlets of drainage system. Though they are designed to catch
stormwater, road gullies and catchpits are intended to catch stormwater
at different locations. Catchpits are designed to receive stormwater
from slopes and stream courses. There is no standard design of
catchpits and they can take different forms and shapes like inclusion of
sand trap to improve the quality of collected stormwater and to prevent
the blockage of drains. On the other hand, road gullies are intended to
receive stormwater from roads only.

Drainage pipes in reclamation areas

In reclamation areas drainage pipes are usually laid at flatter gradients
when compared with upstream stormwater pipes. The fact that the
nature of flow in stormwater drain is by gravity makes the downstream
pipes in reclamation areas relatively deep below ground surface. It is
preferable to have outfall of drains above the tidal influence level and
this accounts for the relative flatter gradient of drain pipes in
reclamation area.

Attention has to be paid to the possible occurrence of differential

settlement in reclamation area. For pavement design, flexible
pavement is preferred to rigid pavement to cater for settlement
problems. Similarly, in the design of drains flexible joints like spigot

50
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

and socket joints and movement joints in box culverts have to be

provided to guard against the effect of differential settlement.

Effects of sewer sediment on hydraulic performance

The presence of sediment in sewers has adverse effects on the
hydraulic performance of sewers [13]. For the case of sewage flow
carrying sediment without deposition, the presence of sediment in the
flow causes a small increase in energy loss.

In case the sewer invert already contains a bed of sediment deposit, it

reduces the cross sectional area of sewers and consequently for a given
discharge the velocity increases. As such, the head losses associated
with this velocity increase. Moreover, the increase in bed resistance
induced by the rough nature of sediment deposit reduces the pipe flow
capacity of sewers.

For sewers which are partially full, the presence of sediment bed
enhances higher frictional resistance and results in increasing the flow
depths and subsequent decrease of velocity. The reduction of velocity
will lead to further deposition of sediment owing to the decrease of
sediment carrying capacity if the increase of capacity of sewers
generated by the presence of sediment bed does not exceed the
reduction in flow caused by the bed roughness.

Energy dissipation at outlets

Flow velocity at outlets is usually high. Without proper control of this
energy, the subsequent bank erosion may result in failure of the banks.
Therefore, some energy dissipating structures are designed to cope
with this problem. Impact energy dissipaters may be provided at
outlets by making use of impact walls to dissipate energy. Alternatively,
the flows at outlet are dispersed artificially to achieve a significant loss
of energy. However, the problem of cavitation may occur in this type
of energy dissipating structures.

51
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Fig. 3.2 A typical drainage outlet.

Functions of hydraulic jump

The use of hydraulic jump in hydraulic engineering is not uncommon
and the creation of such jumps has several purposes [58]:

(i) Its main aim is to perform as an energy-dissipating device to

reduce the excess energy of water flows.
(ii) The jump generates significant disturbances in the form of eddies
and reverse flow rollers to facilitate mixing of chemicals.
(iii)During the jump formation, considerable amount of air is entrained
so that it helps in the aeration of streams which is polluted by
bio-degradable wastes.
(iv) It enables efficient operation of flow measuring device like flumes.

Full bore flow in drainage design

In the design of gravity drainage pipes, full bore flow capacity is
normally adopted to check against the design runoff. However, one
should note that the maximum flow rate does not occur under full bore
conditions. The maximum discharge occurs when the water depth in
circular pipes reaches 93.8% of the pipe diameter. Therefore, the use
of full bore discharge is on the conservative side though the pipe’s
maximum capacity is not utilized.

Similarly, the maximum velocity does not occur in full bore conditions

52
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

and for circular pipes it occurs when the water depth is 81.3% of the
pipe diameter. Hence, in checking for the maximum velocity of flow in
pipes to avoid possible erosion by rapid flow, the use of full-bore
velocity may not be on the conservative side.

Functions of wetwells
Wetwells are designed to store temporarily water/sewage before it is
pumped out. They are usually provided for sewage and stormwater
pumping stations and they serve the following functions:

(i) They assist in attenuating the fluctuations of flow owing to the

diurnal variation of sewage discharge.
(ii) The wetwells serve as sump pits where the suction pipes are
inserted and the fluid level in the sumps can be employed for the
control of opening and closure of pumps.

Joints in box culverts and channels - necessity of watertightness

The joints for box culverts and channels should be capable of
accommodating movements arising from temperature and moisture
changes. However, the joints are not necessarily designed as watertight
except the following conditions [15]:

(i) There is a high possibility of occurrence of high water table in the

vicinity of box culverts/channels. The high groundwater level and
rainwater seepage through embankment may cause water passing
through the joints and washing in soils. Consequently, the loss of
soils may lead to the failure of the structures.
(ii) If the box culvert/channels are designed in such a way that water
flow through joints from the structures causes the washing out of
bedding materials, the requirement of watertightness of joint has to
be fulfilled.
(iii)In cold countries, road salt is sometimes applied on roads above
box culvert or at crossings of channels to prevent freezing and
thawing. The leaching of road salts into the joints may cause
corrosion of joint reinforcement.

53
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Manhole covers – triangular halves

Manhole covers are generally made up of two pieces of triangular
plates to form a square cover [23]. One may wonder why two
rectangular halves are used for a rectangular cover. To understand this,
one should note that a triangular cover could simply lie on a plane
while a rectangular cover contains a point of redundancy. Hence, the
potential problem of rocking produced by vehicular traffic by
rectangular traffic could be eliminated by using two triangular halves.

Other the other hand, the two pieces of triangular covers should be
bolted together. As for a piece of triangular cover, it is easily dropped
into the rectangular hole of manhole during routine maintenance.
Therefore, from maintenance point of view, some countries prefer
another geometrical shape i.e. circular, as this is the only shape that the
cover could hardly be accidentally dropped into the manhole. On the
other hand, for other geometrical shapes such as rectangle or square,
they could still be dropped into their formed hole when inclined into
proper angles.

Fig. 3.3 Different types of manhole covers.

54
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Manhole loss
Manholes are provided in locations where there are changes in size,
direction and gradient of gravity pipelines. In normal practice for
straight pipelines manholes have to be installed at a certain spacing to
facilitate the maintenance of pipes. With the introduction of manholes,
there are various reasons which account for the manhole loss [9]:

(i) The sudden expansion of inflow into manholes and the sudden
contraction of flow out of manholes lead to significant energy
losses.
(ii) It is not uncommon that several pipes may be connected to the
same manhole. As such, the intermixing of flow takes place inside
the manhole and this leads to head losses.
(iii)Flow inside the manholes may be designed to change directions
which contribute to additional losses.

Necessity of reinforcement in precast concrete manhole units

Precast concrete manholes are normally constructed by placing the
bases of manholes firstly. The walls of precast manholes are formed by
placing the precast concrete rings one on top of the other up to the
required height. Someone may notice that reinforcement used for
resisting the lateral earth pressure and surface loads are not considered
in some design. It is discussed in Concrete Pipe Association of Great
Britain that analysis of soil pressures shows that standard unreinforced
precast units are capable of resisting uniformly distributed pressures
(e.g. loading condition in a manhole) down to a depth of 150m. If very
severe road traffic and side loads are encountered, an additional
concrete surround of about 150mm may be provided.

55
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Fig. 3.4 A precast concrete manhole.

On-line storage vs off-line storage

The design of storage pond is commonly divided into on-line storage
and off-line storage. The on-line storage concept involves inclusion of
storage facilities in series with the pipelines so that overflow at the
storage facilities is allowed. One simple application of on-line storage
is to enhance a large size of drainage pipes. However, for heavy
rainfall situation, the spare capacity of drainage pipes will be rapidly
exhausted. On the other hand, off-line storage (e.g. underground
storage tank) refers to storage facilities in parallel with the pipeline
and the return flow to the main pipeline is only allowed when the
outflow pipelines are not surcharged.

56
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Possible defaults for precast concrete pipes made by spinning and

vertical casting

Small diameter precast concrete pipes are normally manufactured by

spinning method. The spinning method basically makes use of the
principle of centrifugal forces which diminishes towards the centre of
precast pipe. Hence, problems like the presence of voids and variation
of dimension occur frequently and remedial works like filling of voids
by cement mortar has to be carried out depending on the severity of
deficiency.

Large diameter precast concrete pipes are commonly produced by

vertical casting method [67]. In this method the concrete pipes are
normally placed upright with spigot staying on top, resting on socket
moulds before the freshly-placed concrete has set. There is a
possibility of deformation of pipe spigots to form oval shapes.

Purpose of granular bedding for concrete pipes

In designing the bedding for concrete drainage pipes, granular
materials are normally specified instead of soils containing a wide
range of different particle sizes. The main reason of adopting granular
material free of fine particles is the ease of compaction as it requires
very little tamping effort to achieve a substantial amount of
compaction and the crushed aggregates readily move to suitable place
around the pipes [67]. However, the use of granular materials has the
drawback that a stable support can hardly be provided for the drainage
pipes. In particular, it cannot maintain an accurate slope and level for
the bedding of concrete pipes. Most pipes are gravity pipes and the
accuracy in level is essential to maintain the flow capacity.

57
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Fig. 3.5 Bedding of concrete pipes.

Purpose of carrying out water absorption test for precast concrete

pipes

Cement will mix with more water than is required to eventually

combine during hydration of cement paste. As such, some voids will
be left behind after the hydration process which affects the strength
and durability of concrete. With the presence of air voids in concrete, it
is vulnerable to penetration and attack by aggressive chemicals. Good
quality concrete is characterized by having minimal voids left by
excess water and therefore, water absorption test for precast concrete
pipes is adopted for checking the quality of concrete in terms of
density and imperviousness.

Reason in checking the ratio (i.e. design flow to full-bore flow >
0.5) in circular pipe design

For checking of self-cleansing velocity for pipes, there is another

criterion to check design flow Q to full bore flow Qfull> 0.5. If this
criterion is met, it can be deduced that the design flow is always
greater than self-cleansing velocity.

The reason behind is that from the chart of circular pipes, when Q/
Qfull >0.5, then the ratio of design velocity V to full bore velocity Vfull
>1. After confirming Vfull >1m/s, then it leads to V>1m/s. Hence,
minimum velocity at full bore flow should be checked.

58
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Relation of the angle of contact between pipe invert and bedding

material to the load resisting capacity of pipe

Minimum crushing strength is a commonly adopted parameter for

describing the strength of rigid pipes like concrete pipes. This value is
determined in laboratory by subjecting the test concrete pipe to a line
load diametrically along the pipe length while the pipe invert is
supported on two bearers for stability reason. This test is called
three-edge bearing test and the load at failure of pipes is expressed in
terms of kN per length of test pipes (called minimum crushing
strength).

Bedding factor of a pipe is defined as the failure load for the pipe laid
in actual ground with bedding to the failure load under three-edge
bearing test. The bedding factor is largely related to the angle of
contact between pipe invert and the bedding material. The angle of
contact between pipe invert and the bedding material increases with
the ratio of bending moment at invert (for the case of three-edge
bearing test) to the angle under consideration [67].

Rubber dams – air-filled vs water-filled

Most of the existing rubber dams are of air-filled types. Water-filled
rubber dams are not preferred for the following reasons:

(i) By giving the same sheet length and dam height, the tensile stress
for water-filled dams is higher than that of air-filled rubber dams.
(ii) A significant size of water pond is normally provided for
water-filled water dams for filling the rubber dams during the
rising operation of dams.

Single-cell box culvert vs double-cell box culvert

The use of double-cell box culverts is preferred to single-cell box
culverts for cross-sectional area larger than about 5m2 owing to the
following reasons:

59
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

(i) Where there is tight headroom requirement, the use of double-cell

box culvert can shorten the height of culverts by having a wider
base so that the same design flow can be accommodated.
(ii) The invert of one cell can be designed at a lower level to cater for
low flow condition so that it reduces the occurrence of sediment
deposition and avoid the presence of standing waters.
(iii)The provision of temporary flow diversion can be easily provided
for inspection and maintenance of each cell. During routine
maintenance operation, water flow can be diverted to one cell and
the other one is open for desilting.

If a choice has to be made between a single-cell box culvert and

smaller multiple pipes, it is better to select single-cell box culvert
because of the lower risk of blockage when compared with smaller
size of multiple pipes. In addition, the hydraulic performance of a
single-cell box culvert is better than multiple pipes system because of
the larger hydraulic radius associated with the box culvert for a given
cross-sectional area.

Side clearance of pipes in trenches

From the design point of view, it is preferred to minimize the width of
pipe trenches because of the following reasons [29]:

(i) Higher cost of excavation is associated with wider pipe trenches.

(ii) The width of trench affects the loads on installed pipelines in
consideration of embankment condition and wide trench condition.
For minimum pipe trench width, the loads on pipelines can be
reduced.

However, sufficient space has to be provided to allow for proper

compaction. This is helpful to reduce the reaction at critical locations
of pipelines under traffic and fill loads. Moreover, consideration
should be given to accommodate temporary works for deep trenches
where shoring has to be provided during construction.

60
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Significance of tailwater level in culverts

The headwater level and tailwater level of culverts are important
parameters in hydraulic design. The headwater level cannot be set too
large, otherwise flooding upstream may occur leading to the loss of
life and properties. On the other hand, the tailwater level of culverts
has to comply with the following requirements [29]:

(i) For low tailwater levels at the outlet of culverts, the small depths
of flow may cause significant erosion of downstream channels.
(ii) For high tailwater levels, it may cause the culvert upstream to be
flowing full or even under submerged condition. As such, the
headwater level is increased in order to flow through the culvert
and this in turn increases the flooding risk associated with high
headwater level.

Fig. 3.6 Tailwater level in culvert.

Stilling basins
Stilling basins are usually introduced to convert supercritical flow to
subcritcal flow before it reaches downstream. A typical stilling basin
consists of a short length of channels located at the source of
supercritical flow (e.g. end of spillway). Certain features are
introduced to the basins like baffles and sills to provide resistance to
the flow. As such, a hydraulic jump will form in the basin without
having conducting significant amount of excavation for the stilling
basin if baffles are installed [31].

61
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Uncompacted bedding for concrete pipes

In the middle third of the base of precast concrete pipes, the bedding
layers are recommended to be left uncompacted because it helps to
reduce the reaction force at the invert of the pipes and intensifies the
effect of shear forces. Moreover, the bending moment at pipe invert is
increased by the compaction of bedding layer. The general rule for this
region of bedding layer is that it should be firm enough for the pipes to
rest on.

The sides of haunch and bedding directly under the haunch should be
compacted because this will reduce the bending moment at the invert
which is the critical failure location for pipes. The compacted haunch
helps to resist the pipe load and maintain level and alignment.

62
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Chapter 4. Geotechnical works

Bentonite slurry vs polymeric slurry

For the construction of diaphragm walls, bentonite slurry is commonly
used to form a filter cake on walls of trenches to support earth pressure.
The use of bentonite solely is based on its thixotrophic gel viscosity to
provide support.

Though the cost of polymer is generally more expensive than bentonite,

the use of polymer is increasing because polymer is generally
infinitely re-usable and very small amount of polymer is normally
required for construction works. The disposal cost of bentonite is quite
high while the disposal of polymer can be readily conducted by adding
agglomerator.

Bleeding test for grout – an essential requirement?

Bleeding is a form of segregation in which a layer of water migrates to
the surface of the grout during the initial stage of cement hydration
process. Later on, some of the floating water is re-absorbed into the
grout due to further hydration reactions. Even without the problem of
bleeding, there is a total reduction of volume of grout after hydration
action when compared with the total initial individual volume of
cement and reacted water. Bleeding tests should be carried out for
grout because of the following reasons [22]:

(i) During bleeding, the upflow of water from grout mixture leads to
the formation of channel paths inside the grout mix. These
channels act as potential paths for aggressive materials to pass
through as these channels would not be closed during further
hydration of the grout.
(ii) The loss in volume by bleeding generates voids inside the grout
mix which affects the properties and performance of the grout.
Moreover, it increases the chance of corrosion of steel elements
protected by the grout. (e.g. tendons)

63
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

(iii)In bleeding test, there is a usual requirement of total re-absorption

of water after 24 hours of grout mixing because for some cold
countries, this layer of water may cause severe freezing problem
leading to frost damage.

Reference is made to P. L. J. Domone and S. A. Jefferis [22].

Core-barrel samplers: single tube sampler vs double tube sampler

vs triple tube sampler

Core barrel samplers are originally designed to sample rock. In single

tube sampler, the core barrel of the sampler rotates and this poses the
possibility of disturbing the sample by shearing the sample along
certain weak planes. Moreover, the cored samples are subjected to
erosion and disturbance by the drilling fluid.

For double tube samplers, the tube samplers do not rotate with the core
barrels and the samplers are not protected against the drilling fluid.
The logging of samples presents difficulty for highly fractured rock.
The triple core barrel basically consists of a double core barrel sampler
including an addition of a stationary liner which is intended to protect
the cored samples during extraction. Therefore the quality sample
obtained from triple core barrel is the best among the three types of
barrels mentioned above.

Continuous Piezocone Penetration Test

Continuous piezocone penetration test basically consists of standard
cone penetration test and a measurement of pore water pressure. Three
main parameters, namely sleeve friction, tip resistance and pore water
pressure measurement are measured under this test.

Pore water pressure generated in the soils during penetration of the

cone is measured. An electrical transducer located inside the piezocone
behind saturated filter is used for the measurement. By analyzing the
results of pore pressure with depth, the stratigraphy of fine-gained
soils with different layers is obtained readily.

64
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Diaphragm wall – maintenance of excess slurry head

For the construction of diaphragm walls adjacent to buildings,
previous experience showed that excess slurry head above
groundwater level had to be maintained to limit the ground settlements
during the construction of diaphragm walls. In fact, the excess slurry
head can be achieved by the following methods. The first one is to
construct a ring of well points to lower the piezometric level to achieve
a higher excess slurry head in diaphragm walls. Alternatively, guide
walls may be raised above ground level to accommodate the slurry
column.

Direction of gunning in shotcreting

During the construction of shotcrete, it is aimed at gunning the full
thickness in one single operation and this helps to reduce the
occurrence of possible delamination and formation of planes of
weakness. Moreover, the nozzles should be held about 0.6m to 1.8m
from the surface [2] and normal to the receiving surface. The reason of
gunning perpendicular to the receiving surface is to avoid the possible
rebound and rolling resulting from gunning at an angle deviated from
the perpendicular. The rolled shotcrete creates a non-uniform surface
which serves to trap overspray and shotcrete resulting from the
rebounding action. This is undesirable because of the wastage of
materials and the generation of uneven and rough surface.

Function of mortar in brick walls

A typical brick wall structure normally contains the following
components:

(i) a coping on top of the brick wall to protect it from weather;

(ii) a firm foundation to support the loads on the brick wall; and
(iii)a damp course near the base of the brick wall to avoid the
occurrence of rising damp from the ground.

Bricks are bedded on mortar which serves the following purposes [66]:

65
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

(i) bond the bricks as a single unit to help resist lateral loads;
(ii) render the brick wall weatherproof and waterproof; and
(iii)provide even beds to enhance uniform distribution of loads.

Fig. 4.1 Brick wall.

Formation of frost heave

In the past, it was believed that the formation of frost heave was
related to the volumetric expansion of soil water which changed from
liquid state to solid state. However, the increase of volume of changes
in states for water at zero degree Celsius is only about 9％ and the
observed heaving is far more than this quantum.

In fact, the mechanism of frost heave is best explained by the

formation of ice lenses [52]. In cold weather, ice lenses develop in the
freezing zone in soils where there is an adequate supply of soil water.
Soil particles are surrounded by a film of water which separates the
soil particles from ice lenses. The moisture adhered to soil particles
gets absorbed to the ice lenses on top of the soils and in turn water is
obtained from other soil pores to replenish the loss of water to ice
lenses. This process continues and results in pushing up of soils on top
of the lenses and subsequently the formation of frost heave.

66
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Functions of diaphragm walls

The functions of diaphragm walls are as follows:

(i) It is designed to retain soils during the construction of underground

structures.
(ii) It helps to control the movement of ground during construction.
(iii)It is intended to take up high vertical loads from aboveground
structures during construction (e.g. top-down approach). In
addition, during the servicing of the completed structures, the
diaphragm walls, internal piles and basement raft act together as a
single unit to perform as piled raft.

Granular fill or rock fill essential at the base of concrete retaining

walls?

It is not uncommon that granular fill layers and rockfill layers are
placed beneath the bottom of concrete retaining walls. The purpose of
such provision is to spread the loading in view of insufficient bearing
capacity of foundation material to sustain the loads of retaining walls.
Upon placing of granular fill layers and rockfill layers, the same
imposed loads are supported by a larger area of founding material and
hence the stress exerted by loads is reduced accordingly.

Layers of granular fill and rockfill materials are not standard details of
concrete retaining wall. If we are fully satisfied that the founding
material could support the loads arising from retaining walls, it is not
necessary to provide these layers of granular fill and rockfill materials.

“Grout curtain” around excavation

When excavation work is carried out in grounds with highly permeable

soils, other than the installation of well points to lower down the
groundwater table, consideration may be given to the injection of grout
to the soils [60]. The purpose of the injection of grout is to fill the pore
spaces and cavities of soils with grout and to reduce the permeability
of soils. The method of grouting is effective in coarse soils but not for

67
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

sands. In essence, “grout curtain” is constructed around the excavation

by installation of several rows of injection holes for grouting.

Kicker of reinforced concrete cantilever retaining walls located at

the position of largest moment and shear force – why?

Normally for reinforced concrete cantilever retaining walls, there is a

75mm kicker at the junction wall stem and base slab to facilitate the
fixing of formwork for concreting of wall stems. If a higher kicker (i.e.
more than 75mm height) is provided instead, during the concreting of
base slab the hydraulic pressure built up at kicker of fresh concrete
cause great problem in forming a uniform and level base slab.

Despite the fact that the position of kicker in a cantilever retaining wall
is the place of largest flexure and shear, there is no option left but to
provide the kicker at this position.

Loading and unloading cycles for soil nails

In carrying out pull-out tests for soil nails, it normally requires the
loading and unloading of soil nails of several cycles up to 80% of
ultimate tensile strength of soil nails. The principal function of soil nail
tests is to verify the design assumptions on the bond strength between
soil and grout which is likely to exceed the design values based on past
experience. In addition, the ultimate bond strength between soil and
grout can be determined and this information is helpful as a reference
for future design.

Then someone may query the purpose of conducting load/unloading

cycles of soil nails as it does not provide information on the above two
main purposes of soil nails. In fact, loading and unloading soil nails
can provide other important information on their elastic and plastic
deformation behaviour. However, as stress levels in soil nails are
normally low, the knowledge on elastic and plastic performance may
not be of significant value. On the other hand, the creep and slippage
performance of soils nails can also be obtained which may be useful
for some soils.

68
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Fig. 4.2 Typical pull-out test result.

Landslides induced by rainfall

After rainfall, groundwater pressure is built up and this elevates the
ground water table. The water inside the pores of soil reduces the
effective stress of soils. Since shear strength of soils is represented by
the following relations:

Shear strength = cohesion + effective stress x tanΦ where Φ is the

friction angle of soils

Hence, the presence of water causes a reduction of shear strength of

soils and this may lead to landslide. On the other hand, the rainfall
creates immediate instability by causing erosion of slop surface and
results in shallow slope failure by infiltration. In addition, the rain may
penetrate slope surface openings and forms flow paths. As a result, this
may weaken the ground.

Piston samplers
In sampling clays or silts, Piston sampler is lowered into boreholes and
the piston is locked at the bottom of the sampler. This prevents debris
from entering the tube prior to sampling. After reaching the sampling
depth, the piston is unlocked so that the piston stays on top of the
sample going into the tube. Prior to the withdrawal of the sampler, the

69
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

piston is locked to prevent the downward movement and the vacuum

generated during the movement of the piston from the sampler’s end
aids in retaining the samples recovered. As such, sample recovery is
increased by using Piston samplers.

Position of shear keys under retaining walls

The installation of shears keys helps to increase the sliding resistance
of retaining walls without the necessity to widen the their base. The
effect of shears keys enhances the deepening of the soil failure plane
locally at the keys. The increased sliding resistance comes from the
difference between the passive and active forces at the sides of the
keys. In case weak soils are encountered at the base level of shear keys,
the failure planes along the base of retaining walls due to sliding may
be shifted downwards to the base level of the keys.

Shear keys are normally designed not to be placed at the front of the
retaining wall footing base because of the possible removal of soils by
excavation and consequently the lateral resistance of soils can hardly
be mobilized for proper functioning of the shear keys [30]. For shear
keys located at the back of footings, it poses a potential advantage that
higher passive pressures can be mobilized owing to the higher vertical
pressure on top of the passive soils.

Fig. 4.3 Different locations of shear key in retaining wall.

70
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Pressure distribution under rigid and flexible footings

For thick and rigid footings, the pressure distribution under the
footings is normally assumed to be linear. If uniform and symmetrical
loadings are exerted on the footings, the bearing pressure is uniformly
distributed. However, if unsymmetrical loads are encountered, then a
trapezoidal shape of bearing reaction would result.

For flexible footings on weak and compressible soils, the bearing

pressures under footing would not be linear. As such, a detailed
investigation of soil pressures is required in order to determine the
bending moment and shear forces of the structure.

Rock reinforcement – how it works?

For rocks with widespread fractures, individual blocks resulting from
these fractures may fall out and as a result slope failure may occur.
Rock reinforcement (e.g. rock dowels, bolts or anchors) is installed to
bolt through the discontinuities in rock to enhance the rock to behave
as a single unit. With the bolting across block interfaces, the stresses
would be altered within the rock mass. For untensioned rock dowels,
they may be subjected to tensile forces arising from rock movement.
Other than the provision of rock reinforcement, shotcreting is another
method to reinforce the rock. It functions by griping the rock together
and maintaining the small blocks which hold the large blocks in
position [37].

Rowe cell vs Oedometer apparatus

The advantages of using Rowe cell over oedometer apparatus are:

(i) It possesses the control facilities for drainage and for the
measurement of pore water pressure.
(ii) It is capable of testing larger diameter soil samples. Hence, more
reliable data can be provided by using Rowe’s cell because of the
relatively smaller effect of structural viscosity in larger specimens.
(iii)Rowe cell uses hydraulic loading system which is less susceptible

71
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

to the effect of vibration than oedometer apparatus.

Sand cone (replacement) test – suitable for all soils?

Sand cone (replacement) test is normally carried out to determine the
in-situ and compacted density of soils. This testing method is not
suitable for granular soils with high void ratio because they contain
large voids and openings which provide an access for sand to enter
these holes during the test. Moreover, soils under testing should have
sufficient cohesion so as to maintain the stability of the sides of
excavation during the excavation step in sand cone (replacement) test.
In addition, organic or highly plastic soils are also considered not
suitable for this test because they tend to deform readily during the
excavation of holes and they may be too soft to resist the stress arising
from excavation and from placing the apparatus on the soils.

Water control for sheet pile walls

Ground water flow into excavations constructed by sheet pile walls
should be minimized in order to save the cost of the provision of
pumping systems or well points to lower the water table inside the
excavation. In case a layer of impermeable material like clay is located
slightly below the excavation, it may be desirable to drive the sheet
piles further into this layer and the cost of further driving may be less
than the cost of the provision of continuous pumping in the excavation.
On the other hand, if there is no impermeable layer beneath the
excavation, engineers may consider driving the sheet piles further so
as to increase the flow path of groundwater into the excavation and
this helps to reduce the amount of water flow into the excavation.
Similarly, a cost benefit analysis has to be carried out to compare the
extra cost of driving further the sheet piles with the reduced pumping
costs.

Wires in gabion walls

Gabions are wire mesh boxes which are filled with stones and they are

72
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

placed in an orderly pattern to act as a single gravity retaining wall.

Lacing wires or meshes are designed to hold the gabion boxes together.
Most of the wires are zinc-coated or PVC coated to prevent the steel
wire from corrosion. Moreover, it is common that the wires are
fabricated in hexagonal patterns with doubly twisted joints to avoid the
whole gabion mesh from disentanglement in case a wire accidentally
breaks. Owing to the nature of gabion filling materials, they are very
permeable to water. They have particular application in locations
where free water drainage has to be provided. Moreover, gabions are
capable of accommodating larger total and differential settlements than
normal retaining wall types so that they are commonly found in
locations where the founding material is poor.

Fig. 4.4 Wires of gabion walls.

73
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Chapter 5. Marine Works

Direction of approaching velocities of ships during berthing

One of the major effects of angle of approaching velocities of ships is
its influence of the energy to be absorbed by the fender system.
Consider several ships berth on the same pier at the same speed but
with different angle of approach, though their kinetic energies are the
same, the amount of energy absorbed by fender differs. The amount of
energy absorbed by fender is [19]:

0.5mv 2 (k 2 + r 2 cos 2 Φ)
W =
(k 2 + r 2 )

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 velocity

Hence, 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 ship whose velocity is tangential
to the shoreline.

Energy absorbed in heeling during vessel berthing

When a vessel berths on a fender system at a pier, the point of contact
of the berthing ship may be above or below the centre of gravity of the
ship. During the berthing operation, some kinetic energy is dissipated
in work done to heel the ship i.e. the work done to bring the ship an
angle of heel. This energy is normally a small fraction of total berthing
energy and therefore it is normally not considered in design. However,
designers should pay attention to the possible hitting of the berthing

74
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

structure by the vessels in case the contact point is well above water
level [19].

Fig. 5.1 Heeling of a vessel.

Factors determining the stability of a single armour unit

There are mainly three main factors which govern the stability of a
armour unit, namely, gravity, intertangling and squeezing. Obviously,
it is beyond doubt that the ability of the armour unit to stay in place
should be closely related to gravity force. On the other hand, the
geometry of the armour unit also affects its stability. For instance, with
the difference in ability to intertangle, their resistance to pulling out by
waves varies. Furthermore, squeezing forces by gravity also affects the
stability of the armour unit which is dependent on frictional forces in
all directions.

Function of reinforced concrete infill in marine piling system of

steel tubular pile with reinforced concrete infill

Reinforced concrete is designed to fill the void space inside the steel
tubular piles from pile cap to a certain distance below seabed. As
mentioned earlier, steel tubular piles above seabed level is assumed in

75
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

design to be completely corroded when approaching the end of design

life. As such, loads from pile caps are transferred directly to reinforced
concrete infill instead of steel tubular piles. The load transfer path
below seabed level is as follows: loads from reinforced concrete infill
are transferred to steel tubular piles through frictional forces between
reinforced concrete infill and steel piles. Therefore, mobilization of
frictional forces between reinforced concrete infill and steel piles is
essential to ensure that the piling system functions properly.

Hudson’s formula vs Van der Meer formula

Hudson’s formula is commonly adopted in preliminary design to
obtain rough initial estimate of rock size. The formula is derived from
the results of regular wave tests. However, this formula does not take
into account the following elements which Van der Meer formula does:
wave period, damage level, permeability of structure and storm
duration. Moreover, Hudson’s formula deals with the use of regular
waves only.

Compared with Hudson’s formula, Van der Meer formula is more

complicated and it is derived from results of a series of physical model
tests. They include the consideration of wave period, storm duration,
clearly-defined damage level and permeability of structure. The choice
of the appropriate formula is dependent on the design purpose (i.e.
preliminary design or detailed design).

Immersed tube method for underwater crossings

The immersed tube method for underwater crossing involves the
following basic construction steps:

(i) Prefabricating long tunnel units (steel shell or concrete) in a

dry-dock or shipyard
(ii) Floating and towing the units with removable bulkhead to the site
(iii)Immerse the units in a pre-dredged trench
(iv) Connect the units one by one
(v) Covering the completed tunnel with backfill

76
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Steel immersed tunnel is sometimes adopted because of the ease of

fabrication and its relative lightness. Moreover, shorter construction
time is required when compared with concrete immersed tubes.

In reclamation involving large volumes of fill and tight

programme, shall engineers use marine fill or mud extracted from
land borrow area as filling material?

There are two advantages of adopting marine fill over mud extracted
from land borrow area:

(a) In some land borrow areas, it involves breaking up of rock to

suitable sizes for reclamation and the production rate is not
high. With modern equipment for dredging and placing
marine fill, the filling rate is much higher.
(b) The cost incurred for breaking up of rock to suitable sizes for
reclamation is very expensive while the cost of hydraulic
filling with marine fill is lower.

Reasons of common occurrence of “inadequate pile founding

level” in piles of piers

The most severe load on piers generally is the horizontal load due to
berthing and mooring of large vessels. The design of piers is taken as
an example to illustrate the importance of adequate pile founding level.
Since the widths of open berth piers are relatively small so that they
provide a short lever arm to counteract the moment induced by
berthing loads. Moreover, the dead load of open berth piers are
normally quite light and therefore the resisting moment provided by
the dead load of pier structures may not be sufficient to counteract the
moment generated by berthing loads. To aid in providing adequate
resistance to the overturning moment by the berthing load, the soil
resistance above bedrock contributes to the stabilizing moment. For
commonly adopted marine piling type, i.e. driven steel tubular piles
with reinforced concrete infill, driven piles can at most be founded on
top of rockhead surface. In case the rockhead level is shallow (e.g.

77
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

near shoreline), the little soil cover may result in inadequate lateral
resistance to the berthing load.

Silt curtain touching seabed

Silt curtains are impermeable vertical barriers extending from the
seawater surface to their designed depths. The curtains are held in a
vertical position by the carrier float on their top and a curtain weight at
their bottom. A tension cable is designed at the carrier float to resist
stresses incurred by currents. Moreover, the silt curtains are anchored
to the seabed to hold them in the designed configuration.

In essence, the depth of silt curtains should not be so long and touch
the seabed because the bottom segment of the silt curtains would be
trapped inside the newly accumulated sediment, thus resulting in the
sinking of the curtain. It is difficult to remove these sunken curtains.
Moreover, reversal tidal and current actions may cause movement of
bottom region of curtains which stir up the settled suspensions and
create additional turbidity.

Shoes of prefabricated drains

Shoes are normally installed in prefabricated drains for the following
reasons [35]:

(i) It avoids the entry of soils into the mandrel by sealing it during the
installation of drains.
(ii) It performs like an anchor to retain the drains at the designed depth
and to stop the drains from being pulled out during the withdrawn
of mandrels after driving the mandrels into ground.

However, the inclusion of shoes in prefabricated drains tends to

aggravate the problem of smear effect because the shoes are usually
larger in size than mandrels.

78
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Soil plug in marine piling system of steel tubular pile with

reinforced concrete infill

During initial driving process, open-ended steel piles are driven

through the soils at their bases. However, shaft friction will gradually
develop between the steel piles and soils inside piles at some time after
pile driving. The hitting action of driving hammers induces forces to
the soil and later it comes to a stage when the inertial forces of inside
soils, together with the internal frictional forces exceeds the bearing
capacity of soils at pile toes. Consequently, the soil plug formed is
brought down by the piles.

It is practically possible to excavate all soils inside steel tubular piles

and replace them completely by reinforced concrete. However, as
engineers strive to produce economical design the extra cost associated
with excavation of soil plug and filling of concrete could be saved in
case the soil plug remains in position. Moreover, from the technical
point of view it is considered unnecessary to remove the soil plugs
because it serves to provide a platform for the placing of on-top infill
concrete on one hand and to fill the void space below the infill
concrete on the other hand. In addition, the soil plug is considered to
be sufficiently compacted by pile driving action and is deemed to be
stable during the design life of the piling system.

The Morison equation vs diffraction analysis in determining wave

force on piles

The choice between the Morison’s equation and diffraction analysis in

determining the wave forces on piles depends on the ratio between the
diameters of piles to wavelength. If the ratio between the diameter of
piles to wavelength is less than 0.2, the Morison equation is usually
recommended. The reason behind this is that the effect of viscosity and
separation is significant below this ratio. On the contrary, if the ratio
between the diameter of piles to wavelength exceeds 0.2, the waves
are scattered with negligible occurrence of separation. As such,
diffraction analysis is adopted to calculate the wave forces on piles.

79
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Vibrocoring in marine ground investigation

If only shallow marine ground geotechnical information is required for
design purpose, vibrocoring is inevitably a good choice for sampling
disturbed samples. In vibrocoring, a core barrel and an inner liner
usually of 100mm diameter and 6m long are vibrated into the seabed.
Since the installation of vibrocoring involves the vibration of barrels,
there is considerable disturbance of recovered samples. Vibrocoring
has the merit of the fast speed of sample recovery (e.g. up to 14 cores
can be obtained in one day). Moreover, the cost of vibrocoring
operation is low when compared with other viable marine geotechnical
investigation options.

Zones of smear around vertical drains

Smear zones are generated during the installation of vertical drains in
which the zone of soils surrounding the band drains are disturbed.
Soils in the smear zones are remoulded during the installation process
and the effectiveness of band drains is reduced. For instance, the
compressibility of surrounding soils is increased and this brings about
the reduction of their permeability. In essence, with the reduced
permeability of soils around band drains, it takes longer time to
complete the consolidation process.

To prevent the formation of smear zones, the raising and lowering of

mandrel during drain installation should be minimized. Moreover, soil
disturbance can be controlled by avoiding the use of vibratory
hammers which serve to drive the drains into the ground [35].

Fig. 5.2 Smear zones in band drain.

80
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Chapter 6. Piles and Foundation

A pipe or groups of bars be adopted as load carrying element of

min-piles?

The design of mini-piles somehow differs from other traditional pile

types. For instance, the design of most common pile types is controlled
by the external carrying capacity. However, owing to the small cross
sectional area, the design of mini-piles is limited by internal carrying
capacity. Hence, the choice of suitable load carrying element is of
paramount importance in the design of mini-piles.

For steel pipes used as load carrying element, it is of circular cross

section with a high radius of gyration. Moreover, it possesses a
constant section of modulus in all directions, it serves the properties of
excellent column. Bars are suitable when pure axial loading is required
in confined situation.

Arrangement of piles in a pile cap to reduce bending moment

induced in piles

Consider that piles are designed to intersect at a single common point

in a pile cap. The resultant reactions would pass through the point of
intersection in the pile cap. This type of arrangement does not involve
any bending moment induced if the horizontal loads pass through this
point. However, in real life situation, the piling system is expected to
resist a combination of vertical loads, horizontal loads and bending
moment. To counteract bending moment, the pile cap about the point
of intersection is rotated so that significant amount of bending moment
is induced in piles and pure axial forces in piles can hardly generate a
counteracting moment based on one single intersection point [53].

However, if the piles are arranged in such a way that there are at least
two separated points of intersection in the pile cap, the amount of
flexural stresses induced in piles is significantly reduced.

81
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Fig. 6.1 Different arrangement of piles in pile cap.

Application of bitumen to driven piles

In a certain region of H-piles subjected to ground water table
fluctuation, painting is sometimes 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 will be unable to derive the designed frictional
reaction from soils. Actually, some engineers have reservation of the
effectiveness of bitumen slipcoat because the bitumen may get
removed during pile driving.

Addition of water to bored piles

In water bearing ground, some water head (about 1 m) above the
existing ground water table is maintained to stabilize the bore during
excavation below casings by pumping water to the pile bore. This
balanced head condition is created to minimize the possible drawdown
of surrounding water table which may affect the stability of nearby
structures. Moreover, this helps to limit the possible inflow of water by
piping from the base of pile bore.

82
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Base fixity
When structures like portal frames are connected to the base
foundation, engineers have to decide the degree of fixity for the
connection. In general, the two common design options are pinned
bases and fixed bases. Pinned bases have the advantage that the design
of foundation is made simple so that some cost savings may result.
However, fixed bases design provides additional rigidity and stiffening
to the structures and the stability of the structures can be enhanced.
Therefore, the use of fixed bases helps to improve the structural
performance of the structures [41].

Compaction to freshly placed concrete piles

In normal practice, reliance is placed on the self-compaction of
specially designed concrete mixes to achieve adequate compaction.
The use of vibrating devices like poker vibrators is seldom adopted for
the compaction of concrete piles. In fact, other than the consideration
of the impracticality in using vibrating device in long piles, there is
serious concern about the possible occurrence of aggregate interlock
which poses difficulty during casing extraction [64]. In the worst
scenarios, the temporary casings together with reinforcement cages are
extracted during the lifting up of pile casings. This is another reason
which accounts for not using vibrating machines for piles with casing
extraction.

Design approach for the spacing of min-piles

For close spacing of min-piles, it would provide substantial cost
savings with the reduction of pile cap size. However, close spacing of
piles implies the problem of group effect which tends to reduce the
load carrying capacity of each pile member. Notwithstanding this,
there is well established rule which govern the minimum spacing of
piles, i.e. for friction piles like mini-piles, the centre-to-centre spacing
should not be less than the perimeter of the pile.

83
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Edge piles take up more loads than central piles in rigid cap
Due to the effect of interaction of individual piles, the central piles
tend to settle more than the edge piles when the pile cap is under a
uniform load. For the pile cap to be rigid, the local deformation of
central piles would not occur. Instead, the stiff pile cap would transfer
the loads from the central piles and redistribute them to the outer piles.
Therefore, raking piles at the edge take up a higher fraction of the total
loads and are subjected to higher axial and bending loads in case the
pile cap is stiff. In the extreme case, the side piles may take up as
much as about two to three times the loads in the central piles and this
may lead to the failure of these raking edge piles.

There are several choices regarding the design to tackle the uneven
distribution of loads. The first one involves the lengthening of side
piles to stabilize the piles under high loads. However, the increased
length of outer piles tends to attract more loads and this seems not to
be a good solution. The other way out is to lengthen the central piles
aiming at getting more loads and this evens out the load distribution
among the piles [26].

Fig. 6.2 Stress bulb effect

on load distribution in
piles.

Effect of pile installation method to load carrying capacity of piles

The construction of piles by driving method causes an increase in
density of the surrounding soils. Hence, for loose soils this results in
improved compaction of soils between the piles. The sum of the
capacities of all piles as a whole is generally greater than the sum of
individual pile capacities provided that the effect of pile spacing is not
taken into account. However, for bored piles the boring operation
induces considerable stress relief and this causes a substantial

84
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

reduction in shear strength of soils.

Free- fall concrete placement in bored piles

Based on the research by STS Consultants Ltd. [57], it was found that
concrete placed by free falling below 120 feet would not suffer from
the problem of segregation and the strength of concrete would not be
detrimentally impaired provided that the piles’ bore and base are dry
and free of debris. Moreover, it is presumed in the past that during free
falling of fresh concrete into the pile bores the hitting of falling
concrete in the reinforcement cage causes segregation. However, in
accordance with the experimental results of STS Consultants Ltd. [57],
the striking of reinforcement cage by fresh concrete does not have
significant effect on the strength of concrete

In addition, for long bored piles, it is impractical to conduct vibration

to concrete. For concrete placed by free falling method, the impact
action arising from free falling is assumed to induce adequate vibration.
On the other hand, concrete placed by tremie method appears to be
lack of vibration and this may affect the strength and integrity of
concrete. The research results showed that the strength of vibrated
concrete was slightly higher than unvibrated concrete. Vibration
proved to have added advantage to concrete strength but not essential
to achieve the design pile strength.

False set in pile driving

For pile driving in certain soils like dense silt and weathered rock, the
occurrence of false set phenomenon is not uncommon. During the
driving process, negative pore water pressure is developed and the
driven piles appear to have sufficient capacity during pile driving as
the built-up of negative pore water pressure leads to an apparent
temporary increase in driving resistance and strength. However, some
time after the pile driving, the dissipation of this negative pore water
pressure would reduce the bearing strength in resisting the design
loads. Sometimes, the presence of cracks along pile sections may bring
about the problem of false set by the dampening effect of stress waves

85
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

by these cracks. To avoid the problem of false set, a certain percentage

of constructed piles should be chosen to perform re-driving to check
for the false set phenomenon [26].

Fixed vs pinned connection between piles and pile caps

The type of connection between piles and pile caps affects the load
carrying capacity of pile groups. The fixity of pile head into pile cap,
instead of pinning into pile cap, enhances higher lateral stiffness of the
pile groups. For instance, for the same deflections, a cap with fixed
connected piles can sustain far more loads than that of pinned
connected piles. To satisfy the criterion of fixed connection, the
minimum embedded length of piles into pile caps should be at least
two times the diameter of piles.

Moreover, the fixed connection of piles at pile caps allows significant

bending moment to be transmitted through the connections when
compared with pinned connections.

Forty-five degree spread rule for driven piles

For driven piles the length of piles driven into the ground is usually
based on dynamic driving formula like Hiley’s formula. In certain
ground (e.g. chalk) the length of piles driven by adopting pile-driving
formulas may be far more than adequate because the soil strength may
increase with time. On the contrary, in silty soils the phenomenon of
false set may appear and the piles give a false impression of obtaining
sufficient bearing resistance from the ground. Hence, the pile’s
capacity should be verified and checked later by loading test.

In case driven piles are founded on different depths below ground,

45-degree spread rule is usually applied to check their load carrying
capacities. The base bearing loads of higher driven piles are assumed
to spread at 45 degrees from their bases and checking is made if the
loads from higher piles would influence or get transmitted to deeper
ones [30].

86
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Functions of different reinforcement in a typical pile cap

Loads from columns transferring to pile cap induce tensile forces at
the bottom of the cap. For instance, by using truss analogy to analyze a
pile cap sitting on two piles with a column at the centre of the pile cap,
the tensile force at the bottom is proportional to the pile spacing and is
inversely proportional to depth of pile cap. The bottom reinforcement
is designed to resist the tensile stressed generated from loads in
columns.

Side reinforcement may not be necessary in pile cap [16]. In fact, the
primary aim of the side reinforcement is to control cracking. However,
as most pile caps are hidden from view and it is considered not
necessary to provide side reinforcement to pile caps based on aesthetic
reason.

Sometimes, reinforcement may be designed at the top of pile caps

which serve as compression reinforcement. This type of reinforcement
is required in case there is a limitation on the depth of pile caps.
Similarly shear reinforcement is introduced to the pile caps in case
there is a restriction to the depth of pile caps.

Hammer efficiency vs coefficient of restitution

Hammer efficiency refers to the ratio of kinetic energy of the hammer
to the rated energy (or potential energy). In essence, it is undoubtedly
that certain energy losses are induced by the hammer itself prior to the
actual impact on the driven piles. For instance, these losses may
include the misalignment of the hammer, energy losses due to guiding
friction, inaccurate dropping height etc…

Coefficient of restitution refers to a value indicating the strain energy

during collision regained after the bodies reverting back to their
original shapes. If the coefficient of restitution is equal to unity, it
means that the collision is elastic and all energy has been returned after
the impact action. Hence, this is an index showing the degree the
impact action in terms of elasticity.

87
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

In mathematical forms,

coefficient of restitution = -(v1-v2)/ (u1-u2)

where u=initial velocity and v=final velocity after impact

Holes in steel plates connecting to H-piles

There are two kinds of holes present in the steel plate connected to
H-piles in the pile cap. The first kind of holes is designed to be filled
with welding for better connection with H-piles. The second kind of
holes is present to facilitate concreting works of the pile caps. In fact,
the void space underneath the steel plate is hardly to be accessed by
concrete and these holes provide alternative paths to gain entry into
these hidden void.

Maximum spacing of piles

One of the factors that affect the distribution of loads from the
structures to each pile is the assumption of flexibility of the pile caps
in design. A pile cap can be modeled as a flexible or a rigid element
based on their relative stiffness. For the pile cap to be assumed as rigid
the stiffness of pile cap is infinite relative to that of pile/soil system
and the deformations within the cap are not considered owing to its
rigidity. On the other hand, for the pile cap to be designed as flexible,
internal deformations of pile cap would occur.

In some design guidelines, maximum spacing of piles is specified to

limit the length between adjacent piles so that the assumption of rigid
pile cap can be justified.

Necessity of pile tip cover for rock-socketed H-piles

In current practice concrete cover is usually provided at the pile tips of
pre-bored H-piles socketed in rock. The purpose of such arrangement
is to avoid the potential occurrence of corrosion to H-piles in case
concrete cover is not designed at pile tips. However, recent field and

88
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

laboratory observations had reservation of this viewpoint [45]. In case

H-piles are designed to be placed directly on top of rock surface, it
provides the tip resistance to limit the pile movement in the event of
bond rupture between grout and H-piles. As such, some contractors
may choose to tamp the H-piles by using drop hammers to ensure the
H-piles are founded directly on top of rock surface. Practically
speaking, it poses difficulties during the process of tamping because
there is a chance of possible buckling of long H-piles when too much
energy is provided to the piles.

Point of virtual fixity and critical length of lateral loading for

piles

Some engineers may get confused about the difference between the
two terms i.e. point of virtual fixity and critical length used for piles
for resisting lateral loads. For critical length of lateral loading for piles,
it refers to a certain depth from the ground level where the piles
behave as if it were infinitely long. As such, beyond the critical length,
the change in lateral response of piles with increase in pile length will
be negligible [26].

Point of virtual fixity refers to a certain dept below ground surface

where the piles are fixed without movement under loads. The depth to
the point of fixity is useful in assessing the buckling loads of piles. It is
obvious that the depth to the point of virtual fixity should be smaller
than the critical length of piles.

Principle of airlifting for cleaning pile bores

Airlifting is normally carried out prior to concreting to remove debris
and clean the base of pile bores. It essentially acts as an airlift pump by
using compressed air. The setup of a typical airlifting operation is as
follows: a hollow tube is placed centrally inside the pile bore and a
side tube is connected to the end of the tube near pile bottom for the
passage of compressed air inside the tube. The upper end of the tube is
linked to a discharge tank for the circulation of pumped fluid from pile
base.

89
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

The efficiency of airlifting operation is dependent on the performance

of air compressor. During airlifting, compressed air is piped down the
tube and it returns up to the discharge tank carrying it with the fluid. It
functions by imparting energy to the fluid and forces the fluid to move
vertically upwards. The injected air mixes with the fluid, resulting in
the formation of lower unit weight of the combined mixture when
compared with surrounding fluid. This hydrostatic pressure forces the
fluid/air mixture up to the discharge tanks.

Reverse and direct circulation drill drilling in piling

For direct circulation drilling and reverse circulation drilling, the major
difference in drilling method is related to the direction of movement of
drilling fluid. For direct circulation drilling, the drilling fluid is
circulated from the drill stem and then flows up the annulus between
the outside of the drill stem and borehole wall. The drilling fluid that
carries the drill cuttings flows to the surface and the subsequent
settlement pits. Pumps are employed to lift the cuttings free fluid back
to the drill stem.

For reverse circulation drilling, the direction of flow of drilling flow is

opposite to that of direct circulation drilling. Drilling fluid flows from
the annulus between the drill stem and hole wall to the drill stem. The
drilling fluid is pumped to nearby sump pits where cuttings are
dropped and settled.

Reasons of using compressed air as drilling fluid

For rotary drilling in ground investigation works, drilling fluid is
normally used to clear and clean the cuttings from the drilling bits and
transport them to the ground surface. Moreover, it also serves to
produce a cooling effect to the drilling bit. In addition, the stability of
boreholes can be enhanced and the drilling fluid also produces
lubricating effect to the bits.

Compressed air when used as a drilling fluid possesses several

advantages. Firstly, the use of compressed air can reduce the loss of

90
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

fluid during circulation which is commonly encountered for water

being used as drilling fluid. Secondly, the efficiency of air to clean
drilling bits is higher than other types of drilling fluids. Thirdly, the
moisture condition of in-situ soils would not be affected by air when
compared with water as drilling fluid. In addition, in cold countries the
occurrence of freezing of drilling water/mud can be avoided by using
air. However, special attention should be taken to avoid breathing the
generated dust when compressed air is employed as drilling fluid and
dust suppression measures have to be properly implemented.

Stresses during pile driving

In pile driving operation, proper selection of piling hammers is
essential to prevent the damage of piles. For instance, a light hammer
with higher drop causes a higher impact stress than a heavy hammer
with lower drop provided that they generate the same energy per blow.

During driving, the piles are continuously subjected to considerable

reflected tensile stresses and compressive stresses. In case the pile
sections are incorrectly aligned, the lack of straightness may induce
significant bending stresses being locked in piles during pile driving.
Moreover, if obstructions are encountered during pile driving, bending
stresses would be induced in piles.

Shaft grouting for friction barrettes

For the construction of friction barrettes, some grout pipes are
designed at the periphery of the barrettes. Within a short duration (e.g.
24 hours) of concreting of barrettes, the fresh concrete cover is cracked
by injecting water. After that, shaft grouting is conducted where the
grout travels along the interface between concrete and soil and
compacts the surrounding soils which are loosened or disturbed during
excavation. The hydraulic fracturing of surrounding soils by grout
during the grouting operation generates planes of higher shear strength.
The grout would penetrate and improve the strength of soils around the
barrettes.

91
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Strain compatibility in mini-piles

In designing the axial capacity of mini-piles, grout may be taken into
account in the contribution of axial load capacity. However, the total
load capacity of min-piles may not be equivalent to the sum of
individual capacity derived from grout and from steel H-section. The
reason behind this is that the vertical loads on mini-piles are shared
among grout and steel sections based on their Young’s modulus and
areas. Basically, in order to comply with strain compatibility criterion,
the steel bars and grout will deform as a whole though they possess
different stiffness. A case may occur in which the sharing of loads for
grout may be too high which cracks the grout section and fails the
mini-piles already before the whole pile section could attain the full
design load which is assumed to be the sum of individual capacities.
Hence, strain compatibility has to be checked in designing the vertical
capacity of min-piles [28].

Which type of pile cap transfers loads equally to piles, flexible pile
cap or rigid pile cap?

Loads from columns transferring to pile cap induce tensile forces at

the bottom of the cap. For instance, by using truss analogy to analyze a
pile cap sitting on two piles with a column at the centre of the pile cap,
the tensile force at the bottom is proportional to the pile spacing and is
inversely proportional to depth of pile cap. The bottom reinforcement
is designed to resist the tensile stressed generated from loads in
columns. Sometimes, reinforcement may be designed at the top of pile
caps which serve as compression reinforcement. This type of
reinforcement is required in case there is a limitation on the depth of
pile caps. Similarly shear reinforcement is introduced to the pile caps
in case there is a restriction to the depth of pile caps.

Consider that loads are applied at the centre of a pile cap.

For the case of rigid pile cap, owing to the effect of interaction of
individual piles, the central piles tend to settle more than the edge piles
when the pile cap is under loading condition. For the pile cap to be
rigid, the local deformation of central piles would not occur. Instead,

92
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

the stiff pile cap would transfer the loads from the central piles and
redistribute them to the outer piles. Therefore, piles at the edge take up
a higher fraction of the total loads and are subjected to higher axial and
bending loads in case the pile cap is stiff. In the extreme case, the side
piles may take up as much as about two to three times the loads in the
central piles and this may lead to the failure of these edge piles.

For flexible pile cap, load taken up by individual piles are different
because the deformation of pile cap enhances non-uniform distribution
of loads among piles. The piles closer to the load tend to share more
loads when compared with those which are located far away from the
loads. The difference of loads induced in piles increase with the
flexibility of pile cap.

93
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Chapter 7. Roadworks

Aggregates, filler and binder in bituminous pavement

In bituminous materials, course aggregates perform the bulking action
of the mixture and contributes to the stability of resulting mix. Fine
aggregates form the major proportion of mortar.

Filler: it stiffens and strengthens the binder.

Binder: cements the whole mixture together and provides
waterproofing.

Asphalt mix design – durability vs stability

The main objective of asphalt mix design is to achieve a mix with
economical blending of aggregates with asphalt to achieve the
following [61]:

(i) workability to facilitate easy placement of bituminous materials

without experiencing segregation;
(ii) sufficient stability so that under traffic loads the pavement will not
undergo distortion and displacement;
(iii)durability by having sufficient asphalt;
(iv) sufficient air voids

In asphalt mix design, high durability is usually obtained at the

expense of low stability. Hence, a balance has to be stricken between
the durability and stability requirements.

Avoidance of designing acute angle of concrete pavement

The stress induced in acute angle corners of concrete pavement is far
much higher than that in right-angle corners of the pavement. For
instance, concrete pavement corner of acute angle of 70o induces
stresses about 50% more than the stress induced by an angle of 90o. As

94
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

a result, corners of concrete pavement should not be designed with

acute angles to avoid corner cracking. If it is necessary to adopt acute
angles for concrete pavement, special reinforcement has to be provided
to strengthen these corners [55].

Fig. 7.1 Acute angle of concrete pavement.

Bitumen emulsions – difference between anionic emulsions and

cationic emulsions

Bitumen emulsions consist of particles of bitumen dispersed in water

by using emulsifying agent. When the emulsion breaks, it represents a
change from a liquid to a coherent film with bitumen particles
coagulating together. The sign of breaking is the change of colour from
brown to black as the colour of emulsion and bitumen is brown and
black respectively.

There are in common two broad types of emulsions, namely anionic

emulsions and cationic emulsions. The breaking of anionic emulsions
is dependent on the evaporation of water from bitumen emulsion. As
such, it poses difficulty in wet weather condition. However, for
cationic emulsions, instead of relying on the evaporation of water the
breaking is achieved by chemical coagulation. Hence, cationic
emulsions are particularly useful in wet weather conditions [66].

95
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Bituminous surfacing over concrete structures

The use of bituminous surfacing over concrete structures (e.g. existing
concrete roads) is widespread to improve the skid-resistance and the
general appearance of roads on one hand, and to avoid the pre-mature
failure of concrete surface by frost spalling in cold countries on the
other hand.

In designing the bituminous surfacing over concrete, there are several

areas to which engineers should pay attention. Firstly, the laying of
thin bituminous material over the joints or existing cracks of concrete
structure would lead to reflective cracking because the thermal
movement of concrete induces swift formation of cracks in bituminous
surfacing. Past research demonstrated that with the adoption of
minimum thickness of 100mm bituminous surfacing the occurrence of
reflective cracks would be delayed when compared with the use of
thinner surfacing. Secondly, sufficient adhesion between concrete and
bituminous surfacing has to be achieved. Therefore, it is recommended
to apply a layer of tack coat on the concrete surface to promote
bonding.

Corner reinforcement for concrete pavement

Consider a panel of concrete slab without any load transferring devices
at it edges. When the concrete panel is subjected to traffic loads, the
maximum stress induced in the concrete panel is at its four corners.
Other than panel corners, the next significant stress induced in
concrete slab is its four edges.

To avoid the structural failure of concrete pavement, one can locally

increase the thickness of corners and edges to reduce the induced
stresses. However, such local thickenings also increase temperature
stresses. Moreover, the construction of non-uniform concrete
pavement is not convenient from practical point of view. The other
way out is to use load transfer devices like dowel bars at the edges of
concrete panels. However, in situation where the designed thickness of
concrete pavement is small which renders the provision of dowel bars
not practical, special design of corner reinforcement has to be

96
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

considered [21].

Compacted thickness of bituminous pavement

The choice of compacted thickness is closely related to the nominal
maximum size of aggregates of bituminous materials. Based on the
recommendation by Dr. Robert N. Hunter [38], the rule of thumb is
that the compacted layer thickness should exceed 2.5 times the
maximum size of aggregate. If the layer thickness is less than 1.5 times
the nominal maximum size of aggregates, the mechanical properties of
bituminous material is impaired by the possible crushing of larger
sizes of aggregates. Hence, controlled thickness of compaction of
bituminous material should be clearly stated in works specification
[38].

Concrete road enhances fuel saving when compared with

bituminous road

Concrete road belongs to rigid pavement and they do not deflect under
traffic loads. On the contrary, bituminous pavement deflects when
subjected to vehicular load. As such, for concrete road no extra effort
is paid on getting out of deflected ruts which is commonly encountered
for bituminous pavement. Hence, vehicles using concrete road use less
energy and there is about 15-20% less fuel consumed when using
concrete road when compared with bituminous road.

Corrugated crash barriers

The layout of corrugated beam barriers is that the beams are
corrugated in the longitudinal direction so that it provides higher
lateral stiffness with a thinner material. Moreover, the distance of
beams posts and crashing vehicles are considerably increased.

In case the beam barriers are tensioned, it is intended to create a stiff

beam erected on relatively weak posts. During vehicle collision, the
posts would be separated from the beams and there would be lesser

97
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

deceleration experienced by the vehicles [48].

Fig. 7.2 Beam barrier.

Concrete crash barriers – its application

Concrete crash barriers are not considered as the best barrier design
because of the following reasons when compared with flexible
barriers:

(i) Concrete barriers possess rough surface which, when impacted by

moving vehicles, tend to cause considerable damage to the
vehicles.
(ii) Since concrete is a rigid material and the deceleration of collided
vehicles is comparatively large when compared with flexible
barriers.

However, concrete crash barriers have particular application in

locations where the deflection of barriers is not allowed. For instance,
in the central divider of a carriageway, if flexible barriers are adopted
and vehicles crush into the barriers, the deformation resulting from the
hitting of vehicles would result in an intrusion to the adjacent
carriageway. This is undesirable because this may trigger further
collisions in the adjacent carriageway and hence rigid barriers like
concrete crash barriers should be adopted in this scenario.

Direction of placing the main weight of reinforcement in concrete

pavement

The reinforcement of concrete pavement is usually in the form of long

98
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

mesh type. A road usually has length is generally much longer than its
width and therefore cracking in the transverse direction has to be
catered for in design. Reinforcement is required in the longitudinal
direction to limit transverse cracking while transverse steel acts to
provide rigidity to support the mesh fabrics. For long mesh in concrete
slab, the main weight of reinforcement should be placed in the critical
direction (i.e. longitudinal direction) to control cracking. However, if
the concrete road is quite wide, certain reinforcement has to be placed
in the transverse direction in this case to control longitudinal cracking
[55].

Function of waterproof (or separation) membrane for concrete

carriageway

A layer of waterproof (or separation) membrane is normally placed

between sub-base and concrete slab for the following reasons [21]:

(i) It prevents the loss of water from cement paste which affects the
strength of concrete slab.
(ii) It enhances the movement of concrete slab relative to sub-base
layer and reduces the frictional forces developed at their interface.
(iii)It avoids the possibility of active aggressive agents from soil water
being attached to the concrete slab.
(iv) It prevents the intermixing of freshly placed concrete with loose
materials on the surface of sub-base.

Fig. 7.3 Location of separation membrane in concrete carriageway.

99
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Function of prime coat in bituminous pavement

The principal function of prime coat in bituminous pavement is to
protect the subgrade from moisture and weathering. Since the presence
of moisture affects the strength of subgrade, the prevention of water
entry during construction is essential to avoid the failure of the
pavement. In cold countries, by getting rid of moisture from subgrade,
the danger of frost heave can be minimized.

Prime coat is an asphalt which, when applied evenly to the surface of

sub-base or subgrade, serves to seal the surface to hinder the
penetration of moisture into subgrade. Vehicular traffic should be
avoided on the surface sprayed with prime coat because the traction
and tearing action of vehicles would damage this asphalt layer.

Fig. 7.4 Position of application of prime coat

Good surface regularity for sub-base in concrete pavement

The surfaces of sub-base material for concrete carriageway should be
constructed in a regular manner because of the following reasons [21]:

(i) One of the main functions of sub-base in concrete pavement is to

provide a smooth and even interface between concrete slab and

100
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

subgrade so that a uniform support is established. A regular surface

of sub-base assists in reducing the frictional and interlocking
forces between concrete slab and sub-base and allowing easier
temperature and shrinkage movement.
(ii) A uniform sub-base surface is essential in the construction of
concrete slab of uniform thickness adopted in design. It saves the
higher cost of concrete to make up the required level.

High-yield steel vs mild steel as road reinforcement

High yield steel is the preferred material for the reinforcement of
concrete carriageway because of the following reasons [55]:

(i) The principal function of steel reinforcement in concrete pavement

is to control cracking. If mild steel is adopted for reinforcement,
upon initiation of crack formation mild steel becomes overstressed
and is prone to yielding. High yield steel offers resistance to crack
growth. The above situation is commonly encountered where there
is abnormal traffic loads on concrete carriageway exceeding the
design limit.
(ii) High-yield steel is less prone to deformation and bending during
routine handling operation.
(iii)In the current market, steel mesh reinforcement is normally of
high-yield steel type and the use of mild steel as road
reinforcement requires the placing of special orders to the
suppliers.

High temperature in laying bituminous pavement

In general, bituminous materials are also broadly classified into two
types, namely bitumen macadams and hot-rolled asphalts. During
compaction, the increase of temperature causes the reduction of
viscosity of binder. The binder acts as a lubricant among aggregates
particles because it is mobile in a fluid state under high temperatures.
The internal resistance between the bituminous materials is drastically
reduced resulting in the formation of a mixture with better aggregate
interlock.

101
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Bitumen macadams mainly contain continuously graded aggregates.

Compaction of this type of bituminous material is eased with an
increase of mix temperature as the lubricating effect of reduced
viscosity of binder helps in the rearrangement of aggregates.

The aggregate of hot-rolled asphalt are not well graded. With a rise in
mixing temperature, the binder will stay unset and the mixture has
little resistance to compaction [38].

Kerb overflow weirs – horizontal bars vs vertical bars

Overflow weirs should be provided for steep roads (longitudinal
gradient>5%) , flat roads (longitudinal gradient<0.5%), sag points and
blockage blackspots. For steep roads, flow is rapid and overflow weirs
should be provided to accommodate the excess flow. For flat roads, the
probability of accumulation of rubbish increases. Therefore, overflow
weirs should be provided in these locations to bypass the stormwater
flow in case of blockage of gullies caused by trapping of rubbish.

Basically, kerb overflow weirs suffer from the drawback that it

provides another passage for debris to enter the gullies and therefore
bars (either horizontal or vertical) should be provided to prevent the
entry of debris into the weirs. For steep roads, as the main concern is
to provide an alternative route for excess flow, horizontal bars should
be provided in this case to maintain better drainage efficiency. For flat
roads, the purpose of overflow weirs is to trap rubbish and therefore,
vertical bars should be provided because it is more effective in
prevention of entry of debris [33].

Local vehicle parapet strong enough to contain vehicles?

The majority of local parapets are 1.1m high and they are designed to
resist impact from a 1.5ton car moving at a speed of 113km/hr. In
some locations such as in the vicinity of railway lines, barriers with
1.5m high are provided to contain a vehicle with 24ton at a speed of
50km/hr.

102
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

The impact situation for vehicles varies from event to event and they
are dependent on the speed, size and angle of incidence of the
impacting vehicle. Though full-scale crash test is the simplest way to
prove their performance, computer simulation has been used
extensively owing to its lower in cost. Based on the results of
computer simulation and crash tests, it is established that the said
parapets comply with international standard for safe usage.

Mechanism of compaction by paver, steel-wheeled roller and

pneumatic tire rollers

Paver, steel-wheeled roller and pneumatic tire roller compact

bituminous material by using the following principles:

(i) The static weight of the paving machines exerts loads on the
bituminous material and compresses the material directly beneath
the machine. The compacting effort increases with the period of
contact and larger machine weight.
(ii) Compaction is brought about by the generation of shear stress
between the compressed bituminous material under the machine
and the adjacent uncompressed bitumen.

Mechanism of taking up loads for concrete paving blocks

The paving for concrete blocks consists of closely packed paving
blocks in pre-determined patterns and the tiny joint spaces between
individual blocks are filled with sand. The presence of sand avoids the
displacement of a single block unit from the remaining blocks.
Moreover, the horizontal interlocking provided by the arrangement of
paving blocks in special patterns (e.g. herringbone pattern) prevents
any single block from moving relative to one another. For instance,
vertical loads acting directly on one concrete paving block are not only
resisted by the block itself, but also by the blocks adjacent to it [59].

103
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Fig. 7.5 Paving blocks.

“Mortar mechanism” vs “stone contact mechanism” in

bituminous materials

“Stone contact mechanism” applies to well graded aggregates coated

with bitumen (e.g. dense bitumen macadam) where the traffic loads on
bituminous roads are resisted by stone-to-stone contact and by
interlocking and frictional forces between the aggregates. It is essential
to adopt aggregates with a high crushing strength. The bitumen
coatings on the surface of aggregates merely serve to cement the
aggregates together.

“Mortar mechanism” involves the distribution of loads within the

mortar for gap-graded aggregates (e.g. hot rolled asphalt). The mortar
has to possess high stiffness to prevent excessive deformation under
severe traffic loads. It is common practice to introduce some filler to
stiffen the bitumen.

Noise absorptive materials – how it works

The basic mechanism of noise absorptive material is to change the
acoustic energy into heat energy. The amount of heat generated is
normally very small due to the limited energy in sound waves (e.g. less
than 0.01watts). The two common ways for energy transformation are:

(i) Viscous flow loss

The absorptive material contains interconnected voids and pores into
which the sound energy will propagate. As sound waves pass through

104
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

the material, the wave energy causes relative motion between the air
particles and the absorbing material and consequently energy losses
are incurred.

(ii) Internal fiction

The absorptive materials have some elastic fibrous or porous structures
which would be extended and compressed during sound wave
propagation. Other than energy loss due to viscous flow loss,
dissipation of energy also results from the internal friction during its
flex and squeezing movement.

Necessity of air voids in bituminous pavement

If the presence of air voids is too high, it leads to an increase of
permeability of bituminous pavement. This allows the frequent
circulation of air and water within the pavement structure and results
in premature hardening and weathering of asphalt. Therefore, too high
an air void content poses detrimental effect to the durability of the
bituminous pavement.

If the presence of air voids is too low, flushing, bleeding and loss of
stability may result under the effect of prolonged traffic loads because
of the rearrangement of particles by compaction. Aggregates may
become degraded by traffic loads leading to instability and flushing for
such a low air void content. The air void space can be increased by
adding more course or fine aggregates to the asphalt mix. Alternatively,
if asphalt content is above normal level, it can be reduced to increase
air voids [61].

Oil interceptors
Grease and oils are commonly found in stormwater runoff from
catchments. They come from the leakage and spillage of lubricants,
fuels, vehicle coolants etc. Since oils and grease are hydrocarbons
which are lighter than water, they form films and emulsions on water
and generate odorous smell. In particular, these hydrocarbons tend to
stick to the particulates in water and settle with them. Hence, they

105
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

should be trapped prior to discharging into stormwater system. Oil

interceptors are installed to trap these oil loads coming from
stormwater. In commercial areas, car parks and areas where
construction works are likely. It is recommended to establish
oil-trapping systems in these locations.

Typical oil interceptors usually contain three compartments:

(i) The first inlet compartment serves mainly for the settlement of
grits and for the trapping of floatable debris and rubbish.
(ii) The second middle compartment is used for separating oils from
runoff.

Optimum binder content in bituminous pavement

The amount of binder to be added to a bituminous mixture cannot be
too excessive or too little. The principle of designing the optimum
amount of binder content is to include sufficient amount of binder so
that the aggregates are fully coated with bitumen and the voids within
the bituminous material are sealed up. As such, the durability of the
bituminous pavement can be enhanced by the impermeability achieved.
Moreover, a minimum amount of binder is essential to prevent the
aggregates from being pulled out by the abrasive actions of moving
vehicles on the carriageway.

However, the binder content cannot be too high because it would result
in the instability of the bituminous pavement. In essence, the resistance
to deformation of bituminous pavement under traffic load is reduced
by the inclusion of excessive binder content.

Purpose of reinforcement in concrete roads

The main purposes of reinforcement in concrete roads are [21]:

(i) to control the development and pattern of cracks in concrete

pavement.
(ii) to reduce the spacing of joints. In general, joints and reinforcement

106
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

in concrete structures are common design measures to cater for

thermal and shrinkage movement. Hence, the inclusion of
reinforcement allows the formation of tiny cracks in concrete
pavement and this allows wider spacing of joints.

In fact, the amount of reinforcement in concrete slab is not substantial

and its contribution to the structural strength of roads is not significant.

Fig. 7.6 Road reinforcement.

“Pumping” at joints in concrete carriageway

Pumping at joints in concrete carriageway occurs in the presence of

the following factors:

(i) Fine-grained subgrade;

(ii) Seepage of water into subgrade due to improper or inadequate
drainage design;
(iii)The presence of heavy vehicular loads.

It involves the pumping out of water-borne particles of the subgrade

owing to the deflections at the end of concrete slab. The first
mechanism of pumping involves the softening of subgrade by water
and the reduction in bearing capacity. It causes a larger instantaneous
deflection at the slab ends under heavy traffic loads. During deflection,
water containing fine soil particles is pumped out at the joints.
Consequently, voids are formed in subgrade region and the void size
grows by repeating the above sequence [21].

107
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Purpose of using capping layers in pavement construction

When the California Bearing Ratio of subgrade is checked to be below
a certain percentage (e.g. 5%), a capping layer is normally provided to
reduce the effect of weak subgrade on the structural performance of
the road. It also provides a working platform for sub-base to be
constructed on top in wet weather condition because the compaction of
wet subgrade is difficult on site. The effect of interruption by wet
weather can be reduced significantly and the progress of construction
works would not be hindered. Most importantly, the cost of capping
layers is low because the material can be readily obtained locally.

Purpose of tar in bituminous materials

Tar is commonly incorporated in bituminous materials because of the
following reasons:

(i) Blending of tar with bitumen possesses better binding performance

with roadstone than bitumen.
(ii) Resistance to fuel oil erosion is high. Tar is used in roads where
there is frequent spillage of fuel from vehicles.

Roadbase vs basecourse in flexible carriageway

Roadbase is the most important structural layer in bituminous
pavement. It is designed to take up the function of distributing the
traffic loads so as not to exceed the bearing capacity of subgrade. In
addition, it helps to provide sufficient resistance to fatigue under cyclic
loads and to offer a higher stiffness for the pavement structure.

However, the basecourse is normally provided to give a well-prepared

and even surface for the laying on wearing course. Regarding the load
distribution function, it also helps to spread traffic loads to roadbase
but this is not the major function of basecourse.

108
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Sand layer vs cement sand used as bedding of precast concrete

paving units

Cement sand is a mixture of cement and sand and it acts as a cohesive

mass once mixed. Normally, a 20mm to 30mm sand layer is laid
underneath precast paving block units. However, in locations of steep
gradients where it stands a high possibility that rain runoff will wash
out infilling sand and sand layers, cement sand should be sued instead.
Similarly, when high pressure jetting is anticipated to be employed
frequently in routine maintenance, sand layers beneath precast paving
block units is not preferable owing to the reason of potential washing
out of sand.

Sub-base for concrete carriageway – non-strength provider

Basically, sub-base for a concrete carriageway is provided for the
following reasons [55]:

(i) It provides a smooth and even surface between the subgrade and
concrete slab. This avoids the problem of uneven frictional stresses
arising from the uneven interface under thermal and shrinkage
movement. It also improves the uniformity of support provided to
concrete slab to enhance even distribution of wheel load to the
subgrade.
(ii) For heavily trafficked carriageways with frequent occurrence of a
high water table, it serves to prevent the occurrence of mud
pumping on clayey and silty subgrade. The loss of these clayey
soils through carriageway joints such as contraction and expansion
joints will cause structural failure of concrete slab under heavy
traffic load.

The stiffness of concrete slab accounts for the strength of rigid road
structure. It is normally uneconomical to employ sub-base as part of
the strength provider because a much thicker layer of sub-base has to
be adopted to reduce the thickness of concrete slab by a small amount.
Hence, it is more cost-effective to increase the depth of concrete slab
rather than to enhance foundation strength in order to achieve a higher
load-carrying capacity of the concrete pavement.

109
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Skid resistance of wearing course

The skid resistance of wearing course in a bituminous pavement is
contributed by the macrotexture (i.e. the general surface roughness)
and the microtexture (i.e. the protruding from chippings) of the
wearing course [38]. These two factors affect the skid resistance of
flexible carriage in different situations. For instance, when the
carriageway is designed as a high-speed road, the tiny channels among
the macrotexture help to drain rainwater to the side of the road and
avoid the occurrence of aquaplaning. In low speed roads the
microtexture has particular significance in providing skid resistance by
gripping the car tyres to the road surface.

Tack coat – emulsified asphalts vs cutback asphalts

Emulsified asphalt is a suspension of asphalt in water by using an
emulsifying agent which imposes an electric charge on asphalt
particles so that they will join and cement together. Cutback asphalt is
simply asphalt dissolved in petroleum. The purpose of adding
emulsifying agent in water or petroleum is to reduce viscosity of
asphalt in 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 is described as “break”. For
emulsified asphalts, when water has all evaporated, the emulsion is
said to have “set”. Cutback emulsion is described to have been “cured”
when the solvent has evaporated. 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.
(iii)The cost of production of petroleum is higher than that of
emulsifying agent and water.

110
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Fig. 7.7 Position of application of tack coat.

Unsealed contraction joints in concrete pavement

For unreinforced concrete pavement, the contraction joint is an
approximately 3mm wide groove with a depth of about one-third to
one-fourth of slab thickness and a regular spacing of normally 5m. The
grooves are designed such that they are too narrow for stones to fall
into when the cracks are open due to the contraction of concrete. The
groove location is l a plane of weakness and the groove acts as a
potential crack-inducing device where any potential cracks due to
shrinkage and thermal contraction may form will be confined to the
base of the groove. It will not cause any unpleasant visual appearance
on the exposed surface of unreinforced concrete pavement.

The above-mentioned contraction joints can be designed as unsealed.

These grooves are very narrow so that stones can hardly get into these
grooves even when the joint undergoes contraction. The fine particles
or grit entering into the groove are likely to be sucked out by the
passing vehicles. The joints can be self-cleansing and it may not be
necessary to seal the joints for fear of attracting the accumulation of
rubbish and dirt [55].

111
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Chapter 8. Steelworks

Acetylene gas cylinder for gas welding to be erected in upright

position

Acetylene gas is commonly used for gas welding because of its

simplicity in production and transportation and its ability to achieve
high temperature in combustion (e.g. around 5,000oF). Acetylene is
highly unstable and flammable and would explode in elevated pressure
when reacting with oxygen in air. Storing acetylene gas in cylinders
under pressure is very dangerous. Gas acetylene used for welding
purposes is stored in cylinders of liquid acetone contained in porous
material (like firebrick). This is for cooling purpose in the event of
thermal decomposition and to ensure that there is no free space left for
acetylene gas. It also prevents the formation of high-pressure air
pockets inside the cylinder. Dissolved acetylene in acetone will no
longer be in contact with oxygen and is not subject to decomposition.
Acetone is used because it is capable of dissolving large amount of
acetylene gas under pressure without changing the nature of the gas.

The cylinders for gas welding i.e. oxygen cylinders and acetylene
cylinders, when not in use should be stored separately because any
mixture of these gases resulting from accidental leakage can be highly
explosive. When in use, acetylene cylinders should always be kept in
upright position. Otherwise, acetone liquid will be drawn from the
cylinders with the gas if they are kept horizontally, resulting in
significant leakage of acetone liquid will result.

Note: Oxygen and acetylene gas cylinders are commonly used in construction sites
for gas welding.

Fig. 8.1 Acetylene gas

cylinder erected in upright
position.

112
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Butt weld – from one side vs from both sides

In the design of butt weld strength, it is generally assumed that its
strength is at least equivalent to the parent metal. To enhance proper
welding operation, the gap between two metals to be welded should
not be too small, otherwise the root would be inadequately fused
during welding and the butt weld strength would be reduced. On the
other hand, the gap should be not set too large because the weld metal
would simply pass through it. The function of the gap between
adjoining root faces is to increase the depth of penetration down to the
root of the weld.

However, it is not always possible to have access to both sides of the

butt weld. Hence, the use of backing plates or rings can enhance the
quality of welding from one side only. By inserting a backing plate
inside the steel member, the correct alignment could be maintained and
certain amount of tolerance on longitudinal fit can be permitted [47].

Castellated beams – Reasons for its widespread usage

Castellated beams refer to the type of beams which involve expanding
a standard rolled steel section in such a way that a predetermined
pattern is cut on section webs and the rolled section is cut into two
halves. The two halves are joined together by welding and the high
points of the web pattern are connected together to form a castellated
beam. The castellated beams were commonly used in Europe in 1950s
due to the limited ranges of the available steel rolled section and the
cheap labour cost. In terms of structural performance, the operation of
splitting and expanding the rolled steel sections helps to increase the
section modulus of the beams. Moreover, it is versatile for its high
strength to weight ratio so that lighter section can be designed with
subsequent cost saving in foundation [20].

Corrosion inhibitors
Corrosion inhibitors are chemical substances that, when added in small
concentrations, stop or reduce the corrosion or reaction of the metal

113
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

with the environment. It normally functions by one or more of the

following mechanisms [50]:

(i) It may alter the external environmental conditions by taking

away or inactivating an aggressive agent;
(ii) It may adhere to form a film on the surface of the metal;
(iii) It brings about the formation of corrosion products.

Fire resistance of steelwork

Owing to the high thermal conductivity of steel, the temperature of
unprotected steel is almost the same as the temperature of fire. Since
the yield strength of structural steel drops approximately by half when
its temperature rises to about 550oC, it is usually provided with some
forms of insulation. The consequence of the outbreak of fire in
proximity of unprotected structural steel is the potential loss of load
carrying capacity of steel and the occurrence of substantial movement
of steel.

High strength friction grip (HSFG) bolts vs normal bolts

HSFG bolts have the following advantages when compared with
normal bolts [47]:

(i) The performance of preloaded HSFG bolts under fatigue loading is

good because the prestressed bolts are subjected to reduced stress
range during each loading cycle when compared with unloaded
bolts.
(ii) For structures adjacent to machinery which generate substantial
vibration, preloading bolts can help to avoid the loosening of bolts.
(iii)HSFG bolts are used in connections where any slight slip
movement would render the integrity of the whole structures break
down.
(iv) Owing to its high tensile strength, it is commonly used in
connections which require the taking up of high flexure and the
tensile stress generated could be readily resisted by it high tensile
strength.

114
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Insulating washer between steel bolts and connecting aluminium

plates

Corrosion of aluminium can be triggered by putting it in contact with

another metal in the presence of water. This is known as bimetallic
corrosion or galvanic corrosion. The mechanism of such corrosion is
the formation of a cell in moist condition so that an electric current is
generated to flow between the two metals in direct contact. The degree
of corrosion is influenced by the nature of connecting metals, their
electrode potential, their areas, conductivity of fluid etc.

When aluminium plates are connected together by means of steel bolts,

bimetallic corrosion may occur. Where there is presence of a good
electrolyte like seawater, there may be local attack on aluminium.
Therefore, some jointing compound or insulating insert and washer are
adopted to insulate electrically the dissimilar metals from one another
[1].

Interface between base plates and footings

The surface of footings is normally quite rough so that some leveling
has to be carried out for the base plates. The interface between the base
plates and footings after leveling is subsequently filled with grout.
During grouting, trapping of air may occur at the underside of base
plates and this leads to the formation of cavities and uneven contact
surfaces on which the base plates are rested. As such, some holes may
be drilled in the base plate to avoid the occurrence of air trapping [63].

Internal force of preloaded fasteners

The force in a bolt in a bolted joint depends on the preloading force
applied to it during the tightening operation. For instance, when the
preloaded bolt is tightened with a certain force, the bolts’ internal force
will not increase significantly if the external applied force on the
bolted joint does not exceed the preloading force. It looks like the bolt
does not feel the external applied force and it is not until the external
force has exceeded the preloading force when a substantial increase of

115
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

internal force of the bolt will occur.

Paint system to protect steelwork from corrosion

In a typical painting system, there are normally three main layers,
primer, undercoat and finishing coat. The primer acts as the first coat
of the painting system and adheres to the substrate. It serves to provide
a foundation for other coats. The mid-coat, undercoat, is designed to
increase the film thickness and hinder the background colour.
Moreover, it aids in the reduction of permeability by incorporating
pigments like micaceous iron oxide. Finally, the finishing coat
contributes to the appearance of the painting system like colour.
Sometimes, it may be designed to provide additional abrasive
resistance. However, in terms of corrosion protection to steelworks, it
does not add much value.

The main component which serves to inhibit corrosion is the primer

because it is in direct contact with steel surface. In general the primer
is pigmented with inhibitors like zinc and zinc phosphate which
protect the steelwork by sacrificial protection [27]. Initially the primer
is porous and the products generated by sacrificial protection of zinc
fills these voids and the primer acts as a barrier.

Purpose of pedestals
When structural steelworks are connected to the foundation, pedestals
are normally designed to carry loads from metal columns through the
ground surface to the footings which are located below the ground
surface. With the installation of pedestals, it is the pedestals, instead of
metals, which come into contact with soils. The purpose of the
provision of pedestals is to avoid the direct contact of metal columns
with soils which may cause possible metal corrosion by soils. The soils
around the pedestals should be properly compacted to provide
sufficient lateral resistance to prevent buckling of pedestals [9].

116
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Fig. 8.2 Pedestal.

Residual stresses in steel after welding

Considerable residual stresses are induced in connecting steel
members after the welding operation. The local temperature of steel
where welding takes place is higher than the remaining parts of the
connecting steel members. This causes thermal expansion locally
during welding and the subsequent contraction after welding. Tensile
stresses associated with the thermal contraction generated during the
cooling process are balanced by compressive stresses in the remaining
parts of connecting steel members. As a result, residual stresses are
induced during the welding operation.

Washer – necessary for bolts?

“Fastener” is a general term used to describe something which is used
as a restraint for holding things together or attaching them to other
things.

The main physical distinction between screws and bolts is that screws
are entirely full of threads while bolts contain shanks without threads.
However, a better interpretation of the differences between the two is
that bolts are always fitted with nuts. On the contrary, screws are
normally used with tapped holes.

117
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

High friction grip bolts are commonly used in structural steelwork.

They normally consist of high tensile strength bolts and nuts with
washers. The bolts are tightened to a shank tension so that the
transverse load across the joint is resisted by the friction between the
plates rather than the bolt shank’s shear strength.

The purpose of installing washers in a typical bolting system is to

distribute the loads under bolt heads and nuts by providing a larger
area under stress. Otherwise, the bearing stress of bolts may exceed the
bearing strength of the connecting materials and this leads to the loss
of preload of bolts and the creeping of materials. Alternatively, flanged
fasteners instead of using washers could be adopted to achieve the
same purpose.

Fig. 8.3 Washer.

118
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Chapter 9. Waterworks and tunneling

Air chamber vs surge tank in pressurized pipelines

Air chambers and surge tanks are normally installed in watermain to
ease the stress on the system when valves or pumps suddenly start up
and shut down. A surge tank is a chamber containing fluid which is in
direct contact with the atmosphere. For positive surge, the tank can
store excess water, thus preventing the water pipes from expansion and
the water from compression. In case of downsurge, the surge tank can
supply fluid to prevent the formation of vapour column separation.
However, if the relief of surge pressure is significant, the height of
surge tank has to be large and sometimes it is not cost-effective to
build such a large tank. On the contrary, an air chamber can be adopted
in this case because air chamber is an enclosed chamber with
pressurized gases inside. The pressure head of the gas inside the air
chamber can combat the hydraulic transient. The volume of liquid
inside the air chamber should be adequate to avoid the pressure in the
pipelines falling to vapour pressure. The air volume should be
sufficient to produce cushioning effect to positive surge pressures. In
essence, air chambers can usually be designed to be more compact
than surge tanks. Air chamber has the demerits that regular
maintenance has to be carried out to check the volume of air and
proper design of pressure level of gas has to be conducted.

Axial flow pumps for large flows and low heads

It is well known that axial flow pumps are most suitable for providing
large flows and low heads. The reason behind this is closely related to
the configuration and design of the pumps. In axial flow pumps, the
size of inlet diameter is greater than that of impeller diameter. For low
flow condition the velocity is relatively small and this increases the
chances of occurrence of separation which brings about additional
head losses and vibration. On the contrary, if the discharge is large
enough the problem of separation is minimized.

119
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Best efficiency point≠

≠operating point for pumps

In a pumping system, a system curve can be derived based on the static

head required to lift up the fluid and variable head due to possible head
losses. The pump curves which relate the performance of the pumping
to head against discharge can be obtained from pump suppliers. When
the system curve is superimposed on the pump curve, the intersection
point is defined as the operating point (or duty point). The operating
point may not be necessarily the same as the best efficiency point. The
best efficiency point is a function of the pump itself and it is the point
of lowest internal friction inside the pump during pumping. These
losses are induced by adverse pressure, shock losses and friction.

Losses due to adverse pressure gradient occur in pumps as the pressure

of flow increases from the inlet to the outlet of pumps and the flow
travels from a region of low pressure to high pressure. As such, it
causes the formation of shear layers and flow separation. Flow
oscillation may also occur which accounts for the noise and vibration
of pumps. The effect of adverse pressure gradient is more significant in
low flow condition.

For shock losses, they are induced when the inflow into pumps is not
radial and contains swirl. In an ideal situation, the flow within the
pump should be parallel to the impellers such that the flow angle is
very close to the impeller angle. The deviation of the above situation
from design causes energy
losses and vibration.

Fig. 9.1 A diagram

showing point of best
efficiency ≠ operating
point

120
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Backward curved vanes vs forward curved vanes in pumps

The power of a pump is related to discharge as follows:

k 2Q 2
Power = k1Q +
tan A

where k1 and k2 are constants, Q is discharge and A is the angle

between the tangent of impeller at vane location and the tangent to
vane.

For A less than 90o (forward curved vanes) it is unstable owing to

unrestricted power growth. Large losses result from high outflow
velocity. The preferred configuration is achieved when A is more than
90o (i.e. backward curved vanes) because it has controlled power
consumption and presents good fluid dynamic shape.

Complete embedment of pipelines into thrust blocks

For unreinforced concrete thrust blocks in bends and tees for
pressurized pipelines, it is recommended that the contact surface
between the pipelines and concrete thrust blocks should not exceed 45o
from either side of the pipe in the direction of thrust force through the
center of pipelines [65]. The reason is to prevent the occurrence of
potential cracking arising from the deformation of pipelines under
loading condition. If it is necessary to embed the whole section of
pipelines into concrete, it is suggested to coat the pipe with a flexible
material.

Ductile iron pipes vs mild steel pipes as pressurized pipelines

For watermain pipe size less than 600mm, ductile iron is normally
used because internal welding for steel pipes below 600mm is difficult
to be carried out. Moreover, it requires only simple jointing details
which allows for a faster rate of construction. For watermain pipe size
above 600mm, steel pipes are recommended because steel pipes are

121
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

lighter than ductile iron pipes for the same material strength and
therefore the cost of steel pipes is normally less than that of ductile
iron pipes. In addition, in areas of difficult access the use of lighter
mild steel pipes has an advantage over ductile iron pipes for easy
handling.

Differences between open shield and closed shield for TBM

Open shield type TBM refers to those providing lateral support only.
They can be further classified into single shield and double shield.

Closed shield type TBM refers to those providing lateral support and
frontal support. Some common TBM method under this category
includes compressed air TBM, slurry shield TBM, earth pressure
balance machine and mixed confinement shield.

Compressed air TBM is suitable for cohesive soils under water table
(e.g. ground with low permeability with no major discontinuities).
Slurry shield TBM is suitable for soft ground and soft rock under
water table and also for ground for high permeability. Earth pressure
balance machine is suitable for soft ground and soft rock under water
table. It is not recommended for very abrasive and hard ground.

Differences between pipe jacking and micro-tunneling

Pipe jacking is a general technique of the installation of pipes with a
tunneling shield in front and the pipes are jacked from a jacking pit to
a receiving pit. The tunneling shield for pipe jacking can be electrical
and mechanical equipment for conducting the excavation work or it
can be a manual shield for workers going inside the shield to carry out
manual excavation. For microtunneling, it is a kind of pipe jacking of
small sized non-man-entry pipes which are remotely controlled. In
general, there are two common types of micro-tunneling machines:

(ii) Pressurised slurry

Similar to the Pressurised slurry TBM, excavated material is
transported from the excavation face to the surface suspended in a

122
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

slurry.

(iii)Auger machine
Excavated material is transported from the excavation face to the
drive pit through a cased screw auger.

Differences between segmentally lined tunnels and Sprayed

Concrete Linings (SCL) tunnels

The basic difference between segmentally lined tunnels and SCL

tunnels is that the sprayed concrete in SCL tunnel is used for
temporary linings only. Concrete linings in segmentally lined tunnels
are designed with long-term load conditions with the adoption of
appropriate safety factors. However, the dimension of linings in SCL
tunnels is derived from a balance between safety of lining and cost
consideration.

The quality of precast concrete linings can be better controlled in

precasting yards. As such, the quality control of precast concrete lining
is obviously better than that of sprayed concrete which depends on site
workmanship [39].

Ground settlement occurs when pipe-jacking machine enters

mixed ground with soils and boulders?

The rate of cutting through soils is faster than that of cutting through
boulders for pipe-jacking machine. As such, when pipe-jacking
machine enters a region of mixed ground with soils and boulders, the
machine has the tendency to move towards the direction of soft soils
because of the difference of rate of advancement of pipe-jacking
machine for soils and boulders. Consequently, migration of soft soils
occur which contributes to ground settlement. The degree of settlement
is dependent of the depth of soil cover, soil property and the size of
boulders.

123
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Ground settlement occurs ahead or behind the jacking face for

pipe-jacking?

It is reported by Lake (1992) that settlements are expected at the

ground surface at a distance of 1-2 times of tunnel depth ahead of the
tunnel face and 80% to 90% of settlement to be completed at a similar
distance behind the face. However, in the paper “Monitoring of ground
response associated with pipe jacking works – recent experience in
Hong Kong”, the author pointed out that based on their experience,
development of longitudinal settlement was observed at a distance of
3-4 times of tunnel depth behind the tunnel face and little settlements
were reported immediately above the tunneling face.

Grouting in segmental linings in tunnels

Grouting is usually carried out under pressure in segmental linings
during tunnel construction because of the following reasons [62]:

(i) It helps in the uniform transfer of ground pressure to the linings.

(ii) The grout serves to reduce the surface settlement.
(iii)Grout fills up the annulus of tunnel linings so that it upholds the
designed tunnel shapes.
(iv) The presence of grout aids in limiting groundwater seepage in the
tunnels.

Minimum volume of sump volume for pumps

Maximum pumping rate = Q p

Volume of sump = V
Inflow Rate = Qi
Cycle Time Tc = t1 + t 2
V
t1 =
Q p − Qi

124
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

V
t2 =
Qi
Tc = Minimum cycle time

 1 1 
V = Tc /  + 
Q −Q Q 
 p i i 

For Minimum Volume,

∂V ∂   1 1 
= Tc / + 
∂Qi ∂Qi   Q − Q Q 
 p i i 

Minimum volume occurs when Qi = 0.5Q p

 1 1 
Hence, Minimum volume of sump = Tc /  + 
 Q − 0.5Q 0.5Q p 
 p p 
Tc Q p
=
4

Necessity of air valves in pressurized pipelines

Air valves are broadly classified into two main types: single air valves
and double air valves. Single air valve contains a small orifice air
valve which allows automatic release of a small amount of
accumulated air during normal operation of the pressurized pipeline.
Double air valves contain a small orifice air valve and a large orifice
air valve. The large orifice air valve exhausts air automatically during
filling and permits admission of air during emptying of the pipeline.
However, it cannot perform the function of a small orifice air valves.

The presence of air in the pressurized pipeline is undesirable due to the

following reasons:

(i) The presence of air causes significant impedance to water flow and

125
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

in the worst case it may even cause complete blockage of the

system.
(ii) The air induces considerable head loss to the system and causes the
wastage of useful energy.
(iii)It may cause serious damage to meters and even cause inaccurate
reading of the meters.
(iv) The presence of air causes water hammer damage to the pipeline.

The absence of air (i.e. during emptying operation of pipeline in

routine maintenance) may also generate problems owing to the
following:

(i) The suction generated draws in dirt and mud through faulty
connections and cracks in pipelines.
(ii) The seals, gaskets and internal accessories will be suctioned inside
the pipelines.
(iii)Sometimes, the suction forces may be so significant to cause
collapse of pipelines.

One may query that if a large orifice air valves can perform the
functions of filling and release of air, why is it necessary to add small
orifice air valves in the pipeline system for release of accumulated air
during normal operation? The reason is that the air accumulated at the
high points of pressurized system will be expelled through the large
orifice air valves (in case no small orifice air valves are installed in the
system) upon starting of a pump and with such rapid outflow of air
through the large valves, high slam pressure may be produced resulting
in the damage of the pipelines.

Number of segments for segmental linings in tunneling

For the construction of tunnels by segmental linings, the choice of the
number of segments affects the cost and durability of tunnels. With an
increase in the number of segments, the number of joints also increases
accordingly. This raises the potential for water ingress into the tunnels.

However, if the number of segments is kept to a minimum, the speed

of the erection of segments can be increased. However, it is expected
that higher bending moment would be induced in the tunnel rings for

126
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

smaller number of segments and extra cost is incurred in the provision

of additional reinforcement.

Potential advantages of segmental tunneling when compared with

hand-shield pipe-jacking

In segmental tunneling, the jacks are installed at the shield so that it is

not necessary to install thrust wall at the jacking pit. This provides the
opportunity for smaller size of the pit because of the absence of thrust
wall. Moreover, as the jacking operation involves the jacking of small
length of segmental liner plates and hence smaller force would be
required for pipe jacking when compared with traditional pipe jacking
(jacks at jacking pits) where the jacking force is needed to overcome
long lengths of pipe drives. On the other hand, the use of segmental
tunneling offers better control in alignment because the steering
operation could be performed at the shield.

Purpose of embedding puddle flange inside the walls of closed

valve chambers

When valves are closed to stop water flow in a pipeline, a thrust is

generated along the direction of the pipeline. Hence, it is necessary to
restrain the valves during closure to prevent it from moving in the
thrust direction. If the closed valve is situated inside valve chambers, it
is connected to a puddle flange embedded inside a wall of the chamber.
As such, the closed valves can be effectively restrained from the thrust
action during the closure of valves.

Purposes of subdivision of tunneling faces in Sprayed Concrete

Linings (SCL) method

In employing sprayed concrete lining methods for lining a large tunnel

in soft ground, the tunneling face is normally divided into several parts
because of the following reasons [62]:

(i) It enables early closure of part of the invert of the tunnel.

127
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

(ii) With the excavation in each part taking place at different times, it
helps to reduce the area of exposure of the tunnel face so that there
is better control on tunnel stability.
(iii)For unit advancement in any part of the tunnel excavation, the
amount of excavation and sprayed concrete is reduced. As such,
this allows for early provision of primary support.

Pressure balance method vs compressed air method in pipe

jacking

Pressure balance method normally requires the use of mechanically

operated tunnel-boring machine at its cutting head in pipe jacking.
Slurry or steel bulkhead is commonly adopted to provide the balance
of earth pressure and groundwater in front of the boring machine.
Slurry used in balancing earth pressure and ground water pressure is
constantly supplied to the face of the cutting wheel through slurry
pipes. The excavated materials drop into a crusher for reduction in
material size. Later, the debris and spoils will enter the spoil removal
chamber near the invert of the shield and will be transported to ground
level through slurry discharge pipes. This method of construction is
normally adopted in sand and gravel. However, it suffers from the
demerit that it is quite difficult to remove large rock boulders during
the advancement of the machine. It is quite time-consuming for
workers to go inside the relatively small airlock chamber and remove
large bounders by hand tools.

The other type of pressure balance technique is called earth pressure

balance method which is commonly used in clay and silty soils. It
makes use of the principle of maintaining the pressure of excavation
chamber the same as the pressure in ground. The excavated materials
are transported through screw conveyor to the jacking pit.

Compressed air method in pipe jacking is commonly adopted in

locations where groundwater table is high. An air pressure of less than
1 bar is usually maintained to provide the face support and to avoid
water ingress. Pressurization and depressurization has to be conducted
for workers entering and leaving the pipe-jacked tunnels. In case of
porous ground, certain ground treatment like grouting has to be carried
out. The removal of boulders by this method is convenient but it has

128
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

the disadvantages of slow progress and significant noise problem

generated by generators and compressors.

Radial flow pumps for small flows and high heads

In radial flow pumps, a diffuser/volute is normally designed at it outlet
to convert the kinetic energy gained during the pumping process to
pressure head. The diffuser is characterized by widening of outlet
pipes, resulting in the decrease of velocity (by continuity equation) and
an increase in pressure head (by Bernoulli’s equation). In case of large
flows to be handled by the pumps, the large velocity results in
formation of significant Coriolis force which tends to deviate the outlet
flow from design conditions.

At the inlet part of the pumps, the inlet size is smaller than the
diameter of the impeller. Consequently, the velocity of flow associated
with a small area is relatively large and there is less problem of
separation in low flow condition. All in all, the efficiency of radial
flow pumps is high when handling small flows.

Reasons of ground heaving during pipe-jacking

It is commonly recognized that ground settlement is one of the major
concern in pipe jacking operation. However, engineer should also pay
attention to the problem of ground heaving during grouting work of
pipe-jacking. For instance, if excessive slurry or grout pressure is
applied so as to exceed the overburden pressure, ground heaving
would result. Alternatively, if the ground contains loose soils with high
porosity, the same phenomenon also occurs. Proper control on the
applied pressure and viscosity of grout/slurry is necessary to prevent
such occurrence.

Reinforcement in thrust blocks

In normal situation, reinforcement is not required for thrust blocks in
pressurized pipelines. However, certain amount of reinforcement has

129
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

to be added in thrust blocks in the following situations [65]:

(i) The structure integrity of huge thrust block could be enhanced by

the introduction of reinforcement.
(ii) At the anchorages for straps in thrust blocks, some reinforcement
has to be designed to avoid the development of tensile stresses.

Service reservoirs – a necessity?

Service reservoirs, other than normal reservoirs, are provided because
of the following reasons:

(i) In case of the breakdown of pumping stations and water treatment

plants, it provides a temporary storage of water in emergency
situation like fire fighting.
(ii) Since the demand of water supply from customers varies with time,
the provision of service reservoirs aims to balance the fluctuation
rate of water demand.
(iii)It provides a constant head of water to the distribution system
under the design pressure.
(iv) In the event of the occurrence of water hammer or surge during the
rapid closure and opening of pumping stations, the reservoir acts to
attenuate the surge and performs like a surge tank.
(v) It leads to a reduction of the size of pumps and trunk mains
connecting to the distribution system as the pumps are not required
to directly cope with the peak rates of water demand by the
introduction of service reservoirs. As such, there is substantial cost
savings arising from the use of smaller pumping pipelines and
smaller pumps.

Why does pipejacking machine usually get stuck when the ground
condition change from soil to very hard rock?

When the pipejacking machine moves from a region of soil to very

hard rock, it will be subject to damage of cutting disc. To break and
loosen the rock, the pipejacking machine applies a large torque on
cutting wheels. However, with the change of soft region to hard region,

130
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

the pipejacking machine is still under the same jacking load. As such,
this results in insufficient or little space for the movement of the
machine against the rock face, leading to damage and exhaustion of
the pipejacking machine.

131
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

References

1. Aluminium Federation (1965). Aluminium in Contact with Other

Materials, 8-17.

2. American Concrete Institute (1994). Guide to Shotcrete, ACI

Committee, 30 pp.

3. American Society of Civil Engineers (1993). Standard Practice

for Direct Design of Buried Precast Concrete Pipe Using
Standard Installations (SIDD), 16 pp.

4. Anchor, R. D., Hill, A.W. and Hughes, B. P. (1979). Handbook

on BS 5337:1976, A Viewpoint Publication, 15 pp.

5. Beeby, A. W. (1978). Corrosion of Reinforcing Steel in Concrete

and Its Relation to Cracking, The Structural Engineer March
1978, 77-82.

6. Beeby, A. W. (1978). Cracking and Corrosion – Concrete in the

Oceans Technical Report 1, CIRIA/Cement and Concrete
Association/Department of Energy.

7. Bernadr, K. C. (1986). Concrete Sleepers, Thomas Telford, 1-18.

8. Bettigole, N. and Robison, R. (1997). Bridge Decks – Design,

Construction, Rehabilitation and Replacement, American Society
of Civil Engineers, 45-46.

9. Bowles, J. E. (1997). Foundation Analysis and Design,

McGraw-Hill International, 428-435 pp.

10. Bussell, M. N. and Cather, R. (1995). Design and Construction

of Joints in Concrete Structures, CIRIA, 49-51.

11. CEB Bulletin 211 (1992). Coating Protection for Reinforcement,

Thomas Telford Publications, 7-8 & 27-28.

12. CIRIA (1991). Manual of Good Practice in Sealant Application,

132
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Special Publication 80, CIRIA and British Adhesives and

Sealants Association, 10-13 & 22-23.

13. CIRIA (1994). Design of Sewers to Control Sediment Problems,

23-25.

14. CIRIA (1996). A Guide to the Design of Anchor Blocks for

Post-tensioned Prestressed Concrete Members, 10-12.

15. CIRIA (1997). Report 168 - Culvert Design Manual, 35-41 &
64-65.

16. Clark, L. A. (1983). Concrete Bridge Design to BS5400,

Construction Press, Longman Group Ltd, 38-39 & 66.

17. Concrete Pipe Association of Great Britain (1972). Precast

Concrete Manholes – Technical Bulletin No. 4, 3 pp.

18. Cooke, T. H. (1990). Concrete Pumping and Spraying, Thomas

Telford Ltd, 61-63.

19. Costa, F. V. (1964). The Berthing Ship – The Effect of Impact on

the Design of Fenders and Berthing Structures, Ward and
Foxlow Ltd, 13-14 & 21-23.

20. Das, P. K. and Srimani, S. L. (1985). Handbook for the Design of

Castellated Beams, A.A Balkema/Rotterdam, 1-5.

21. Department of Transport, Transport and Road Research

Laboratory and Department of the Environment (1976). A Guide
to Concrete Road Construction, Cement and Concrete
Association, 12, 14, 18-19 & 23.

22. Domone, P. L. J. and Jefferis, S. A. (1994). Structural Grout,

Blackie Academic and Professional, 35-36.

23. Drainage Services Department (2000). Stormwater Drainage

Manual, 59-61 & 68-69.

24. Environment (1976). A Guide to Concrete Road Construction,

133
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Cement and Concrete Association, 18-19.

25. FIP Working Group on Floating Vessels (1982). Cover to Steel

Reinforcement for Floating Structures, 4-5.

26. Fleming, W. G. K., Weltman, A. J., Randolph, M. F. and Elson, W.

K. (1985). Piling Engineering, Surrey University Press, 155 &
259-261.

27. Gedge, G. and Whitehouse, N. (1997). New Paint Systems for the
Protection of Construction Steelwork, CIRIA Report 174, 23 pp.

28. GEO (1996). Pile Design and Construction, 74-75.

29. Graham, B. (2000) Stormwater Drainage, Engineering Education

Australia.

30. Hambly, E. C. (1979). Bridge Foundations and Substructures,

Building Research Establishment, 47-49, 68 & 72.

31. Henderson, F. M. (1966). Open Channel Flow, Collier Macmillan

Publishers, 221-227.

32. Highways Department (1997). Structures Design Manual, 40 pp.

33. Highways Department (1994). Road Notes 6 – Road Pavement

Drainage, 13-14.

34. Hilson, B. (1993). Basic Structural Behaviour, Thomas Telford

Ltd, 58-59.

35. Holtz, R. D., Jamiolkowski, M. B., Lancellotta, R. and Pedroni,

R. (1991). Prefabricated Vertical Drains – Design and
Performance, Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd, 11-15.

36. Hollaway, L. C. (1990). Polymers and Polymer Composites in

Construction, Thomas Telford Ltd, London, 183-202.

37. Hudson, J. A. (1989). Rock Mechanics Principles in Engineering

134
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Practice, Hartnoll Ltd., 46-47.

38. Hunter, R. N. (1994). Bituminous Mixtures in Road Construction,

Thomas Telford Services Ltd, 4-7, 321 pp.

39. Institution of Civil Engineers (1996). Sprayed Concrete Linings

(NATM) for Tunnels in Soft Ground, Thomas Telford Ltd, 77-78.

40. Joint Committee of ICE and IStructE (1956). The Vibration of

Concrete, 50 pp.

41. King, C. M. (2001). Design of Steel Portal Frames for Europe,

The Steel Construction Institute, Silwood Park, 8-9.

42. Lau, C. K. (1979). Some Vierandeel Girder Footbridges in Hong

Kong HKIE Paper, The Hong Kong Engineer.

43. Lee, D. J. The Theory and Practice of Bearings and Expansion

Joints for Bridges, Cement and Concrete Association, 21-24 &
32 – 37.

44. Lewis, A. F. G. (1968). Steel for Prestressing, Federation

Internationale De La Precontrainte, 20-22.

45. Li, Victor (2005). “A Critical Review of the Design Practice of

Rock Socketed Pile in Hong Kong”, Design of Rock-scoketed
Piles, HKU SPACE and Centre for Research & Professional
Development, 45-58.

46. Longman Scientific and Technical (1987). Concrete Technology,

Longman Singapore Publishers (Pte) Ltd, 83-85.

47. Mann, A. P. and Morris, L. J. (1981). Lack of Fit in Steel

Structures ,CIRIA, 8-9 pp.

48. Morse, G. and Morgan, E. J. (1971). Highway Crush Barriers,

IPC Building & Contract Journals Ltd, 8-10.

49. Mosley, W. H., Bungey, J. H. and Hulse, R. (1999). Reinforced

Concrete Design, Palgrave, 12-13, 100 & 105-108.

135
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

50. Nathan, C. C. (1977). Corrosion Inhibitors, National Association

of Corrosion Engineers, 7-13.

51. Novak, P., Moffat, A. I. B., Nalluri, C. and Narayanan R. (1996).

Hydraulic Structures, E & FN Spon, 478 pp.

52. O”Flaherty, C. A. (1974). Highways Volume 2 Highway

Engineering, Edward Arnold (Publishers) Ltd, 199-201.

53. Pennells, E. (1981). Concrete Bridge Designer’s Manual, A

Viewpoint Publication, 16-17 & 80-81.

54. Pritchard, B. (1992). Bridge Design for Economy and Durability:

Concepts for New, Strengthened and Replacement Bridges,
Thomas Telford Ltd.

55. Road Research Laboratory (1958) Guide to Concrete Road

Construction (Questions and Answers), Cement and Concrete
Association, 6, 14, 17, 18 & 27.

56. Schlaich, J. and Scheef, H. (1982). Concrete Box-girder Bridges,

18 & 23.

57. STS Consultants Ltd. (1994). The Effects of Free Fall Concrete
in Drilled Shafts, ADSC, The International Association of
Foundation Drilling, 14-15.

58. Subramanya, K. (2000). Flow in Open Channels, Tata

McGraw-Hill Co Ltd, 272-273.

59. Tang, K. K. and Cooper, R. P. (1986). Pedestrian Paving in

Urban Areas – The Path Ahead, The Hong Kong Engineer

60. The Institution of Structural Engineers (1975). Design and

Construction of Deep Basements, 37-38.

61. The Asphalt Institute (1956). Mix Design Methods for Hot-mix
Asphalt Paving, 6-8.

136
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

62. The British Tunneling Society and The Institution of Civil

Engineers (2004). Tunnel Lining Design Guide, Thomas Telford
Ltd, 59-95.

63. The Concrete Society, BCSA & Constrado (1980). Holding

Down Systems for Steel Stanchions, 14 pp.

64. Thorburn, S. and Thorburn, J. Q. (1977). Review of Problems

Associated with the Construction of Cast-in-place Concrete Piles,
CIRIA Report PG2, 28-29.

65. Thorley, A. R. D. and Atkinson J. H. (1994). Guide to the Design

of Thrust Blocks for Buried Pressure Pipelines, CIRIA, 47 pp.

66. Wignall, A., Kendrick, P. S. and Ancil, R.. Roadwork Institution

of Works and Highways Management, 134-136 & 164-165.

67. Young, O. C. and Trott, J. J. Buried Rigid Pipes, Elsevier Applied

Science Publishers, 14-15, 69-75, 81& 87-91.

137
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Backcover
About the Author

Vincent T. H. CHU (朱敦瀚朱敦瀚)

朱敦瀚 , famed as walking encyclopedia of
有
civil engineering ( Civil 百科全書的外號 ), obtained the degree of
civil and structural engineering in the University of Hong Kong.
He is the author of the monthly column “The Civil FAQ” in the
Hong Kong Engineer published by the Hong Kong Institution of
Engineers and is the author of the civil engineering monthly
columns “The Civil Q&A” and “The Civil Corner” on the websites
on World Federation of Engineering Organization and the
University of Science and Technology (American Society of Civil
Engineers – International Student Group) respectively. He is the
recipient of the Ombudsman’s Award 2007 under
complaint-related category and Young Engineer of the Year Award
2008 (Merit) organized by the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers.
He is also the author of the engineering book “200 Question and
Answers on Practical Civil Engineering Works”, which is widely
publicized and posted on the websites of following engineering
organizations and universities around the world:

EUROPE

Posted on Engineering Websites

European Council of Civil Engineers ECCE

http://www.ecceengineers.eu/papers/index.php

Institution of Civil Engineer (United Kingdom)

http://www.ice.org.uk/knowledge/document_details.asp?Do

138
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

cu_id=1715&intPage=4&faculty

German Federation of Technical and Scientific

Organisations DVT
http://www.dvt-net.de/intern.html

Slovak Chamber of Civil Engineers (斯洛伐克共和國)

http://www.sksi.sk/buxus/generate_page.php?page_id=1

Hemsley Orrell Partnership (Consulting Civil & Structural

Engineers)
http://www.hop.uk.com/information.html

Imperial College London

http://civeselib.wordpress.com/ (posted on 30 June 2008)

Distribution to Members

Schweizerischer Ingenieur- und Architektenverein (SIA -

Switzerland)

The Federation of the Scientific - Engineering Unions in

Bulgaria

ASIA

Posted on Engineering Websites

Japan Society of Civil Engineers

http://jsce.jp/index.pl?section=bookReview

Turkish Chamber of Civil Engineers

http://e-imo.imo.org.tr/Portal/Web/IMO.aspx?WebSayfaKey
=815

Japan Federation of Engineering Societies

JFES-IAC E-News No. 5 (7/2008)
http://www.jfes.or.jp/activitie/iac_news/jfes-iac_e-news_005
.pdf

139
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers

http://www.pice.org.ph/console.htm

Mongolian Association of Civil Engineers

http://www.mace.org.mn/index.php

The University of Science and Technology (American

Society of Civil Engineers – International Student Group)
http://ihome.ust.hk/~asce/

The Alumni Newsletter of the University of Santo Tomas

Civil Engineering Department (Philippines)
http://lab6report.wordpress.com/2007/05/09/a-weblog-devot
ed-to-ust-civil-engineers/

Distribution to Members

Institution of Engineers, Pakistan

The Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education (Morrison

Hill)

The University of Hong Kong (Civil Society)

City University of Hong Kong

NORTH AMERICA

Posted on Engineering Websites

Deep Foundations Institute

http://www.dfi.org/

The CivilEngineer.org
http://www.thecivilengineer.org/general_civil/library_general
_civil.html

140
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

Distribution to Members

Structural Engineers Association of California (SEAOC)

Arup –Washington DC Office

OCEANIA

Posted on Engineering Websites

Engineer Australia (Informit e-library)

http://www.informit.com.au/elibrary_ieleng.html

Distribution to Members

Monash University (Australia)

AFRICA

Posted on Engineering Websites

Institute of Professional Engineering Technologists (South

Africa)
http://www.ipet.co.za/news/OctFinalPDF2008.pdf

Distribution to Members

South African Institution of Civil Engineering

ISLANDS OR OTHERS

Posted on Engineering Websites

World Federation of Engineering Organizations

http://www.wfeo.org/

141
Civil Engineering Practical Notes A-Z Vincent T. H. CHU

The Barbados Association of Professional Engineers

http://www.bape.org/

Distribution to Members

World Council of Civil Engineers (WCCE)

The author has established a free Civil FAQ email service called
“Ask Vincent Chu” (email: askvincentchu@yahoo.com.hk) in
which he would answer civil engineering queries raised from
engineers (especially young engineers).

Interested readers could refer to the personal interview of the

author regarding his further background information:

(i) Face Magazine on 2 December 2008

http://education.atnext.com/index.php?fuseaction=Article.View&a
rticleID=11925677&issueID=20081203

(ii) Jiu Jik 招職 on 30 September 2008

http://www.jiujik.com/jsarticle.php?lcid=HK.B5&artid=3000022089&ar
ttype=LEISU&artsection=CAREER

142