Richard J. Driscoll
Consulting Engineer
Structural & Foundation Engineering
Peer review is a useful but underutilized tool for risk management in design and construction. A peer review is an independent evaluation of some aspect of a project by a professional with relevant knowledge and experience. The objective of a peer review might be quality assurance, compliance with applicable codes, standards and best practices, economy, …
Continue reading “Peer Review in Design and Construction: an Underutilized Tool”
A construction project may be shut down for a variety of reasons, such as the loss of financing, stop-work orders, labor or supply disruptions or disasters. The duration of the shutdown can vary from days to years, depending on the circumstances. Some of the implications of a shutdown are obvious. There are considerations for security …
Continue reading “Structural Implications of a Construction Shutdown”
Construction contractors sometimes need to retain engineers or other design professionals as consultants. They may require engineering support to design temporary works used as part of the means and methods of construction or portions of the project delegated to the contractor by the design professional of record. In addition, contractors may benefit from professional advice to …
Continue reading “What Contractors Should Know About Retaining Engineers”
“Delegated Design” is the means by which the Design Professional of Record (DPOR) passes design responsibility for certain details or elements of a project to the Contractor. It provides flexibility so that proprietary materials and components can be incorporated into the project without the need to complete multiple, detailed design options in the construction contract …
Most people understand that earthquakes can produce catastrophic damage to the built environment. However, given that large earthquakes are relatively rare, and that the television news cameras typically move on a few days after any disaster, a lot of people’s understanding of the effects of earthquakes may be shaped more by bad disaster movies than …
Continue reading “What Everyone Should Know About Earthquakes and Structures”
Construction, particularly in the urban environment, often exposes nearby structures and facilities to hazards. These hazards are difficult to predict precisely and manifest as the work progresses. Impacts of this nature are associated with excavations, tunneling and foundation construction methods. Monitoring of potentially impacted structures and facilities can be necessary to control the risks associated …
One of the challenges of real-world engineering problems is the need to predict the behavior of a system which may be complex, dynamic, nonlinear and subject to uncertainty as to loading and response. Foundation problems are a good example of this. The behavior of a foundation is complex; it is a soil structure interaction problem …
When structural systems are used to retain in-situ soil during excavation, the resulting soil pressures are difficult to accurately predict. In addition to the uncertainty inherent to soil materials, and the inability to fully measure those properties, the pressures on an excavation support system or permanent foundation elements that similarly retain in-situ soil and any …
Continue reading “When to Use Soil-Structure Interaction for Excavation Support Design”
I was once contacted by a marketing official of renewable energy firm looking for help with a small solar array project. His company had a solar installation designed offshore but needed an engineer licensed in the proper jurisdiction to seal the drawings…that afternoon. I balked at the request. I could not possibly perform a sufficient …
Continue reading “The Perils of Seal Renting and Permission Slips”
On 27 May 2018, a string of thunderstorms dropped several inches of rain in Howard County Maryland, causing a torrential flash flood to rise several feet above lower Main Street in Ellicott City – the second time in two years that historic central business district suffered such a severe flood. Flood waters carried away automobiles …
