Engineering Commons^™

Optimization Analysis For Alignment Criteria And Installation Of Gravity Flow Underground Pipe, Eugene N. Balter

Retrospective Theses and Dissertations

In 1982 the Business Roundtable prepared several reports which investigated various aspects of construction which posed significant research opportunities. Their findings placed piping construction in the group of activities categorized as having "highest potential" for improvements based on inefficiency, or construction difficulty and proportionate costs. It was estimated that over $1 billion could be saved annually if the difficulty in the piping industry was improved to only average of other areas. Further investigation into the piping area showed that the alignment process took 20% of the cycle time for installation and ranked either first or second as compared to other …