Thesis Proposal (1/20/2009)
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This report will serve as my proposal for my research pertaining to my senior thesis work to be conducted in the spring.  This semester was used to research the building for my thesis project and identifying problems that have occurred on the jobsite.  The theme for my proposal is to take some of the bigger problems that have occurred during construction of Turnberry Tower Arlington and come up with alternative solutions or alternative ways tasks could have been performed.  I will take this research and compare it to what was actually done during construction.  The different analysis topics are as follows:

Analysis 1 – Attachment of the Window Wall to Reinforced Concrete
Structural Breadth
This analysis will focus on the problems that occurred on the jobsite with attachment of the structural supports for the building’s exterior window wall system to the post tension concrete decks.  With lack of coordination between the design team and the contractors, drilling needed to occur in the post tension decks.  Many tendons failed because of being struck through the drilling process.  With this occurring halfway up the building, steps were immediately taken to remedy this process.  The goal for this analysis is to go back to the preconstruction phase of the project and propose the use of reinforced concrete.  This would help with all of the designs that were not yet in place and would reduce the risk of having to drill into post tension decks.  I will compare the cost and schedule problems from failed post tension tendons to the same project if reinforced concrete had been used.

Analysis 2 – Supply Water System
Mechanical Breadth & Critical Industry Issue
During some of the value engineering that occurred in the beginning phases of construction, one idea that was utilized on this project was the use of the Sovent System which helped in sustainable construction for the waste piping.  I will now look more closely at the supply water system and propose ways to make this system more sustainable while at the same time decreasing the cost and schedule for installation.  Utilizing propress fittings and prefabrication, I plan to investigate to see if these construction methods would have been more beneficial for this project.  I will then see if any of these construction methods could have helped to obtaining more LEED points for the project.

Analysis 3 – Site Logistics Plan
Turnberry Tower Arlington is surrounded on three sides by main roads.  The country has put time restrictions on some of the roads so construction does not create more traffic during some parts of the day.  With those restrictions, the site plan that was utilized throughout the project used one road for deliveries to the site.  This one main passageway was also the place that concrete was delivered and where the material hoist was accessed.  The goal of this analysis is to redesign the site logistics plan to utilize another part of the site for more deliveries that will reduce the amount of overtime the drywall subcontractor needed for this project.  Cost savings would occur if the drywall subcontractor did not have to accept as many deliveries on the weekends

Breadth Proposal Corrections (1/16/2009)
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Analysis 1 – Using Reinforced Concrete in the place of Post Tension Concrete
Structural Breadth

When this project was handed over to the general contractor, there were many systems that were not yet designed and some of these systems needed to be connected to the post tension concrete slabs.  During construction many tendons were hit as a result of the lack of design and coordination.  I plan to go back to the beginning of the preconstruction process and propose to use reinforced concrete to assure we would not have any tendon busts from the lack of design, especially from the window wall brackets.  I will learn how to use the CRSI handbook to approximate the rebar layouts and then use the direct design method along with the ACI handbook to come up with the slab thickness.  I have come up with “typical bays” in the building that I can use to complete this research.  All of this structural analysis will lead to a conclusion whether reinforced concrete would have been a better idea, with cost and schedule, than using the post tension concrete.

Analysis 2 – Sovent System
Mechanical Breadth & Critical Industry Issue

The use of the Sovent System in this building was a great step in sustainable construction because of the amount of pipe that the system saved compared to using a normal drain, waste, vent system.  I plan to get one step further and analyze the supply water system and come up with other sustainable ways of construction including prefabrication and the use of propress fittings.  I will attempt to utilize these methods of construction into the design and then see what the impact would be on the cost and schedule compared to the systems that are currently being installed on the project.  I will also see if the use of either of these methods would lead to anymore obtainable points on the LEED rating or rebates for the owner.

Thesis Proposal (12/12/2008)
Click here to access the proposal

This report will serve as my proposal for my research pertaining to my senior thesis work to be conducted in the spring.  This semester was used to research the building for my thesis project and identify problems that have occurred on the jobsite.  The theme for my proposal is to take some of the larger problems that have occurred during construction of Turnberry Tower Arlington and come up with alternative solutions or alternative ways tasks could have been performed.  I will take this research and compare it to what was actually done during construction.  The different analysis topics are as follows:

Analysis 1 – Attachment of the Window Wall to non Post Tension Concrete
Structural Breadth
This analysis will focus on problems that occurred on the jobsite with attaching the structural supports for the building’s exterior window wall system to the post tension concrete decks.  With lack of coordination between the design team and the contractors, drilling needed to occur in the post tension decks.  Many tendons failed due to being struck during the drilling process.  With this major tendon failure occurring halfway up the building, steps were immediately taken to remedy the installation process.  The goal for this analysis is to take the same situation that occurred on this job (with lack of coordination between the design team and contractors) and compare the cost and schedule problems from failed post tension tendons to the same project if regular reinforced concrete had been used.

Analysis 2 – Use of the Sovent System
Mechanical Breadth & Critical Industry Issue
During some of the value engineering that occurred in the beginning phases of construction, one idea that was used on this project was the use of the Sovent System.  This system helped to utilize one stack for drain, waste, and venting of waste products instead of the traditional two pipe system.  I plan to investigate how much money this system saved and what impact it had on the LEED rating of the building.  By saving materials that would have been needed in the two stack method and creating some of the system from recycled metal, it can have an impact on points obtained for the project.  I will also look into similar systems that could have been used in the place of the Sovent System.

Analysis 3 – Site Logistics Plan
Turnberry Tower Arlington is surrounded on three sides by main roads.  The country has put time restrictions on some of the roads so construction does not create more traffic during some parts of rush hour.  With those restrictions, the site plan that was utilized throughout the project used one road for deliveries to the site.  This one main passageway was also the place that concrete was delivered and where the material hoist was accessed.  The goal of this analysis is to investigate the logic that was used to create the current site logistics plan and come up with an alternative solution.  I would like to ease the amount of coordination needed for deliveries and make it easier for the subcontractors to get their materials on site.

Structural Breadth (Analysis 1)
To complete the analysis of attaching the window wall to the concrete decks, I will need to redesign the post tension concrete slabs to normal reinforced concrete slabs.  I will learn how to use the CRSI handbook to the approximate rebar layouts and then use the direct design method along with the ACI handbook to come up with the slab thickness.  I have come up with “typical bays” in the building that I can use to complete this research.  All of this structural analysis will lead to a conclusion whether using normal reinforced concrete would have been a better idea, with cost and schedule, than using the post tension concrete.

Mechanical Breadth & Critical Industry Issue (Analysis 2)
The analysis of the how beneficial the Sovent System is compared to a normal two stack drain, waste, and vent system will need to be performed by designing the two stack system.  I will learn how to size the pipe based on mechanical and plumbing codes for the Arlington County, Virginia area.  I will also research other systems that could have been used in place of the Sovent System.  This will lead to the direct comparison to the different systems with amount of space the systems take up, how much they cost, and the durations of installing each system.  A LEED analysis will be performed to see how beneficial the Sovent System is and what impact it played on gaining points and obtaining the desired LEED rating.  Lastly, I will investigate what could have been added or taken away from the different systems to gain a larger LEED rating or help with a more sustainable design to help the LEED rating and possible rebates for the owners.