What is an Engineer-Diver? Fun bit by Ocean and Coastal - check it out: http://youtu.be/P5CX_dqeMn4

Where the Rubber Meets the Road

 

Photo courtesy of AdamB@SilverScreenMarine.com



    After months of intense preparation, my engineer-dive team kicked off field operations in support of a long-awaited New York City harbour project that began stirring prior to my previous departure from the NYC scene.  The project includes nearly every type of underwater waterfront repair currently in use in order to rehabilitate an immense pre-war structure built by the now-defunct Department of Docks.  The diving work is some of the harbour's most challenging, crawling through mud in low to zero visibility, tight quarters, current and no direct access to the water surface.  With the vast majority of work on the project located below the low tide elevation, the client is depending on our team of divers and topside inspectors to ensure that quality work is performed according to strict specifications.  With multiple construction operations and a multitude of divers operating from various locations on a barge flotilla longer than a football field, we are keeping very busy.  With new equipment to vet and operations to master, the dive team members are bringing their full skill set to the table every day to support the mission and get the job done, from database management and software programming to dive gear and audio-visual system maintenance.  Each crew member has developed unique skills and contributions to meet new demands and have begun to coalesce into a tightly-knit and highly effective team .

    Although I had acquired some experience with resident engineering and construction management in the waterfront sector over the years, engineer-divers industry-wide are typically more focused on the condition assessment side of things and lighter on the construction inspection experience.  While the basic premise of donning dive gear to take an engineer's trained eye to the structure and communicate observations may be the same, this project has reminded me that construction inspection is an entirely different animal from conditions assessments or routine underwater investigations, traditionally the bread and butter of my line of work.

    Typical waterfront condition assessment projects might entail an investigation and accompanying report for a structure on a one-time basis, or repeatedly over some multi-year cycle developed to monitor deterioration.  The maintenance or repair recommendations and cost estimates provided to clients may or may not be acted upon, now or ever.  Observations are a mere snapshot in time, and may be given only cursory consideration by different consultants that might follow.  Life expectancies may be estimated, but possibly not revisited in a consistent and effective way to prove useful.   Taken to the extreme, the machine that is our nation's biennial bridge inspections process involves a staggering amount of repetitive inspecting , reporting and monitoring that can easily carry maintenance recommendations through several engineers over dozens of cycles and many years of visits, sometimes with no apparent repair actions for all that effort.  

    Contrast the almost gauzy quality of the routine condition assessment to the cold, hard precision necessary in a construction inspection project.  The contractor's dock builders, divers and crane operators are working in concert with the inspection divers and design engineers to actually build something.  The measurements taken by the dive inspector directly and immediately impact the price paid, observations help determine the repair made, and reports lead to the decisions rendered and direction taken, possibly that same day.  If the inspector makes a bad call, there could be repercussions to the work and they may be significant and immediate.  In the routine bridge inventory world, where one lead inspector may filter through the information, write the report and hand it off to the client to be filed away until the next cycle, the observations of a construction inspection are typically analyzed and discussed at length by the entire inspection team as well as the contractor, and then reviewed with the design engineer, contractor and/or client to develop imminent actions.  Condition assessments, routine investigations and cyclical structural inventories are inarguably important to maintaining our waterfront infrastructure and assets; however, construction inspection is simply put 'where the rubber meets the road'. 

*Opinions and observations expressed in this blog are solely the author's, and are in no way attributable to any business associate, colleague or client.

Rerunning

The peculiar part about returning to my old firm is coming back to reports I wrote over 10 years ago. Saw this pic of me on the Kill Van Kull back in 2002. I think I look younger now. ;)

Visibility!

Working on a report today for a recent dive job in Cali, I came across this shot of me taken by backup diver. I don't believe I've dove water this clear in 10 years - the visibility is a bit shocking. I really like the shot... almost erie looking. Definitely one for the kids and grandkids someday.

Goin back to Cali

Had an oppurtunity to come back to the LA Long Beach area for a dive job. NYC project is delayed and family is not relocated yet, so it worked out. I was here a few years ago with the fam for my wife's tradeshow, when Dylan was only 4 and Gavin was still swimming round Tiff's belly. Nice area, especially Long Beach. Finally have a down day today to see the place during the daytime again! Anyway, job is going well... 6 hrs in the water yesterday, so recovering from a nice wetsuit rash today. All is well.

Week 1 in The City

Just a few pics from week long inspection of nearly century old wharf on the East River in Manhattan. Good to be back diving in The City!

Winter's coming - some ice engineering thoughts

For an ice engineering overview as it pertains to waterfront structures, check out this Marine Dockage article:

Thank you Beastie Boys

Just wanted to thank the Beastie Boys for helping me through this pile of inspection reports...  Mike D, if you're out there and read this - thanks.  Sabotage at full blast over and over will get me through it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5rRZdiu1UE

iPad for inspection field data collection

Started using the first generation iPad without the 4G wireless for bridge inspection and general field work.  Here’s some notes on what I’ve found so far:

-          Extremely light and handy for climbing around bridges and embankments, although I need a waterproof case such as Otterbox or similar

-          Generally very fast and intuitive… I handed it to assistant and he took off with it with very little orientation

-          Camera is good enough quality for typical inspection reports; video/audio is good quality too (although can’t figure out a timestamp feature)

-          Screen is excellent for outdoor use, in direct sun it’s readable, but really great under bridge or in shade

-          Used the app “DocsToGo” to put about 70 empty reports on it, fill them in as we went, and then synched them back to office PC on our return – worked slick

-          used the built-in notepad to do photo logs and misc notes – very fast and easy compared to laptop or gps-type device

-          Tons of memory for storing maps, past reports, inspection manuals, etc.. anything you could possibly need on hand

-          Able to check in on email if wifi was in range, typically at lunch or breaks near civilization

-          Touch keyboard is very easy to use and fast, and it has the auto-fill feature which is handy for repetitive entries

-          Video with audio was very handy for ‘notes to self’

-          Used a rack mount in the vehicle for finishing/typing in between bridges – cost about $35 I think

-          Tons of other useful apps such as weather channel, mapping, sketch on photos, etc… with solid internet, the uses are endless

All in all, it is an excellent field tool that I feel blows the laptop, thinkpad, tablet pc, gps handheld, etc out of the water – I’ll be looking to use it more and more in the future; however, I will likely upgrade to the iPad 2 and would recommend you go that route as well – it really needs to have the solid, full-time internet access to be fully functional and used to its full potential.  Then you can be uploading inspection reports into bridge management systems as you go, which a lot of agencies are going toward – cloud service type approach.  It also has a Facetime app that is similar to Skype but much faster and streamlined that can be used for onsite videoconferencing if you’ve got the 4G wireless going on.  It has a cool feature for that also – push a button and it switches from the front facing to rear facing camera, so you can be talking and then show them what you’re looking at, then go back to conversation.

Interesting "green" erosion control

Saw this interesting old-school erosion control/wave dissapation in the Upper Penninsula area of Michigan on my last bridge inspeciton trip.  It appreared to be recycled dock planking from the old lumber mill structures that used to line the waterfront in the area, laid a a consistent angled manner along the manmade-fill shorelines and channel banks throughout the area.  Laid is multiple courses, with vegetation and gravel/sand/clay matrix holding it togetehr and infilling it rather well - seemed very stable.  The timbers remain durable but flexible - ran the boat up on it at one point and they flexed rather than breaking.  I bet this system has been in place for more than a half a century or more.