Building Construction Site Constraints - Coursework Example

Building Construction Site Constraints Introduction Before going into the details of geotechnical engineering and land contamination problems at any construction site, let’s get a better understanding of what geotechnical engineering and contamination actually are. Geotechnical engineering is a field of study within civil engineering and is directly related to the behavior of earth materials and solutions regarding the behavior of rocks and soil present at any specific part of land. This irregular behavior of rocks and soil gives rise to land contamination problems in which various perilous and dangerous chemical substances like heavy metals and hydrocarbons crop up at concentrations above the background levels. 2. Geotechnical Engineering Geotechnical engineering is basically concerned with the behavior of rocks and soil present at any specific area. The fields of study included in geotechnical engineering are rock mechanics, soil mechanics and design of the foundation. Geotechnical engineering is of extreme importance in site development and plays a great role in designing foundation of a building. Rowe (2001) found that the engineers study the behavior of soil and rocks in order to determine their chemical and physical properties which are necessary to be investigated before designing the foundations of a building. Then based on the investigations the engineers design a soil stabilization system in order to overcome the identified problems. 2.1 Working of Geotechnical Engineers Geotechnical engineers start the design process by taking soil samples from the land on which the building is to be constructed in order to determine the environmental impact of the soil. Other factors which are investigated during the tests include soil stability, chemical properties of soil, and the presence of air pockets in the soil. The result of these tests acts as the foundation for the site development because the tests not only reveal the soil behavior but also help in finding suitable solutions to the identified problems. The results are used to design the suitable foundations for the building which is to be developed on that site. The complexity of design of the foundations depends on the condition of the soil. Day (2000) asserts that if condition of the soil is found normal, foundation’s design will also be simple but in case the soil is found unstable then design of the foundation will be complex. Geotechnical engineering not only involves designing the foundations for the buildings but also it is involved in designing the earth support structures which play a supporting role in the construction of roads, dams and tunnels. 3. Site Contamination Sullivan (2010) asserts that “contamination is the making of some clean environment impure by contact or mixture with some substance that is impure or unclean”. Site contamination gives rise to a lot of human health and environment related risks which include corrosiveness, explosiveness, toxicity, combustibility and carcinogenicity. In the present era, site contamination has become a real issue as it produces various critical impacts regarding environment, water, human health, and economy of any specific country. “The potable water becomes wastewater after it gets contaminated with natural or synthetic microbiological compounds” (Runion 2008). Evans (2008) states, “groundwater moves slowly and continuously through the open spaces in soil and rock”. Soil contamination is a very critical health related issue. “Soil contamination can also affect those who touch it” (Barton 2008). 3.1 Assessment of Contaminated Site Assessment of a contaminated site is usually done by using a five-staged approach. The five stages include preliminary site assessment, detailed site assessment, remedial action plan, remediation of the site, and validation of the remediation process. In preliminary site assessment, inspection of the site is conducted in collaboration with the site management staff including owner of the land. Site history review is done by the inspection team and some samples of soil of the suspected site are also taken by the team in order to prepare an initial report which comes in use if symptoms of site contamination are found in the results of the report. Then in the next stage, comprehensive and detailed assessment of the collected soil samples is done in order to know the extent of presence of hazardous substances in the soil. The results of the assessed samples indicate whether the site actually needs a remediation process or not. If the results are positive, the inspection team moves towards the third stage which is remedial action plan stage. In this stage, planning is done regarding the suitable remediation process by analyzing the site remediation strategies and actual contaminated area of the site. Human health safety plans and environmental management plans are also analyzed in the remedial action plan stage. In the fourth stage, the proposed remediation process is actually implemented by the team of professionals in order to decontaminate the site. The implemented action plan is continuously observed by the experts in order to know whether the remediation process is proving to be effective or not. If in any stage the selected remediation process seems to be ineffective, appropriate changes are made to the remediation process and, if required, whole process can also be replaced by a more suitable remediation process. Then the last stage comes in which report is generated by the remediation experts which shows working of the remediation process and that report acts as an end to the successful remediation process by showing the results of the implemented action plan. 3.2 Treatment of Contamination Dupont and Hyman (2001) assert that remediation is a process of investigating the level of contamination and decontaminating a suspected site through applying the most appropriate remediation methods. There are a lot of methods which are used for the site decontamination. But before starting any remediation process, the environmental professionals conduct a thorough research regarding the seriousness of identified hazards in order to find out the best suitable remediation strategy to solve the critical situation. For this purpose, they start by developing a flowchart which demonstrates the actual remediation optimization process. The flowchart includes characterization of the hazardous soil and material, location of the contaminated site, study of various remediation methods, selection of the most appropriate method and the follow through in order to continuously monitor the remediation process. An important treatment method is engineered remediation method. Suthersan (1997) found that engineering method enhances microbial or geochemical breakdown of contaminants and treatment of contaminants. Some of the advantages of implementing this method include sound barricading, dust filtering and application of various suppression devices. Another famous method is chemical decontamination that is typically used to remove radioactive particulate which are entrapped on surfaces. If decontamination of piping systems is required, then chemical decontamination is the best option. In Indirect Thermal Desorption method, there are three stages. In the first stage, the excavated material is sorted and graded by the professionals. Then in the second stage, Indirect Thermal Desorption takes place which involves boiling off the contaminants. And after boiling, they are collected to be used in the next stage of the process. After second stage, the contaminated soil becomes clear of any contamination and gets ready to be reused on site. In the third stage, known as Base Catalyzed Decolorination, contaminate concentrate produced in the second stage is turned into water, salt and oil. In the Direct Thermal method, the contaminant destruction process is very fast and cheaper as compared to Indirect Thermal Desorption method. Direct Thermal method is not only fast but is also a single staged process. In both methods of contaminant destruction, the equipment safety standards reveal the way by which the safety of environment and the human health are achieved by the environmental professionals. 4. Impacts of Proposed Remediation Works 4.1 Economic Impact The economic impact of site remediation is of very high significance for any country. When pollution and toxic substances will be removed from the water and soil of the site using engineered remediation method, not only the local public will get benefited from the site but also the chances of foreign investment in the country will get increased. Local employment during and after the cleanup will also get increased which will generate income for a lot of employees. Some of the local impacts of remediation include income and sales tax revenues plus an increase in the price of the nearby residential property. 4.2 Environmental Impact Remediation works always have a direct impact on the environment as pollution and contaminants from water get removed. Removal of the toxic substances from the site brings a very positive impact on the site’s environment. Not only the water gets purified, but also the harmful gases get removed from the atmosphere. Sound barriers and dust filtering are the two most significant benefits of the engineered remediation process that make the atmosphere free of dust and pollution. 5. Conclusion Summing it up, it can be said that study of behavior of rocks and soil is extremely important before designing the foundations of a building. A proper investigation method should be used in order to determine the physical and chemical properties of rocks and soil of the area at which a building is to be constructed. Contaminated site is very dangerous for the health of the human beings as it contains various toxic substances whose presence is very harmful for human health. The environmental professionals should analyze the seriousness of the contaminated site and the most appropriate remediation method should be implemented in order to decontaminate the infected site. References Barton, J 2008, Soil Contamination, How Does it Effect the Inhabitants, viewed 28 April 2010, Day, R., 2000. Geotechnical Engineer’s Portable Handbook. U.S.A: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Dupont, R. & Hyman, M., 2001. Groundwater and Soil Remediation: Process Design and Cost Estimating of Proven Technologies. U.S.A: ASCE Press. Evans, S 2008, Landfill and Groundwater Contamination, viewed 28 April 2010, Rowe, R., 2001. Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering Handbook. Massachusetts: Kluwer Academic Publishers. Runion, R 2008, Wastewater - Contamination Sources, viewed 28 April 2010, Sullivan, C 2010, What Contamination is and How it Harms Us, viewed 28 April 2010, Suthersan, S., 1997. Remediation Engineering: Design Concepts, Volume 1996. Florida: CRC Press. Read More