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Full-Text Articles in Engineering
Soft Trencher, Purdue Ect Team
Soft Trencher, Purdue Ect Team
ECT Fact Sheets
Excavation near existing electrical lines, gas lines and other underground utilities can be dangerous and time consuming. A self propelled trencher called the Soft Trencher developed by Battelle Memorial Institute, Columbus, Ohio uses supersonic air to loosen dirt which is then vacuumed up into a truck or piled into a windrow for later removal of backfill. The supersonic air used to break up the soil is harmless to underground utilities and cables. Unlike traditional excavation methods there is no downward force that can be exerted on the underground utilities.
Osterberg Load Cell, Purdue Ect Team
Osterberg Load Cell, Purdue Ect Team
ECT Fact Sheets
Establishing the bearing capacity of piles, piers, and shafts is difficult and expensive for engineers to determine. The Osterberg Load Cell allows geotechnical engineers to determine the capacity of drilled shafts, piers, and driven piles. It is used to test for the bearing and skin friction forces that can be developed in the soil through which the shaft, pier, or pile is placed.
Safe Excavation, Purdue Ect Team
Safe Excavation, Purdue Ect Team
ECT Fact Sheets
Excavating with a backhoe or similar equipment has the potential risk of hitting an underground utility which could cause serious injuries and expensive damages. An electronic device that provides a real-time warning of the utility lines immediately ahead of the digging tool and provides an easily interpreted, real-time computer readout of the depth, location, and size buried metallic objects. Developed by Dr. Leonhard E. Bernold, it consists of an active metal detector search coil; a signal processing (control) unit; and a PC computer equipped with an analog-to-digital converter interface.