contents · by : ir. prof. abang abdullah bin abang ali, iem president president’s corner...

JURUTERA, March 2005 3

BULETIN IEMThe Institution and Dimension are not responsible for anystatements made or opinions expressed by the writers or

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PRESIDENT’S CORNERDisasters After Disasters – Natural Or Man-Made? ............................... 4

EDITORIALMoments In Time .......................................................................................... 5

COVER STORYMotorsports In Malaysia – Malaysia’s Involvement Through Petronas .......................................................................................... 6

FEATURESUltra-Modern Wind Tunnel By Sauber Petronas ................................... 10How Do You Spell “Speleology”? ............................................................ 12The Shanghai Declaration On Engineering And The Sustainable Future .............................................................................. 16World Engineers Convention 2004 Shanghai – More Than A Technical Experience .......................................................... 18Evolution Of Concrete Technology – The New Challenge .................. 20

REPORTSTalk On Design And Construction Of Sub-Structure For 102 Storey Tower In Hong Kong ....................................................... 28The State Of The Art Of Jet Grouting Technique ................................. 29Talk On “European Installation Bus System”.......................................... 32Fourteenth Professor Chin Fung Kee Memorial Lecture ..................... 36Facelift For Old Folks And Children Home ............................................38Site Visit To Bakun Hydroelectric Project, Sarawak .............................. 40Visit to Sungai Selangor Water Supply Scheme Phase 3 .......................42Talk On AOTD Experience In Pilot Plant Operations ........................... 44A Half Day Seminar On “Innovations In Pump Installation, Maintenance And Energy Savings” ........................46

COLUMNThe Art Of Happiness ................................................................................ 48

BLUE PAGESMembership ................................................................................................... 1ANNOUNCEMENTIEM Diary/Conference & Seminar ......................................................... 10Sexy Projects – Volunteers Needed! ......................................................... 10REPORTReport On Site Visit To Construction Site Of Berjaya Central Park With Malaysia’s Largest Bored Piles Measuring 3000mm Diameter ..............................................12The Role Of Engineers On Hill-Site Development ................................ 12Short Course And Forum On Geotechnical Design Using Eurocode 7 ........................................................................................ 13IEM Training Centre ............................................................................... 14Library Announcement ......................................................................... 15

At the Pitstop. Change of tyre andrefuelling for the Sauber

Petronas Formula One race car.

Cover photograph courtesy of Petronas Motosports

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JURUTERA, March 20054

The recent Tsunami disasterinvolving many countries in this

region was indeed a wake up call tothose who seem oblivious toimpending disasters around them andto the suffering of fellow human beingson this blessed earth. It was a starkreminder that we can be just seconds orinches away from disaster whoeverand wherever we are; sunbathinghappily on the beach or safely tuckedaway in the apparent safety of ourhomes.

Yes, the weather has gonesomewhat haywire. Floods and snow in the hot and dry Middle-Eastern desert and heat waves in the cold north are not unknownnowadays. Mudslides and landslidesare becoming commonplace, even inpeaceful Malaysia. And the joke that Iregularly tell my students in theirstructural design class is during mytime, I could effectively ignore windloading in my building design but withall the maksiat (vice) in our societynowadays, the winds can uproot huge

trees and lift houses; thereby makingtheir design more difficult. And wehave not considered the earthquakesand tsunamis.

Yet we keep on talking about globalwarming in various internationalforums without showing muchenthusiasm in mitigating it. It is therichest nations that remain the culprits.We cut down trees at will to satisfy ourgreed for timber, making barren landsout of virgin forests. We clog up andpollute beautiful streams and riverswithout due regard to the wildlifedepending on the water bodies. Wedam up and impound huge stretchesof ecologically sensitive areas. And weintroduce imbalances in a perfectlybalanced natural ecology and geology.

As a result, the sea is rising,drowning whole villages during rainyseasons in many low-lying areas. Thejoke that the Philippines has athousand islands and more at low tidemay not be told anymore in the futurewhen these extra islands disappearfrom the face of the earth. The deserts

are growing, shrinking arable lands forfuture generations. And pollution iseverywhere, a symbol of our greed as ahuman race.

Is this the price we are willing topay to satisfy our material wants?Destroying the only earth we have.And we engineers are often called“destroyers of the environment”.

The time has come for us to wake up from our slumber. We should be sensitive to acts that destroy our environment. Thematerials we use, the approach todesign and construction, the productswe manufacture, the process orsystems we select, must respect and support efforts towardssustainability. And we should quicklyrespond to disasters, natural or man-made and offer our assistance,particularly in reconstruction andrehabilitation efforts. As highlyeducated professionals, we can makethe difference. We can then face Godwho created this blessed earth with aclear conscience. n

Disasters After Disasters – Natural Or Man-Made?...................................................................................................................................................................................

By : Ir. Prof. Abang Abdullah bin Abang Ali, IEM President

P R E S I D E N T ’ S C O R N E R

AnnouncementThe IEM Standing Committee on Publications issending out letters to student members to askwhether they would like to receive this bulletin(JURUTERA) monthly. At the moment,JURUTERA is not distributed to studentmembers. If you are a student member and youhave not received a letter to this effect, please goto IEM’s website at http://www.iem.org.my/ andlook under ‘Publications’ for more information.

ERRATAIn the January 2005 issue ofJurutera, the photo of theauthor for the article titled“Mining and Quarrying inMalaysia: The Industry andEducation” is incorrect.

The correctphoto of theauthor, Ir. Dr.Mior Termizi binMohd Yusof, isat left. We regretthe error.


Number 3 March 2005IEM Registered on 1st May 1959

THE INSTITUTION OF ENGINEERS, MALAYSIABangunan Ingenieur, Lots 60 & 62, Jalan 52/4, P.O. Box 223,

(Jalan Sultan) 46720 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.Tel: 03-7968 4001/4002 Fax: 03-7957 7678

E-mail: [email protected] Homepage: http://www.iem.org.my

MAJLIS BAGI SESI 2004/2005 (IEM COUNCIL SESSION)YANG DIPERTUA / PRESIDENT:Ir. Prof. Abang Abdullah bin Abang Ali

TIMBALAN YANG DIPERTUA / DEPUTY PRESIDENT:Ir. Prof. Dr Ow Chee Sheng

NAIB YANG DIPERTUA / VICE PRESIDENTS:Ir. P.E. Chong, Ir. Vincent Chen Kim Kieong, Ir. Chee Meng Sang, Ir. Mohd Aman bin HjIdris, Ir. Choo Kok Beng, Ir. Neoh Cheng Aik, Ir. Prof. Ishak bin Abdul Rahman

SETIAUSAHA KEHORMAT / HON. SECRETARY:Ir. Oon Chee Kheng

BENDAHARI KEHORMAT / HON. TREASURER:Ir. M.C. Hee

WAKIL STRUKTUR / STRUCTURAL REPRESENTATIVE: Ir. David Ng Shiu Yuen

WAKIL AWAM / CIVIL REPRESENTATIVE: Ir. Gunasagaran a/l Krishnan

WAKIL ELEKTRIK / ELECTRICAL REPRESENTATIVE:Ir. Dr Muhammad Fuad bin Abdullah

WAKIL MEKANIK / MECHANICAL REPRESENTATIVE:Ir. Loh Lim Huat

WAKIL KIMIA & DISIPLIN LAIN / CHEMICAL & OTHERS REPRESENTATIVE: Ir. Ahmad Nordeen bin Mohd. Salleh

AHLI MAJLIS / COUNCIL MEMBERS:Ir. Dr Ahmad Suhaimi bin Abd Rahim, Ir. Prof. Madya Dr Ibrahim bin Kamaruddin,Ir. Assoc. Prof. Megat Johari bin Megat Mohd. Noor, Ir. Hj. Mohamad Ali bin Yusoff,Ir. Bahardin bin Baharom, Ir. Prof. Dr Chuah Hean Teik, Ir. Dr Wong Chin Chaw,Ir. Lee Weng Onn, Ir. Prof. Dr Siti Hamisah Tapsir, Ir. Chin Mee Poon,Y. Bhg. Dato’ Ir. Hj Abdul Rashid bin Maidin, Ir. Tan Yean Chin, Ir. Peter Tan Hoh You,Ir. Kukanesan a/l Sakthiveil, Ir. Assoc. Prof. Dr Mohd Zamin bin Jumaat,Ir. Prof. Dr Amir Hashim bin Mohd Kassim, Ir. Dr Mohd Yusof bin Abdul Rahman,Ir. Adnan bin Zulkiple, Ir. David Lai Kong Phooi, Ir. Manogaran a/l K. Raman,Ir. Hj Mohd Hassin @ Mohd Hashim bin Daud, Ir. Mohd Nizar bin Hassan,Ir. Assoc. Prof. Lt. Kol. Mohd Hazani bin Hj Shafie, Ir Mohd Rasid bin Osman,Ir. Prof. Dr Ruslan bin Hassan, Ir. Woo Ah Keong, Ir. Yeo Boon Kah, Ir. Yusouf binAhmad,Y. Bhg. Tan Sri Dato’ Ir. Mohd Radzi bin Mansor, Y. Bhg. Tan Sri Datuk Dr Ahmad Tajuddin bin Ali, Y. Bhg. Datuk Abdul Hadi bin Mohd Deros

BEKAS YANG DIPERTUA TERAKHIR / IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT: Ir. Dr Gue See Sew

BEKAS YANG DIPERTUA / PAST PRESIDENT:Y. Bhg. Tan Sri Ir. (Dr) J. G. Daniel, Ir. Chiam Teong Tee, Y. Bhg. Dato’ Ir. Pang Leong Hoon,Y. Bhg. Academician Dato’ Ir. Lee Yee Cheong, Y. Bhg. Dato’ Ir. Abdul Rashid bin Ahmad,Ir. Dr Ting Wen Hui, Ir. Hj Mohd Mazlan, Y. Bhg. Datuk Ir. (Dr) Hj. Ahmad Zaidee Laidin

PENGERUSI CAWANGAN / BRANCH CHAIRMAN:Pulau Pinang - Ir. Vincent Tan Huei MengSelatan - Ir. Steve Chong Yoon OnPerak - Y. Bhg. Dato’ Ir. Hj. Abdul Rahman bin DahanTimur - Ir. Hj. Annies bin Md AriffTerengganu - Y. Bhg. Dato’ Ir. Hj. Mohamad bin HusinNegeri Sembilan - Ir. Hj. Jamil bin IbrahimMelaka - Ir. Hj. Abd Rahim bin ShamsudinSarawak - Y. Bhg. Datu Ir. Hubert Thian Chong HuiSabah - Ir. Lee Tet FonMiri - Ir. Dr Edwin Jong Nyon TchanKedah-Perlis - Y. Bhg. Dato’ Ir. Hj. Abdullah bin Hj. Abbas

LEMBAGA PENGARANG / EDITORIAL BOARD:Ketua Pengarang / Chief Editor – Ir. Assoc. Prof. Megat Johari bin Megat Mohd. NoorPengarang (Bulletin) / Bulletin Editor – Sdr. K.H. ManPengarang (Jurnal) / Journal Editor – Ir. Mohd. Rasid bin OsmanSetiausaha / Secretary – Ir. Mohd. Khir bin MuhammadAhli-Ahli / Committee Member – Y. Bhg. Dato’ Ir. Hj. Abdul Rashid bin Maidin,Prof. Dr Asbi bin Ali, Dr Chuah Teong Guan, Assoc. Prof. Dr Deepak Kumar Ghodgaonkar

AHLI JAWATANKUASA PENERBITAN / STANDING COMMITTEE ONPUBLICATIONS:Pengerusi / Chairman: Ir. Chee Meng SangNaib Pengerusi / Vice Chairman: Ir. Prof. Dr Ruslan bin HassanSetiausaha / Secretary: Ir. Mohd. Khir bin MuhammadPengerusi (Perpustakaan) / Library Chairman: Dr Chuah Teong GuanAhli-Ahli / Committee Member: Ir. Chin Mee Poon, Ir. Mohd. Nizar bin Hassan,Ir. Assoc. Prof. Dr Mohd. Zamin bin Jumaat, Y. Bhg. Dato’ Ir. Hj. Abdul Rashid bin Maidin,Ir. Assoc. Prof. Dr Amir Hashim bin Mohd. Kassim, Ir. Lim Eng Hwa, Ir. Low Ah Peng,Ir. Loh Lim Huat, Ir. Mah Soo, Ir. Look Keman bin Hj. Sahari, Ir. Assoc. Prof. Megat Joharibin Megat Mohd. Noor, Ir. Mohd. Rasid bin Osman, Sdr. K.H. Man, Prof. Dr Asbi bin Ali,Sdr. Karthigesu Muniyandi.

Moments in Time.........................................................................

By: Sdr. K.H. Man, Bulletin Editor

Those defining moments. The struggles throughoutthe years. The battles fought, won, and lost. The

laughter and the tears. The moments of exultation andthe moments of gloom. An organisation’s foundationmight be in its constitution and in dry legal prose, but itsspirit and passion surely lies within those who haveserved in the past and in the present. Documents like theconstitution are well taken care of; the same cannot besaid for those moments in time that are the memoriesand experiences of people. These moments are fragile; astime passes, some will be lost forever, ceasing to exist. Asingle memory might not mean much but takentogether, the memories and experiences of anorganisation embodied in its members is precious, aresource whose value is incalculable that should becared for and nurtured. If an organism, whether livingor abstract, can be defined by the information that it hasamassed, then to lose part of the information is to lose apart of itself.

As each year goes by, the need to preserve memoriesand experiences in a mature organisation like IEMincreases. Human beings, after all, do not last forever.Large organisations have historians and actively tries topreserve their history and heritage. Oral histories arerecorded, and personal papers of historical interest aredonated by members for archiving. The moments maynot be perfectly captured, but such steps, inadequate asthey are, are the best we humans can do for now.

The Standing Committee on Publications has beenrunning a Book Project Subcommittee in the past fewmonths. Many details have yet to be worked out, butone of the things we will definitely need are those IEMmoments – those memories and experiences that are apart of you and me. Immaterial of what we are trying topublish, I think it’s time to do a better job preserving thehistory and heritage of IEM. In essence, the StandingCommittee on Publications deals with information, andwe should capture as much meaningful information aswe can. For example, although we print many articlesand reports in this bulletin, we are a bit short of personalmemories and experiences. Like chipmunks, it’s time westarted collecting more of those precious acorns.

We would like to hear from those who were there atthe beginning; those who have been there for theInstitution over the years; those who have sweat bloodand tears for their fellow engineers. We do not havemuch resources to go around accumulating material fornow, but I hope that this message in a small way is astart. As we march forward, let us not forget the past,and let us safeguard our heritage and always rememberthat we bear upon our shoulders the fruits of the labourof a great many individuals, past and present. n

JURUTERAE D I T O R I A L

Petronas’ involvement in motor-sports was initially an exercise to

put Malaysia and the oil and gascompany on the world map. However,what was meant as a branding andglobalisation exercise has become apassion for the company.

According to Rosman Roslan,Senior Manager of Petronas Motor-sports, motorsports not only comple-ments the globalisation agenda ofPetronas (Petronas is present in 35countries currently) but also acts as anavenue to research in technology.

“This is a window to peek into thefuture of automotive technology asFormula 1 is a sport built on tech-nology. Being an oil and gas company,we should be closely related to the autoindustry and F1 acts as a platform forus to develop our capabilities in thisarea,” he said.

Roslan said that engineers played avery important role in motorsports. “Inmotorsports, when you have a racingevent, you are given a regulation orregulations which set the engineeringparameters – what you can do andwhat you cannot do with your vehicleand engine. The responsibility of theengineer is basically to stretch this limitand boundary so that they remaininside the regulation but yet have theadvantage over the other competitors,”he added.

“Thus, there is continuousimprovement. You have a set ofboundaries but you need to figure outhow to improve your vehicle’sperformance within that parameter,”he said adding that there was muchresearch and development byengineers in motorsports that was notknown to the public.

Apart from getting betterperformance, the engineers obtainknowledge in new areas duringresearch and development. “Theengineers are bound to find out newthings, new innovations and this willlater be applied to auto technology ingeneral,” he said.

According to Roslan, many inven-tions in current road cars originatefrom motorsports. For instance, theTiptronic gearbox was invented withthe view of saving time for the race car

driver. It takesseveral seconds toshift the gear usingthe traditionalclutch and everysecond is vital inmotorsports.

“The job of theengineer is to makesure the car per-forms better thanthat of the compe-titor, thus theyinvented the semi-automatic gearboxand Tiptronic sys-tems which enablethe driver tochange gear in asplit of a secondand it is located onthe steering co-lumn,” he saidadding that thereare several cars on the road todayhaving that function.

Another example where technologyfrom motorsports has been applied toconsumer cars is the size of the engine.Sizes of engines are getting smallerwhilst delivering more horse power(bhp) and torque. This is the result ofresearch and development frommotorsports as in a race car, the enginehas to be small for weight purposeswhilst giving out maximumperformance. “Before the oil crisis,American cars for instance, used to behuge, consuming a lot of fuel,” Roslansaid adding that motorsporttechnology has enabledcar manufacturers toreduce the physical size ofthe cars as the engineswere getting smaller.

“We don’t need largeengines. F1 enginesdeliver 850bhp from amere 3 litre unit. Whoknows, in the future, suchtechnologies can beapplied in the automotivesector,” he said.

Roslan went on theexplain that the Anti LockBraking System or betterknown as ABS also

originated from motorsports to preventthe race car driver from skidding thevehicle. This technology is now inmany cars.

Petronas Sauber F1 TeamIn 1996, Sauber Petronas Engineeringwas established as a joint-venture withthe prominent racing team Sauber ofSwitzerland. Sauber has practicallybecome a synonym for Swiss motorracing and has over 35 years ofexperience in motorsports. Hinwil,Switzerland, is home to Sauber’shighly sophisticated racing car factory

Motorsports in Malaysia – Malaysia’sinvolvement through Petronas...............................................................................................................................................................................................

By: R.G. Candiah


C O V E R S T O R Y

The 5 Malaysian Engineers based in Sauber Petronas Engineering, Hinwil,Switzerland. From left to right: Kamarulzaman Ahmad - Electronics

Engineer, Shaharudin Mustapha - Suspension / Chassis, Ahmad Izhan Ismail- Electronics Engineer, Mohd. Ruhaidi Abdul Rashid -Calculations and

Mohd. Irwan Ismail - Composite Engineer

Kamarulzaman Ahmad and Ahmad Izhan Ismail.


C O V E R S T O R Y

featuring the whole gamut of state-of-the-art technology and equipment.This is where the high-tech racerswhich have been competing for the FIAFormula 1 World Championship arebuilt since 1993.

The joint venture company enabledMalaysian engineers to go throughprograms designed to transfer thistechnology to Malaysia.

The first project was to develop apassenger car engine in 1997. The teamcompleted the project in 18 months andin November 1998, the engine, namedEQ1e was unveiled. It was a 2 litreengine delivering 200bhp. The enginecan be construed as the first Malaysiancar engine ever produced.

“It is not just the knowledgeacquired from building the engine thatwas important, it was the fact that webroke the psychological barrier that‘we could not do it because it was toohigh tech,’” he said.

The company produced severalunits that are placed in the Marshallcars of the Petronas Malaysian GrandPrix. There are no plans forcommercialisation as yet.

“When Petronas went into F1, itwas initially for branding. However,when we saw the technology involved,we realised that this is a researchlaboratory in itself for the future of theautomotive industry. By capitalising onthis, we can develop our capabilities inhigh tech engineering in Malaysia,”Roslan added.

He said that by coming up withsuch an engine, the engineers evenobtained the relevant knowledge toimprove on Petronas lubricants as theywere aware of what was demandedfrom engines of the future.

“We have a group of engineersdirectly involved in the F1 operationsin the factory in Switzerland and at thecircuit. They contribute to thepreparation and design of the car.There are currently 300 people workingin the Sauber Petronas plant. InMalaysia there is a team of more than50 engineers who have undergone thetechnology transfer program in Hinwilsince 1997.

Engineers Role to AccommodateFIA RegulationsMotorsport engineers have a difficulttask of extending the life of an engine.The world renowned body thatregulates motorsports globally, theFederation Internationalle De L’Auto-mobile (FIA) is mainly concernedabout safety and also about reducingthe cost of a race. Before 2004, a race team could have a qualifyingengine and a race engine and theycould change engines any time theywanted to.

Teams with lots of money, forexample top teams, had qualifyingengines designed to last very shortperiods, roughly about 100 kilometresbefore it burns but give top notchperformance.

“During the race, we will race about300 km. Big teams with lots ofresources have engines that last only400 to 500 km but with the aim ofgetting top notch performance. Smaller teams unfortunately do nothave this luxury and there is adisparity,” he said.

In 2004, the FIA regulation onengines changed. The FIA said that

teams were only allowed to have oneengine for one weekend.

“Here the engineers have to lookinto the engine to extend their lifespanto about 700 km to 800 km for theFriday practice, Saturday qualifyingand Sunday race. These are all theparameters set by the FIA andengineers have the difficult task ofextending the life of an engine but yetmaintaining performance,” he added.

In 2005, the FIA said that to furtherreduce cost, engines must last for tworaces. Thus, instead of a 700 km life-span, engineers have to now doublethat to1400km. “This is not an easy taskas you must change the materials of theengine and yet maintain the weightand performance,” he said.

The task given to engineers to solvesuch a problem is tremendous.“Imagine the knowledge obtained fromattempting to extend the life of a raceengine that revs at 19,000 rpm todouble its life. One day, suchknowledge will be extended to roadcars. Roads cars will be able to rev at,say 12,000 rpm, and yet have areasonably long life span,” he added.

Maintenance and Modification ofRace CarsWithin the parameters set by the FIA,there are a lot of modifications andchanges to the body of the car. Thoughthey may be small changes, they havesignificant results as demanded bydifferent circuits.

There are circuits that require highdown force and some, low down force.“Here the wind tunnel plays a veryimportant role. In the Monza circuit forinstance, there are lots of straights butfew corners, and here there is no needfor a high down force. Instead topspeed is important. Thus the body kitof the car has to be modified to cater forthe Monza circuit. In contrast, theMonaco circuit requires a high downforce because the circuit has manycorners and is twisting,” he said.

Modification of vehicles is ongoingbut the engineer has the responsibilityof monitoring the calendar andpreparing for each circuit.

“They have the data in the systemand know what the circuit is like. Theywill simulate this in the wind tunnel tomake the necessary modifications,” he added.

The race cars are maintainedregularly to ensure that all parts andmaterial strength are kept at optimum

Crowd overlooking a Sauber Petronas Formula One race car


levels and there is no compromise in quality. Every singleaspect from composite strength to the drivers’ seating comfortis tested before every race.

Culture and HistoryAccording to Roslan, the Sauber Petronas team is at par withtop notch teams in terms of knowledge but Malaysia is still newto motorsports and the industry is still growing.

“In terms of knowledge, we are equal, however, experienceand exposure wise, we are still growing,” he said.

Roslan goes on to explain that the home of motorsports inthe United Kingdom and the community there has grown withthe industry over a long period of time.“Malaysia is different as we did not go through the industrial revo-lution. The British did and have designed,developed and produced cars for over 100 years. From there,motor sports started. The British have grown up withmotorsports and the industry around them. Our community isjust being exposed and it will take a while before themotorsports industry in Malaysia develops to be at par withthat of European countries,” he said.

Future ChallengesRoslan said that for a mere 10 years in the motorsports industry,Malaysia has achieved a lot. Sauber Petronas recently built itsown wind tunnel and it is rated as one of the best in the world.(See the following Feature in this issue.)

“With our own wind tunnel, our expectations are high. Wehope we can get better results, however, we must also bepractical, as our team do not have the resources as what the topteams have,” he added.

He said to improve in F1, a team will need unlimitedresources and to turn the resources into performance.

“A team like Ferrari can afford to use a wind tunnel up to8,000 hours per annum. That is almost 360 days with theremaining days used for maintenance work. For us, we areusing our own wind tunnel around 3,000 to 4,000 hours a year,”he added.

Roslan expresses confidence that the Sauber Petronasengineering team will come up with better solutions usingminimal resources. “In the short term, we will try to get into the top notch group and in the long term, we want to keep upwith the exciting new technologies motorsports exposes us to,”he added. n

C O V E R S T O R Y

Petronas Motorsports regularly conduct roadshows and demonstrationsnationwide for those unable to go to Sepang


F E A T U R E

Sauber Petronas has recently put a completely new, ultra-modern

wind tunnel into operation. Regardingfactors such as wind speeds, the size of the test section and the models, the dimensions of the Rolling Road, and the Model Motion System as well as data acquisition technology, theSauber facility compares favourably with any of the existing Formula 1 wind tunnels.

Generally speaking, the outside of awind tunnel does not offer a particularlyattractive sight. This does not apply tothe facility in Hinwil, however, with itsdesign that includes a deliberate focus onoverall aesthetics. In addition to boastingimpressive dimensions (65-metre length,50-metre width, 17-metre height, 63,000cubic metres of construction volume), aglass façade aims to convey the uniquecharacter of the building that combinesits industrial purpose with that of afacility for special events.

Although presenting the exteriorimpression of a homogenous hall, thefacility actually comprises two clearlyseparated elements. These are the windtunnel hall itself and a multi-storey wingthat accommodates work areas, aplatform for special events and anexhibition of selected Sauber racing cars.The two sections are separated by a glasswall that visually preserves the relationbetween them, while effectively keepingout the noise emanating from the windtunnel. Not for technical reasons, asmight be suspected, but for achieving astrong visual impact, the central axis ofthe wind tunnel tube is located morethan 8 metres above ground. Except forthe test section, which is embedded in aconcrete construction, the steel elementsof the circuit appear to be “floating”inside the hall.

The wind tunnel itself features themost advanced technology currentlyavailable. Based on the ideas of Sauber’sproject engineers, the facility wasdesigned and developed by two leadingspecialist firms, TLT Turbo GmbH,Germany, and MTS SystemsCorporation, USA. Both companies haveextensive experience in building facilitiesof this type. MTS, based in Eden Prairienear Minneapolis, who are the supplierof the Rolling Road (a steel belt

simulating the relative motion betweenthe road and the vehicle) and the ModelMotion System (suspension and controlof the model), are the number onesupplier of mechanical testing andsimulation systems. As the third supplierfor the wind tunnel project, Sauberselected the UK firm KineticaRT Ltd. todevelop the data analysis and MainControl System software.

The wind tunnel is of a closed-circuitdesign. The total length of the steel tubeis 141 metres, and the largest tubediameter is 9.4 metres. Including the fanhousing, the weight of all the steelelements, welded or bolted together atthe construction site, amounts to 480tons. The single 16-stage axial fan withcarbon rotor blades weighs 66 tons,including the motor and housing. Whenoperating under full load, the powerconsumption of the system amounts to3000 kW. This enables wind speeds of upto 300 kph to be reached in the testsection. In order to minimise thetransmission of vibrations to thebuilding, the axial fan is mounted on asolid concrete foundation via a vibrationdamper and is only joined to the rest ofthe wind tunnel by flexible membranes.

The core element of any wind tunnelis the test section where the modelsunder test are exposed to air flow andmeasurements are made. In order toexpand the testing capabilities beyond60-percent scale models to road cars, upto and including the size of vans, the testsection is unusually large. It has a 15-square-metre cross-section and aparticularly long Rolling Road.

In order to simulate side-slipconditions up to a maximum angle of 10degrees, the entire rolling road platformcan be rotated. It is fitted with a steel beltwhich simulates the relative motionbetween the vehicle and the road as wellas the rotating wheels. The moving steelbelt reaches the same velocity as the airstream that is up to 300 kph. Locatedunderneath the moving belt are loadcells, which are used to measure thewheel lift during tests.

Supercomputer for ComputationalFluid DynamicsOn another note, Sauber Petronas hasalso launched a new supercomputer for

CFD calculations. “Albert”, as themachine is known, is one of the most powerful supercomputers inFormula 1 as well as the automotiveindustry as a whole. The supercomputerwas built by the Swiss company DALCO and has a total of 530 AMDOpteron processors installed in high-density cooling enclosures supplied byAmerican Power Conversion (APC). Thesoftware is provided by a companycalled Fluent.

CFD (Computational FluidDynamics) serves to analyse and designaerodynamic components and is animportant complement to wind tunnelwork. Aerodynamics has been steadilygaining importance in recent years,accounting for roughly three quarters of the performance of a Formula 1 car today.

Sauber Petronas has been workingwith a supercomputer for years.However, the growing complexity of the tasks has drastically raised thedemands made on computing power.Hence, the new supercomputer is nearly30 times more powerful than the onepreviously used.

This enormous power reducescomputing times considerably as well asenabling much more complex tasks to besolved. Altogether, the new Saubersupercomputer comprises 530 AMDOpteron processors in a clusterarchitecture with dual nodes installed inhigh-density cooling enclosures. Theseenclosures are self-contained, closed loopsystems that utilise chilled water to coolup to 15kW per rack. The supercomputercomprises a total of ten racks, eachhaving a width of one metre, a depth of1.20 metres and a height of 2.30 metres,resulting in a total width of ten metresand an impressive weight of 18 tons.

The supercomputer can achieve apeak performance of 2.3 Tflops and isequipped with 1 TB RAM and 11 TB ofstorage. To illustrate the point for non-computer experts, this means that“Albert” is capable of performing2,300,000,000,000 computing operationsper second.

To achieve the same computingperformance, the entire population of thecity of Zurich would have to multiplytwo eight-digit figures every fourseconds for a whole year. The machine

Ultra-Modern Wind Tunnel by Sauber Petronas................................................................................................................................................................................................................

By: R.G. Candiah


has over 1,085,440 mega-bytes of physical memoryand over 10,880 gigabytes ofhard drive storage.

The virtually unlimitedtechnical possibilities of theSauber supercomputer areused for analysis in the fieldof aerodynamics. CFD serves to analyse and designaerodynamic componentsfor the Formula 1 race car onthe computer, using nume-rical grid models that used tobe defined by a maximum of50 million cells. With thenew supercomputer, it willbe possible to further refine these models, thus improving the quality of the results significantly. The shorter computing times will allow a lot morevariants to be evaluated than before.

In addition, morecomplex driving situations

can be simulated to furtherimprove the results. CFDplays a particularly criticalrole in the development offront, rear and auxiliarywings as well as being a vitaltool for thermal analysis andbrake cooling development.

Computational FluidDynamics does not competewith but rather complementsthe work in the wind tunnel.For example, during thedevelopment of a new frontwing, up to 100 variants areevaluated two-dimen-sionally before roughly halfa dozen of them are analysedin three-dimensional form.The most promising versionsare subsequently built forthe 60-percent scale modeland tested in the windtunnel. CFD thus enablesparticularly efficient use ofthe facility. n

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Technical Specifications of the Wind Tunnel

BuildingLength 65 mWidth 50 mHeight 17 mGross floor area 7,450 m2

Construction volume 63,000 m3

Wind tunnel

Test modelsModel sizes 60% scaleFull-size up to and incl. van size

Test Section conceptclosed/slotted walls

Wind Tunnel concept closedcircuit with axial fanCross-section of test section 15 m2

Wind speed up to 300 kph

Air CircuitTotal length 141 mTotal weight of steel elements approx. 480 t

FanPower consumption under full load 3,000 kWWeight (total) approx. 66 t

Rolling Road systemBelt Speed up to 300 kphTurn Table position adjustment range ±10° yaw


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Continuing our series on what engineers dowith their spare time, we bring you onemember’s account of his recent cavingadventure. “Caving itself was only half the fun!” says our writer, Sdr. Leong, who is Engineering Manager at SimproEngineering Sdn. Bhd., and a MalaysianNature Society member.

Due to my hectic schedule, I rarely getmore than a few days off at a time.

So, when I saw that the Cave Group ofthe Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) wasorganising a 5-day trip to explore cavesin Perlis during the “Deepa-Raya”holidays, I signed up.

Participants met for a briefing a weekbefore the trip itself. The organisersprobably wanted to eliminate anyonewith a phobia of the dark and enclosedspaces, but all 15 of us looked like wewere ready to tackle any cave-dwellingmonster and we stayed.

As we would start our journey onDeepavali Day itself, and we werejoining the mad ‘balik kampong’ rush, itwas agreed that we had to set off at 4 a.m.for an expected 10-hour drive. I did thinkto myself then... “So early? What have Ilet myself in for?”

As it turned out, the drive was quite pleasant despite the heavy traffic.The stop in Ipoh for Dim Sum along

with copious amounts of Chinese tea was refreshing.

We arrived well ahead of schedule inPerlis. Somehow, I had the impressionthat Kaki Bukit, the staging point of ourexplorations, was a two-shack town, butas it turned out, it had 5,000 inhabitants,and we had five coffee shops to choosefrom to take our meals, not to mentionone that served probably the best andbiggest “dai bau” (dumpling) in thewhole of Malaysia.

The school in Kaki Bukit, which wasto be our home for five days, broughtnostalgic memories. The classroom I slept in, with six other like-mindedadventurers, was surprisingly clean and was only missing a few panes of glass from the windows, unlike in myold school.

With a bit of group effort andmodifications to the classroom doors (a bit of engineering to make themlockable), we were quickly settled in. Bynightfall, the organisers had got usmotivated enough to climb up a nearbywatchtower to gaze at the tops of forests– lit gently by a near full moon –stretching right to the Thai border.

Novices that we were, we quicklyfound out that our equipment neededadjusting. My engineering skills were not wasted – as we had invested inconstruction-grade hard hats instead ofexpensive caving helmets, I helped‘retrofit’ them so the headlamps could besecured onto them.

The next morning, the real actionstarted. I did some caving before, so thatpart did not worry me. But the thought ofcrawling through flooded caves didmake me worry a bit. I made the mistakeof reading an article by some cavers thathad gone into Gua Wang Ulu and hadnearly got trapped when the water levelin the cave they were exploring insuddenly started rising. We found outlater that one of the organisers had gotten into a similar situation himself.Thankfully, he didn’t recount his taleuntil after our caving was over!

The first cave was Gua Baba – theentrance to this was literally a hole in theground. With some trepidation, we wentdown this hole one by one. Once inside,

the hole opened out into a tunnel that led into the mines. We got our first tasteof the watery domain as we slipped into a shallow pool to cross into the mine proper.

It was certainly an interestingexperience, wading through ankle- tochin-deep water (it was only chin deepbecause we had life vests on!) I guesseach of us had our fears and challenges,from overcoming the fear of darkness, togetting used to muddy conditions and tosurviving leech bites.

We found that the only true test of the caving equipment, especially thelights, was to take it through a cave likewe did. Countless so-called waterprooftorches were not, and long-life batteriesof a certain brand were certainly veryshort-lived!

We also learnt about conservation ofenergy sources very rapidly. When wefirst started into the cave, everyone hadhis or her lights full on. By the time we stopped for lunch, many werekeeping their lamps off unless absolutelynecessary. Spare batteries deep inside adark cave are very, very marketableitems! Name your price…

Two caves (actually three and a half,Gua Wang Burma, Gua Kelam 2, Gua Kelam showcave and an abortedattempt at Gua Wang Mu) and two days later, we had gotten a real taste of what being inside a water cave was about – especially if you hadaccidentally swallowed some waterwhilst swimming in them!

The only negative thing aboutexploring water caves? The washing anddrying of clothes and equipment after all the fun! But the best part about the experience? Each time, whenever I emerged from the dark passages andfinally saw daylight, I felt good. After all, we had been to the depths of themines where few had ventured in thepast 30 years. n

For more details about caving and how to join MNS, the reader

is invited to visit:www.mns.org.my/selangor/

cavegroup/pcecaver/index.htm

How Do You Spell “Speleology”?..............................................................................................................................................

By: Sdr. Leong Sek Kai


PREAMBLEThree thousand engineers from 70 countriesand regions came together for the WorldEngineers’ Convention on November 2-6,2004. WEC2004 was sponsored by theWorld Federation of EngineeringOrganisations (WFEO) and co-sponsoredby the United Nations Educational,Scientific and Cultural Organization(UNESCO), and organized by the ChineseAssociation for Science and Technology(CAST), Chinese Academy of Engineering(CAE), and Shanghai MunicipalGovernment. The theme of WEC2004 was“Engineers Shape The Sustainable Future”.Many important issues related to this themewere addressed in the plenary and fiveparallel sessions of the Convention and thevirtual fora associated with WEC2004.

PROCLAMATIONEngineering and technology are vitallyimportant in addressing poverty reduction,sustainable development and the other UNMillennium Development Goals, and needto be recognized as such. We, the par-ticipants at WEC2004, proclaim thefollowing:

The Challenge1. The SituationWhile having made encouraging progressin economic and other respects, the worldtoday is facing many severe challenges. Theenvironment continues to deteriorate,natural and man-made disasters are morefrequent, some natural resource usesapproach critical points, and the gapsbetween the rich and the poor, betweendeveloped and developing nations,continue to widen. All these factors are amajor threat to global prosperity, security,stability and sustainable development.

The Mission2. The Engineering CommunityThe bounden duty of engineers is to build abetter life for society. To this end, engineersshould dedicate themselves to developing abetter world together with the public andprivate sectors, non-governmental andintergovernmental organizations, throughthe application of knowledge to convertresources into products and services. In thisprocess, engineers should be aware of the

need to achieve a balance between resourceuse and the needs of future generations,maintaining the environment andecosystems to promote sustainable deve-lopment. We need to develop goals andmeasurable indicators towards these goals.

3. Governments Governments need to recognize andreinforce the role of engineering in socialand economic development, addressingbasic human needs and poverty reduction,bridging the “knowledge divide” and pro-moting intercultural dialogue, cooperationand conflict resolution. Governments alsoneed to promote public and private supportfor engineering education and capacitybuilding. This is most important indeveloping public understanding and theapplication of engineering and technologyin all countries.

4. International OrganisationsNon-governmental organisations, such asWFEO, and inter-government organisa-tions, such as UNESCO, can and shouldplay vital roles in promoting the deve-lopment and application of engineering tobridge the divide between countries. Theyalso play important role in supporting andpromoting international cooperation inengineering and technology, particularlybetween developed and developingcountries.

Responsibility and Commitment5. SustainabilityEngineers should take greaterresponsibility for shaping the sustainablefuture. Engineers should also create andapply technology to minimize the waste ofresources, reduce pollution and protect thehuman health and well-being and theecological environment.

6. Ethics and Codes of Conduct The principles of honesty, equity, freedomfrom bribery, corruption and fraud, onwhich engineering codes are based, shouldbe emphasized. High standards in allaspects of engineering practice should bemaintained worldwide, and ongoingdebate about engineering ethics should bestrongly fostered towards the aim ofadoption of codes of conduct by allengineers and engineering bodies.

7. InterdisciplinarityEngineers should be clearly aware of the importance of interdisciplinary cooperation. We need to promotecooperation within the profession and alsowith natural and social scientists and thepublic in the creation and application ofknowledge for sustainable development.

8. Education and Capacity BuildingInnovation and creation in engineering areof crucial importance. We need to promotehuman and institutional capacity building.Curricular and pedagogical reform inengineering education and continuousprofessional development to encompasswider social and ethical concerns areneeded. This will enhance the attractivenessof engineering to young people. We need topromote and support young engineers –they are our future.

9. Women and Gender IssuesWomen are frequently constrained fromreaching their full potential. Only whenwomen and men realize their potential, willthe development of human society realizeits full potential. Hence, promoting theparticipation of women and addressinggender issues in engineering is crucial forthe sustainability of the engineeringcommunity.

10. International CooperationThere are excessive disparities betweenpeople and countries. This can lead toincreasing insecurity and conflict.International cooperation in engineeringfacilitates the exchange of knowledge andpromotes technological applications forhealth, wealth and well-being, povertyreduction and the culture of peace.

CALL TO ACTIONWe, the participants at the World Engineers’Convention 2004, commit ourselves in thisShanghai Declaration on Engineering andSustainable Future and issue a call. We callon engineers, engineering organizations,governments and international bodies toacknowledge and adopt the actions statedin this declaration. We consider that thisDeclaration gives practical expression andimpetus to a commitment to engineeringthat can serve as a strategic guide forpartnership between all stakeholders inengineering for our sustainable future. n

The Shanghai Declaration on Engineering and TheSustainable Future World Engineers’ Convention, Shanghai, 5 November 2004

The World Federation of Engineering Organizations/ WFEOFédération Mondiale des Organisations d’Ingénieurs/ FMOI

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World Engineers Convention 2004 Shanghai– More Than a Technical Experience

.......................................................................................................................

By: Ir. Dr Wong Koon Yuin, FIEM, P.Eng., FIEAust., C.P. Eng., RPEQ, MACEM

“Why don’t you attend the WorldEngineers Convention (WEC)

in Shanghai,” asked Adrian, theTreasurer of the Malaysian Chapter ofThe Institution of Engineers, Australia(SIEAMM). “Dato’ Pang (the Chairman)suggested that you represent SIEAMM.”Shanghai! I have never been to Shanghai.The only thing I knew about Shanghaiwas from Hong Kong’s TVB series “TheBund”. I cannot disappoint SIEAMM byturning down such an assignment.

I contacted IEM to find out whichtravel agent was arranging their tour. Ithen contacted the agent, whose responsewas “Sori-lah, you too late! No more seat.Ai-yah, why you come so late one-ah?You only give problem lah.” What can Isay? In simple language it means bye-byeand don’t disturb me. I have to look foralternative arrangements. I WILL NOTGIVE UP. I can fly by MAS instead ofChina Airlines and join the ground tourin Shanghai. I can leave a day later andthe local tour guide can pick me up. Thatseems simple enough. So I handed in mypassport, one passport size photograph(for the visa), paid all the fees and wastold to collect my ticket and passportfour working days later.

There is definitely a difference in howengineers calculate time from the rest ofhumanity. I submitted my passport on aMonday morning (before 10am) and 4working days, by my calculation, isThursday. No, the rest of humanityignores the day you submit and adds 4days, making it a Friday. Not only onFriday but Friday afternoon. “Just to besafe,” said the tour agent. Since I amflying on the following Mondaymorning, I thought it was cutting it a bitthin because embassies work 5 days aweek and if I cannot get my passportback by Friday, I will have to miss theflight! So on Thursday afternoon, I called the tour agent only to be told, “Ai Yah, Mr Wong, told you oledi lah,Friday afternoon after 4.30. Now only Thursday, why you call?” I apologizedfor the intrusion.

I got my passport back on Fridayafter 4.30pm and so early on the Mondaymorning (on 1 November), I made myway to KLIA. Now, being a descendent of

Cantonese migrants, my Mandarin isabout as good as the general population’sTamil. But I have been watching a lot ofmovies on Astro Channel 39 and Channel34 and I thought that this should sufficeand put me in a good position to handlethe language problem. I can understandwhen Mandarin is spoken to me. It’s thereciprocating part that worries me.Admittedly, my spoken Mandarin can beconfusing (for the listener that is) but Iam sure that I can get by when combinedwith other forms of facial and bodyexpressions. It may take a bit of time tomake the other side understand myintentions, but what the heck, language isonly ONE form of communication.

I arrived in Pudong airport (about 50km from Shanghai) after a 5 hour flight.After clearing immigration and customs,I looked for the tour guide who issupposed to pick me up. There were twoother friends on a separate tour with me,arriving on the same flight. We waited,and waited……... and 45 minutes latermade eye contact with a guy holding upa piece of paper with some Chinesecharacters. He told us he was to pick upfive passengers from “Mar Lai See Yah”.After a couple of mobile calls to theShanghainese tour agent, he confirmedthat we (three of us) were part of the rightpackage. We then left Pudong airport.What about the other two passengers?“Never mind, they can make their ownway, NOT MY FAULT” was his reply.Under this situa-tion the safest thing forself preservation is to keep quiet.

My first impression of Shanghai isthat it is an ultra modern city, at least inthe Pudong area. There are manyskyscrapers some with internationalfame such as the Jiang Mei buildingwhich once vied for the world’s tallestbuilding title, and the ShanghaiTelecommunication tower. Also, notmany cities can boast a Maglev (amagnetic levitation train) which travelsat a top speed of 431km/h. This is halfthe flight speed of MAS to Shanghai andmore than twice the speed of theShinkansen, the bullet train in Japan. Isaw the Maglev on the way out fromPudong airport and by the time I saysee……….. it was gone. Seeing all these,

it is difficult to believe China has acommunist regime for government.

As an engineer, I was fascinated toobserve how the design and constructionof the Maglev track handle the tilt andthe curvature. This was done veryelegantly using strategically locatedtilted cross beams of varying sections.This seems easy when one looks at it afterconstruction. But planning and design isneeded to account for the 3-dimensionalcurvature along the alignment. And atsuch high speeds, the constructiontolerance must have been very small.There are many elevated highways allover Shanghai but most constructionseems to be of post-tensioned, cast in-situbox girders, unlike ours where mostbeams are of pre-tensioned and pre-casttype. Highways in Shanghai do notgenerally have the emergency lane likewe do in Malaysia and designated restand stop areas are very few. This can be asafety problem when cars stop at the sidebecause the driver or passengers wantedto pee.

After about an hour of driving, wefinally arrived at the hotel, Xin Kian Fu,in the old part of Shanghai. Now, ANYChinese of Cantonese decent will notforget this name. The name sounds like‘Sun Kow Fu’, a crude phrase inCantonese meaning “Suffering”. Overthe next few days of my stay, the hoteltruly lived up to the name.

In the old part of Shanghai, one cansee many old houses. These weregenerally 2 to 3 storeys and most in asomewhat dilapidated condition. Notonly will one see the contrast betweenthe ultra modern part of Shanghai andthe old Shanghai, one can also smell thecontrast. Stinking beancurd, a favouritesnack on a stick, is sold in street stallsaround old Shanghai. Its reputation ofstink is not without basis. To me, theclosest thing to it is the smell of an openpit lavatory. The smell lingers on for along time. The locals say they do notsmell the stink and will look for thesmelliest ones when buying!

Across the hotel are a couple of smalleateries and a hairdresser salon thatdoubles up as a massage parlour. Talkabout entrepreneurship and capitalism at


work in China; one country two systems.One shop two businesses!

As a Malaysian of Chinese descent, Icannot help but feel sad and sorry to seemany of the things that we considermostly things of past. People in Shanghaispit at their convenience everywhere anddrive recklessly. The most importantpiece of equipment in the car is the horn,not the brakes because the driver sounds the horn continuously andexpects the rest to make way. There areumpteen bicycles and electric scooters on the streets. People jump queuewithout apology and throw rubbishindiscriminately. Life can be very toughin Shanghai. Undoubtedly, there aremany super rich people in Shanghai.There are Mercedes models that I do notknow even existed. S1000 class iscommon. For the majority, poverty isvery evident. Daily survival is a mainpriority for most.

In a pasar malam type set-ting ofXiang Yang city, one sees all types ofclothing, fake watches and video gamesfor sale at bargain prices, that is, one hasto bargain hard. You offer no more than20 percent of the vendor’s asking price.All around were security personnel,indicating that things can be rough andpetty crimes are common. In the moreaffluent shopping and commercial areaslike the Nanjing street mall, there are alsomany people who tout. They can pick outa tourist easily. They offer fortune telling,massage services (any style and type)and beg for money (usually with a verysad tale). After a while you realize thesimilarity in story line of the beggars.There must be a training school for themto be so consistent.

The WEC was held at the ShanghaiInternational Convention Centre with areception hall big enough to cater for upto 5000 people. More than 3000 registeredfor this convention. Participants have topass through metal detectors and all bagswere scanned each time participantsentered the building. Even watches haveto be taken off. If one has false metal teethor wore braces it is safer to declare themor risk embarrassment. It is definitely anunpleasant experience to have a securityguard looking into your mouth! In thebuilding, participants are required towear their name tag around their neck.Security was tight.

Almost all participants attended theopening reception, although it is unclearwhether it is the lure of the openingspeeches or the banquet. Like anythingformal in China, things are done to

perfection. Food was in abundance. Thefood was a very welcome change aftertwo days of eating Shanghainesecooking, which is in general very oilyand salty. During the first two days, Isurvived on soya bean drinks andpancakes. Later I introduced the shopwhich serves these near our hotel toother IEM members. I knew exactlywhere they were nightly after that.

On the second evening of theconvention, a cultural performance washeld. All traditional Chinese instrumentswere featured. Soprano singing, culturaldances, traditional music and acrobaticperformances lasted about two hours.Now, I am not one who will normally sitfor hours to listen to cultural music. Butfor this event, I sat through the entireperformance. It gave me an interestinginsight into Chinese musical culture. Iwas particularly fascinated by the Er Hu,a simple string instrument played with abow across a few strings. Every Er Huhas a piece of snake skin about 5 inchesdiameter – python skin mostly. Manypythons have indeed contributed to theadvancement of this style of classicalChinese music.

I attended the session presentation ofWFEO and UNESCO. The currentPresident of WFEO is a Malaysian, Dato’Lee Yee Cheong. His presentationoutlined the aspiration and objectives ofthe conference’s theme of sustainabledevelopment, and the role WFEO canplay in this area. In reality, many of theproblems resulting from moderndevelopment were already identified andsome even have well advanced solutionschemes. The issue is a unified holisticimplementation of a solution scheme ona global scale. The Kyoto Protocol, forexample, is only a small step aimed atcontrolling emissions of greenhousegases. Yet, even this protocol has met many obstacles, including the refusalof the United States of America to ratify it. There is concern amongst some countries, especially developedones, that they cannot meet the targetemission indices set in the time period without implementation of costly technologies or seriously cuttingback production. Perhaps the globaleconomic race is the real issue. Thetechnical excuse is just to mask theeconomic concerns.

I extended my stay by two days tovisit Wuxi at the invitation of an olduniversity friend who has done very wellin China (no, he is not an engineer.) Hehad sent a car to pick me up fromShanghai. The 120km journey took about

two and half hours. Even on a Saturday,it is difficult to escape the traffic chaos.The main highway was tolled. But therewas no ‘Touch and Go’ system. Thequeue was about a kilometer long eachtime we have to pass a toll.

On the return from Wuxi to Shanghaito catch the flight home, I decided to takethe train. There are two classes of train travel here, the ‘soft’ class and the ‘normal’ class. The soft class is akin to the first class. For the times I needed to travel, all tickets for the soft class were sold out. So I opted to try the normal class. It turned out to be quite an experience for me. Theseats are numbered (so no one can displace you) and it is air-conditioned. The top speed is about120km/h. The journey normally takesabout 105 minutes, allowing for somestops.

All the things you see about traintravel in Chinese movies are true. Peoplecarry chickens, televisions, dried foodand cartons and cartons of goods as partof their luggage. They push and jostletheir way up the train. Tempers fly andverbal exchanges are quite common. Onthis trip I witnessed a train guardphysically kicking a passenger! On thetrain, people sell all sorts of things, fromfinger food and drinks to packed mixedrice, to toys and socks. Yes, socks! Andthe salesman has to do some hard sellingto show the quality of his product. Thetrain is a mobile shopping complex andmany petty traders make their livingaboard in this manner.

There are a few things that I willprobably remember well about Shanghai.No, it is not the Convention. I willprobably forget many things about theConvention. To me, every conference issimilar. They all introduce great ideas forthe advancement of mankind. I will alsoprobably forget the food or even thestinking smell of the fermentedbeancurd. But, I will remember thespitting people do around Shanghai. Iwill also remember the very chaotictraffic system and the many people onthe streets peddling petty services. Andthe beggars, I will remember them well.

When I returned, my friends askedhow I had enjoyed the trip and did I findShanghai interesting. I told them that Ihave been to the past and the future atthe same time. I had a look into the futurefrom the aspiration and courage of theChinese people and I had a look into thepast of a root that I did not know. n

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F E A T U R E

INTRODUCTIONIn 12 million BC, it is believed that a naturaldeposit of cement compounds was formedfrom the reactions between limestone andoil shale during spontaneous combustion(Shaeffer, 1992). In 3,000 BC, the Egyptiansused lime and gypsum mortar as a bindingagent for building the Pyramids and theChinese used cementitious materials in theGreat Wall of China. It is believed that inabout the second century BC, the first use ofcementitious binding agent was used insouthern Italy. The Romans used volcanicsand called pozzuolana in their cementwhere it was first found near Pozzuoli inthe bay of Naples. One of the most wellknown masterpieces by the Romans usingancient concrete is the Pantheon. Probablydue to the lack of availability of similarpozzuolans throughout the world, this typeof concrete was not used elsewhere and

stone and brick masonry continued to bethe dominant construction materials formany centuries.

The modern use of concrete can betraced back to John Smeaton who, born in1724, is famous for his work on theEddystone Lighthouse in Cornwall,England, which he had been commissionedto rebuild in 1756. Smeaton usedinterlocking courses of masonry boundwith a pozzolanic mortar. In his later work,he added aggregate to the mix and builtRamsgate Harbour, Perth and ColdstreamBridges and the Forth and Clyde ShipCanals (Skempton, 1982). In the early 1850s,the use of reinforcing steel was introducedby Jean-Louis Lambot in his boats (Shaeffer,1992). With the use of reinforcing, a newbuilding form, the thin shell, wasdeveloped. In 1889 the first concretereinforced bridge was built, Alvord Lake

Bridge in the USA.Basic cement tests were standardised in

the early 1900s. In 1904, Ingalls building inUSA was the first mounted concreteskyscraper. In 1916, the Portland CementAssociation was founded. A year later, theUS Bureau of Standards and the AmericanSociety for Testing Materials established astandard formula for Portland cement.

In 1922, the tallest concrete building ofthe time was built, the Medical ArtsBuilding (70 metres high, Omaha, USA).Eugene Freyssinet successfully developedprestressed concrete in the mid 1930s. In1935, the first major concrete dams, HooverDam and Grand Coulee Dam were built(Shaeffer, 1992).

Interest in advanced cement-basedmaterials is not solely because of theirincreased strength but also because of theirgenerally high-performance characteristics.

Evolution of Concrete Technology – The New Challenge..............................................................................................................................................................

By: Dr. VOO Yen Lei, BEng (Civil), PhD (Struct.)

Figure 1 : Evolution of concrete technology (Voo 2004)


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The earliest use of high performanceconcrete (HPC) can be traced to the 1950sand in the time since there has beennumerous projects that have used HPC intheir construction. In 1973, Water TowerPlace reached 260 metres with concretestrengths as high as 60 MPa (Shaeffer, 1992).

In the following two to three decades,high performance concrete has been widelyused in bridges and high rise buildingssuch as Two Union Square (USA), PetronasTwin Tower (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia),Tsing Ma Bridge (Hong Kong) and TrumpWorld Tower (USA) but to list a few.

In the mid-1990s, ultra-high perfor-mance cementitious mortar known asreactive powder concrete (RPC) wasdeveloped with concrete strengths over 200MPa. In 1997, the world’s first RPC filledsteel tube composite foot-bridge wasconstructed at Sherbrooke in Canada and in2002 the world’s first fully RPC footbridgespanning 120 metres was constructed inSeoul, South Korea (Deem, 2002).

To date, a project is being developed byVSL Prestressing (Aust.) for the world’sfirst RPC highway traffic bridge to beconstructed at Shepherds Gully Creek inNSW, Australia (Cavill and Chirgwin,2003). A schematic drawing showing thedevelopment of concrete through to RPC isprovided in Figure 1.

REACTIVE POWDER CONCRETEReactive powder concrete (RPC) is an ultra-high strength, low porosity cementitiousmaterial with high cement and silica fumecontents, low water-binder ratios and usesa new generation of superplasticizer toenhance workability (see Figure 2). Reactivepowder concrete may also incorporate largequantities of steel or synthetic fibres givingenhanced ductility and high temperatureperformance. Unlike conventional concrete,reactive powder concrete contains nocoarse aggregate and the fine aggregate isreplaced by fine sand and crushed quartzwith particle sizes not greater than 600 mm.

Reactive powder concrete was firstlydeveloped by the French. BouyguesConstruction (in France) with Richard and Cheyrezy (1994, 1995) have reportedthe mechanical properties of RPC and the results showed RPC demonstratedcompressive strengths greater than 200 MPa and a modulus of rupture of 25-50 MPa.

Since the development of this ultra-highstrength cementitious material, manyexperimental investigations/research havebeen conducted on the durability of thismaterial (Roux et al., 1996). According toRoux et al. (1996) the durability of RPC canbe defined by measuring the porosity, airpermeability, water absorption, diffusionand migration of chloride ions, acceleratedcarbonation, resistance to reinforcement

corrosion, and resistance to mechanicalabrasion. The results of Roux et al. (1996)show that the excellent durabilitycharacteristics of RPC make it arevolutionary material with, potentially, asignificant increase in the life expectancy ofstructures constructed using RPC(demonstrated in Table 1).

Table 1 – Performance characteristicscomparison of RPC to HPC (Cavill, 2000)

Durability Indicator RPC Vs HPC

Total porosity 4 to 5 times lowerMicroporosity 10 to 30 times lowerPermeability 50 times lowerWater absorption 50 times lowerChlorine ions diffusion 25 times lowerElectrical Resistance 4 to 17 times greaterAbrasion Resistance 2 to 3 times greater

Today, much research has beenundertaken or is being undertaken in manyEuropean countries (e.g. France, Canada,Australia, UK, etc.) to study and investigatethe potential use of fibre reinforced RPC asconstruction and building material,especially in the field of precast productand bridge engineering.

To date, the University of New South Wales (Australia) has tested sevenlarge-scale prestressed steel FR-RPC girders without conventional stirrup in the web (Voo, 2004, Voo et al., 2004). The experimental data gives evidence how conventional shear reinforcement can be replaced by steel FR-RPC in aprestressed girder. The experimentalprogram were conducted in the heavystructural laboratory of the UNSW asshown in Figure 3.

BENEFITS & APPLICATIONSThe characteristics of RPC make it a uniquematerial with possibilities for use in a widerange of structural and non-structuralapplications due to its superior strengthand corrosion protection capabilities inaggressive environments (Richard andCheyrezy, 1995, Roux et al., 1996).Enormous benefits have been reported forthe application of RPC. For instance,

Richard (1996) and Gilbert et al. (2000)suggested with its superior ductility andtension failure mechanism, fibre reinforcedRPC can be used to resist all but directprimary tensile stresses or localised shear.This may eliminate the need forsupplemental shear and other auxiliaryreinforcing steel.

From the point of view of constructionmanagement, the construction time andlabour costs may also be significantlydecreased; which is important in thecentury of high labour costs in manycountries. The inclusion of conventionalstirrups in reinforced concrete beams andstructures require relatively high labourinput and supervision and the replacementof stirrups with fibres may reduce thefabrication cost. Also, with this newmaterial, thinner or irregular shapedsections, such as architectural panels, arepossible due to the absence of conventionalreinforcement.

Gilbert et al. (2000) showed that FR-RPC has the potential to competestructurally with steel using prestressedRPC beams such as those shown in Figure 4.

From the perspective of the bridgeindustry, Gilbert et al. (2000) show how aRPC box girder may perform in place of aconstructed concrete Super T bridge (Figure5a) for Georges River Bridge, NSW,Australia. The existing deck consisted ofseven simply supported, pretensioned,Super T box girder sections placed side by

Figure 2: Mixing of reactive powder concretewith high workability

(a)

(b)

Figure 3 (a): A photo of the heavy structurallaboratory of the UNSW and (b) a photo shows

the FR-RPC girder in the testing rig.


side and spanning 35 m with a 175 mmthick in-situ reinforced concrete deckplaced over the 75 mm thick top flange ofthe girder. The RPC box girder, shown inFigure 3b, has been designed to perform the same task but the RPC girder requiresno conventional transverse reinforcementfor shear. As the girder is prestressed both longitudinally and transversely, no in-situ deck is required. The longitudinalprestressing requirement for both girders is

similar. Furthermore, theweight of the RPC bridgesuperstructure is appro-ximately 60% of the SuperT girder and deck slab.

Reactive powderconcrete is well known asa durable material. Its lowand non-interconnectedporosity minimises masstransfer making pene-tration of liquid, gas, or radioactive elementsnearly non-existent. This

increased durability andabrasion resistance overconventional and highstrength concrete makesRPC ideal for the storage ofnuclear waste or other

hazardous materials (Richard andCheyrezy, 1995).

From the point of view of structuraldesign, regarding long-term behaviour,RPC exhibits low creep and shrinkageproperties and has remarkable propertiesthat allow the elimination of most of the design considerations linked to time-dependent strains (Richard andCheyrezy, 1995).

Three completedprojects using RPC,Sherbrooke footbridge(Canada), Seonyufootbridge (SouthKorea) and SakataMirai PedestrianBridge (Japan) and anon going project,Shepherds GullyCreek, Australia,highlight the potentialuse of RPC in theapplication to civilinfrastructure.

The first majorstructure to useRPC200 was the 60-

metre single span Sherbrooke PedestrianBridge crossing the river of Magog inSherbrooke, Province of Quebec, Canada. The walkway deck, which servesas the top chord to the truss, consists of 3.3 metres wide by 30 mm thick RPC slab.The web members, which slope in bothdirections, are of a composite designinvolving RPC placed in thin-walledstainless steel tubing having compressivestrengths up to 350 MPa. The success of this structure dawned a new era in design methodology of concrete structureswith no conventional reinforcing steel usedfor any part of the superstructure (Lachemiet al., 1998).

Figure 6 shows the Seonyu Footbridgein Seoul, South Korea and constructed inApril 2002 using RPC. The structureconnects the city of Seoul to Seonyu Islandon the Han River. Constructed by BouyguesConstruction, the bridge consists of an archwith a 120 metre span supporting a 30 mmthick RPC deck. According to BouyguesConstruction (Deem, 2002), the structurerequired only about half of the amount ofmaterial that would have been used withtraditional concrete construction, yetprovides equivalent load-bearing andstrength properties.

An ongoing project on the world’s firstRPC highway traffic bridge is underconstruction by VSL Prestressing at theShepherd’s Gully Greek at NSW, Australia.The road bridge is to comprise four trafficlanes plus a footway. The superstructure ofthe bridge will comprise 16 precastpretensioned steel FR-RPC beams withoutany conventional stirrup in the web region and the beam is singly spanning 15 metres. The total width of the bridge is21 metres. The success of this bridge project will not only challenge the existing design methodology of concretestructures but also give a sign that the useof ultra-high strength concrete as long life construction/precast material is aboutto begin. n

Weight = 125 kg/m Weight = 167 kg/mArea = 0.016 m2 Area = 0.0636 m2

Steel 610UB RPC 600UB

Figure 4: Comparison of equivalent RPC beam sections and structural steel (Gilbert et al., 2000), dimensions in mm.

(a)

(b)

Figure 5: (a) Existing and (b) alternative RPC girder sections for GeorgesRiver Bridge, New South Wales, Australia (Gilbert et al., 2000).

Figure 6: Seonyu Footbridge on the Han River, Seoul, South Korea.

F E A T U R E


F E A T U R E

REFERENCESCavill, B., 2000. “Prestressed Concretewithout Conventional Reinforcement,”Proceedings of the 19th Biennial Conferenceof the Concrete Institute of Australia,Sydney, Australia, 5-7 May, pp: 230-238.

Cavill, B., and Chirgwin, G., 2003. “The Worlds First RPC Road Bridge atShepherds Gully Creek, NSW,” 21st Biennial Conference of the ConcreteInstitute of Australia (CIA), July, pp: 89-98.

Deem, S., 2002. “Concrete Attraction-Something New on theFrench Menu-Concrete”, source atwww.popularmechanics.com/science/research/2002/6/concrete/print.phtml.

Gilbert, R.I., Gowripalan, N., and Cavill,B., 2000. “On the Design of Precast,Prestressed Reactive Powder Concrete(Ductal) Girders,” Proceedings of 4thAustroads Bridge Engineering Conference,Adelaide, Australia, Nov. 30 - Dec 1, Vol. 3, pp: 313-324.

Lachemi, M., Bastien, J., Adeline, R., Ballivy, G., and A_tchin, P.C., 1998.“Monitoring of the World’s FirstReactive Powder Concrete Bridge,” 5th International Conference on Short andMedium Span Bridges, Calgary, Alberta,Canada, July, 10 pp.

Richard, P., 1996. “Reactive PowderConcrete: A New Ultra-High-StrengthCementitious Material,” 4th InternationalSymposium on Utilization of HighStrength/High Performance Concrete, Paris,Editors: F. de Larrard and R. Lacroix,Press de l’Ecole Naturale des Ponts etChaussées, Vol. 3, pp: 1343-1349.

Richard, P., and Cheyrezy, M., 1995.“Composition of Reactive PowderConcretes,” Cement and ConcreteResearch, Vol. 25, No. 7, pp: 1501-1511.

Richard, P., and Cheyrezy, M.H., 1994.“Reactive Powder Concretes with HighDuctility and 200-800 MPa CompressiveStrength,” ACI, SP-144(24), San Francisco, CA, pp: 507-518.

Roux, N., Andrade, C., and Sanjuan,M.A., 1996. “Experimental Study ofDurability of Reactive PowderConcretes,” Journal of Materials in CivilEngineering, Vol. 8, No. 1, February, pp: 1-6.

Shaeffer, R.E., 1992. “ReinforcedConcrete: Preliminary Design forArchitects and Builders,” McGraw-Hill, 196 pp.

Skempton, A.W., 1982. “John Smeaton,FRS,” American Society of CivilEngineering, December, 291 pp.

Voo, Y. L., 2004. “An Investigation intothe Behaviour of Prestressed ReactivePowder Concrete Girders Subject toNon-Flexural Actions,” PhD Thesis,School of Civil and EnvironmentalEngineering, The University of NewSouth Wales, Sydney, Australia.

Voo, Y. L., Foster, S. J., and Gilbert, R. I.,2004. “Shear Strength of 160 MPa-FibreReinforced Reactive Powder ConcreteGirders without Stirrups,” AseanAustralian, Engineering Congress 2004.


T he proposed megatower at Kowloon

station when completedwill be the tallest buildingin Hong Kong. Thefoundation work for thestructure has recently beencompleted. It comprised alarge raft foundation mea-suring 76m in diameterwithin a 1.5m thickdiaphragm wall. The diaphragm wall and 240barrettes within it extend to about 60m below the raft and has been shaftgrouted to provide suffi-cient geotechnical capacityto support the very largeload from the 102 storeybuilding. The design andconstruction of the base-ment excavation was parti-cularly challenging as theyentail the excavation of a26m deep basement withno internal props whilstensuring that movement is mini-mised adjacent to a running MRTtunnel about 3m distance away.

The talk, attended by 90members, was presented by Dr JackPappin (Ove Arup & Partners, Hong Kong) on August 17, 2004, who covered various design issues, construction methods andperformance evaluation. Dr Pappinexplained that the foundation design was unique as it requiredunderstanding of the behaviour ofdeep barrettes in large group action.The design criteria specifiedsettlement of less than 75mm anddistortion of 1:1000. FEM analyseswere carried out which showed thatthe loads in the central barrettes areessentially carried almost completelyto the toe. The design also allowed

for geotechnical failure of the outerbarrettes under extreme windloading.

Construction work employedstate-of-the-art equipment. The 1.5m thick diaphragm wall and 1.5 × 2.8m barrettes were formedusing hydrofraise with real timeverticality monitoring. A scrapingtool was introduced into theexcavated panel to remove much of the bentonite “cake” formed on the wall of the panel. Afterconcreting, the barrette shaft was shaft grouted by means of tube-a-manchette valves fixed on the steel cage. Real time grout take volume, pressure and flow were monitored using the SINNUSmonitoring system.

A few barrettes were load tested

which showed that the ultimate shaft friction in the alluvium clay and completely decomposed granitesatisfy the relation fsu = 6N with a limiting friction of 170kPa and fsu = 2.4N with a limiting friction of 145kPa, respectively (where N = SPT blow-count in blows/ft).The strut-free diaphragm walls performed admirably with moni-tored lateral movement of less than 15mm.

Dr Pappin also noted that theexcavation was careful not to cause ground water lowering to thesurrounding which will lead toground and building subsidence. The walls were taken to sufficientdepth and further, water pumpingtests were carried out prior toexcavation. n

Talk on Design and Construction of Sub-structurefor 102 Storey Tower in Hong Kong.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Reported by: Ir. Yee Yew Weng, Geotechnical Engineering Technical Division

R E P O R T


Atalk on “The State of the Art of Jet Grouting Technique” was

delivered in Hall A of IEM on 21October 2003 by Mr. Stefan Toth, expert advisor to Keller Group basedin Singapore. About 20 membersattended the interesting, informativeand enlightening talk. Jet grouting originated in Japan in 70s and the technology has been introduced in Europe more than 20 years ago. Thescope of the talk includes develop-ment of jet grouting technique and its applications based on the recently published European StandardEN12716.

Jet grouting is a process of applyinghydraulic erosion, erosion based on aground improvement system used tocreate insitu cemented soil calledSoilcrete. In the jet grouting process,soil is eroded by the collision of a highspeed fluid with the soil. The kineticenergy of the fluid, the unit volume ofSoilcrete and the soil strength and typeall play important roles in the processof ground improvement.

Generally, jet grouting techniquescan be classified into 3 main systems,depending on the number of fluidswhich are injected into the subsoil. Thethree systems are defined as single,double and triple fluid system ormethod (see Fig 1).

For the single fluid system, thegrout is injected into the soil with highpressure (300 to 450 bars). This energycauses the erosion of the ground andthe replacement and mixing of groutwith the soil. The double fluid systemis a two-phase internal rod system.Water is used for eroding the subsoiland the grout is then injected with lowpressure through a second nozzle.Alternatively an air-coated grouting jetis used to erode and mix the soil. Withthis system greater size or diameter ofSoilcrete can be created. In cohesivesoils the double system is moreeffective than the single system. Thetriple fluid system uses an air-coated

water jet and grout is induced withlower pressure through a secondnozzle. Grout, air and water arepumped through different lines tomonitor. This triple system is moresophisticated and effective system forcohesive soils and produces higherquality and larger diameters because itseparates the erosion process from thegrouting process.

The size, diameter or geometry ofSoilcrete created by jet groutingdepends on:-• dynamic pressure (velocity of the

fluid, air shroud, nozzle focus andconditions)

• injection volume rate• erosion time (rotation speed, lift

speed, etc.)

R E P O R T

“The State Of The Art Of Jet Grouting Technique”...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Reported by: Ir. Neoh Cheng Aik, Geotechnical Engineering Technical Division

Figure 1: Jet Grouting System


Figure 2: Jet Grouting Sequence of Works

Figure 3: Jet Grouting Applications

• soil strength and plasticity (soiltype, shear strength, etc.)

Mr. Stefan Toth also explained thejet grouting process, equipment,materials and properties of Soilcrete.Fig 2 shows the Jet Grouting Processand sequence of works.

Factors that can affect the strengthof Soilcrete are:-• Soilcrete geometry (usually around

1.6m to 2.0m diameter)• grout design, cement content and

additives• soil type and chemistry• jet grouting method and

equipment• installation procedures• sequence of work

Due to the inherent variability inthe strength of Soilcrete, it is reasonableto aim to achieve 2 to 3 times the designstrength from field samples (normallyhave USC = 1 to 2 N/mm2 for clay and3-4 N/mm2 for sand.)

The result of jet grouting treatmentof soil is a cemented soil body shapedas a column (generally) or other shapefor settlement reduction, reduction ofrisk of liquefaction or as imperviousbarriers. Some common applications ofjet grouting are shown in Fig 3.

Mr. Stefan Toth also illustrated andexplained several case histories aboutthe design and construction of jetgrouting. Mr. Stefan Toth also repliedand clarified several questions aboutthe applications of jet grouting.

In conclusion, Mr. Stefan Tothremarked that jet grouting techniquehas advanced tremendously in the pastfew years after extensive research inmany research institutions in Europeand USA. Jet grouting is a verypowerful, innovative and usefulground improvement technique andhas great potential to solve manydifficult or unsolved problems ingeotechnical engineering.

The talk was ended at about 6.30pm with thanks from the floor in theusual way. n

R E P O R T


R E P O R T

Talk On “European Installation Bus System”.....................................................................................................................................................................................................

Reported by: Ir. Mohd. Sobri bin Saleh, ITSIG

Atalk on the European Installation Bus(EIB) system was held at Bangunan

Ingenieur in Petaling Jaya on 7 June 2004.It was presented by En. Dahari bin MatSiran, the Engineering Manager of HagerEngineering Sdn Bhd, a company thatspecialises in electrical and controlsystems for home and buildinginstallations. The talk was attended byfifteen participants.

En. Dahari started with anintroduction of the EIB system, an open bus system for decentralisedelectrical control systems. EIB stan-dardisations and certifications aremanaged by EIB Association (EIBA),based in Brussels, Belgium, which wasfounded in 1990 by 15 electro-technicaland building management industryleaders with the aim to promote thesystem in the international market and as a standard system for home and building system applications.However, in April 1999, EIBA togetherwith two other European associations,namely BatiBUS Club International(BatiBUS) and European Home System Association (EHSA) merged to form the Konnex Association (KNX) with the principal aim ofpromoting KNX, a single opencommunication protocol as the standardfor home and building electronic systems.Details about Konnex’s protocols etc. are available at the following URL:http://www.konnex.org.

The functional methods of EIB arebased on the Open Systems Inter-connection (OSI) model, the mostcommonly used reference model for datacommunications.

It is an open system concept wherebydifferent companies are able to developtheir own products based on EIB

specifications. Presently there are over110 different companies manufacturingEIB devices which share a commonprotocol system. For example, EIBdevices manufactured by Hager cancommunicate with those of Merten, ABB,Gira, Siemens, etc. This is made possiblebecause their communication modulesbuilt in bus couplers (explained in a laterparagraph) follow EIB specifications. EIB has been certified by TechnicalCommittee 247 of Comité Européen de Normalisation Electrotechnique,European committee (CENELEC TC247).

The basic components of a functionalEIB system are two-core bus cabling, apower supply unit (+6/-4 29Vdc-640mA)with the option of a 12Vdc totally sealedbattery backup, input modules, outputmodules, and, in many cases, controllers.Bus cable specifications are: twisted pair0.8 mm2 operating at 9,600 bits persecond, having an execution speed of20ms and can be used for both the signaland power. Tested to 4kV insulation level,the bus cable (see Figure 1) in conduit canbe laid in parallel with power cables.

The smallest functional EIB unit is theline which comprises four segments, eachcapable of supporting up to 64 devices,thereby allowing a maximum of 256devices to be connected. A larger area(zone) can be created with a maximum of16 lines. The configuration can be furtherexpanded into a network of up to 16areas, thereby being able to accom-modate a maximum of 65,536 end devicesor bus users.

A binary input module is used fordetecting or measuring input signals suchas dry contacts, 240Vac, 24Vdc, 0~10Vdc,etc., which are then transmitted over thebus to interrogate or activate actuators,dimmers, heater valves, etc. Figure

2 shows a typicalapplication where com-mand inputs can beused to send orders forthe outputs to actaccordingly. Whilst aninput switch can beprogrammed to givethe command to turnON and OFF a group ofoutputs, an actuator canbe configured to receivesignals from severalgroups of inputs.Lighting, shutter and heater actuators can beindividually controlled

by different switches, as required. But thethree different actuators, as shown in thediagram, can also be programmed tooperate simultaneously with a commandswitch.

A twisted pair communications enddevice consists of a bus coupler unit(BCU) and an application module. TheBCU is a communications module madeup of a transceiver and a processor, whichcontains a micro-controller with ROM,RAM, EEPROM, ADC, PWM and serialinterfaces. It represents the universal linkbetween the application (e.g. switch orsensor) and the communications systemand acts as the electrical contact betweenthe applications and the bus. Commontypes of application modules are touch sensors, temperature sensors,brightness sensors, motion detectors,presence detectors, infra-red sensors, RF receivers, etc.

Monitoring and control of thefieldbus system can be established withthe use central stations (PCs) connectedto the fieldbus through a gateway, LANswitch and ISDN line. While viewing andcontrol can be set up through aconnection to a LAN switch, down-loading of EIB Tool Software (ETS) (andconfiguration of inputs and output links,parameters, etc.) to field devices is donefrom a PC via an RS232 or USB/EIBinterface connected to the bus (see Figure 3).

With the combined support of all EIB product manufacturers at present,EIB can be easily applied to existingornew installations, whereas proprietarysystems are limited in terms ofinteroperability and product range.Available EIB products and applicationsinclude:

Ir. Osman presenting a gift to En. Dahari

Diagram 1: Basic components of an EIB System.


• Automation of building installation systems (e.g. mechanical,electrical, security, etc.)

• Remotely monitor, control, and perform data acquisition,visualisation and fault alarm notification of a system fromanywhere (e.g. residential home, commercial building, hospitals, etc.)

• Future-home system• Integrated energy management system• Intelligent intruder alarm system• Intelligent fire and security detection system• CCTV surveillance control system• Intelligent hotel guestroom management system• Audio and audio apartment intercom system• Lighting control management system• Motor control centre management system• Air-conditioning management system

Responding to a question from the audience on the acceptance ofEIB in Malaysia, the speaker said that it has been well implementedin many private bungalows but not in commercial buildings as theopen system concept has not been fully understood. In the Asianregion, however, it is already establishing itself as the leadingtechnology in building automation and control.

At the end of the talk, a live simulation of a simple EIB systemincluding configuration of group addressing was demonstrated by aHager system engineer.

As a token of appreciation for giving the talk, the Chairman ofthe Information Technology Special Interest Group (ITSIG), Ir. Osman Khan, presented a gift to En. Dahari Mat Siran. n

Diagram 3: Typical integrated control and monitoring system via an EIB gateway

Diagram 2: Typical bus linking inputs and outputs

R E P O R T


The 14th Professor Chin Fung Kee Memorial Lecture-cum-Lunch,

jointly organised by The Institution ofEngineers, Malaysia and EngineeringAlumni Association of The University ofMalaya, was held on Saturday, 2 October2004 at the Sheraton Subang Hotel,Selangor Darul Ehsan. The lecture-cum-lunch was well attended by 300participants.

The lecture entitled “Kuala Lumpur:Re-Engineering A Flooded Confluence”was delivered by Y.Bhg. Datuk Ir. HajiKeizrul bin Abdullah, Ketua Pengarah,Jabatan Pengairan dan Saliran, Malaysia.

The lecture highlighted the KLflooding problems and its causes, andtraced the engineers’ effort to contain it,utilising both structural and non-structural measures, and culminating inthe present works under the StormwaterManagement and Road Tunnel (SMART),a dual-purpose tunnel to handle bothflood and traffic flows. This dual-purpose tunnel is the first of its kind inthe world.

Kuala Lumpur or KL as it is morefondly called was founded in the late19th century as a tin mining settlement atthe muddy confluence of the Klang and

the Gombak Rivers. A centurylater it had become the nation’slargest city, its capital and the heart of commerce andbusiness. The transformation of KL into an ultra modernmetropolis as it is today has not been without its trials and challenges. The rapiddevelopment of the last threedecades has brought with it urban congestion, trafficgridlock and devastating boutsof flooding that have turned a muddy confluence (kualalumpur) into a floodedconfluence (kuala banjir).

KL is situated in the midupper reaches of the 120 km long KlangRiver which drains a catchment of some1,288 sq. km. The river originates in thestate of Selangor, flows through theFederal Territory of KL before re-enteringSelangor where it meanders throughgently rolling lands and a flat coastalplain and finally discharges into theStraits of Malacca. Situated in a floodplain, KL has experienced a number ofmajor flood events with the worstrecorded being the flood of 1926.

However, it was only after the disastrousflood of 1971 that efforts were initiated toresolve the flood problem.

By the mid 1970s, a flood mitigationMaster Plan had been developed whichincorporated a number of engineeringoptions including upstream storage;ponding and pumped drainage; andimproving the drainage capacity of theKlang River and its major tributaries. Adecade later, this plan had been enlargedto cover the whole Klang Valley andmodified to take into consideration theGovernment’s decision to cancel theproposed Gombak Dam. During the1990s, the pace of development increasedwith more green areas being urbanisedand this resulted in a three-fold increasein the annual discharge of the KlangRiver at the city centre. Entering themillennium, flooding of the city hasbecome an annual event.

The ongoing works under the KualaLumpur Flood Mitigation Project isdesigned to reduce the occurrence offloods in the city. However, to be effectivein the long term, the proposed programof structural works must be combinedwith the implementation of IntegratedRiver Basin Management measures. The appropriate non-structural floodmitigation measures including land-useplanning and development controls infloodplain areas have to be looked intoseriously. If these measures are notimplemented, then the community will in one way or the other end uppaying for a higher cost in future floodmitigation works. n

R E P O R T

Fourteenth Professor Chin Fung Kee Memorial Lecture...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Reported by: Ir. Dr Ooi Teik Aun, Organising Chairman

Prof Ow (right) presenting a token of appreciation to Datuk Keizrul


Construct a high-rise condo-minium? That’s easy for engineers.

If we can do that for the better-offpeople, why not provide a betterquality of life for the less fortunate?

The G&S has taken theinitiative and recentlyembarked on a project toimprove the living condition ofthe Persatuan Kebajikan Warga

Tua dan Kanak-kanakWilayah Persekutuan(PKWTWP). PKWTWPis a shelter home for theneglected and homelessold folks and childrenlocated at Kepong, KualaLumpur.

G&S has constructedawning at the front of the house, replaceddoors, repaired floor parquet tiles, replacedtoilet cisterns andplumbing, repairedelectrical fittings, andpainted. The membersand volunteers spenttheir off-day to completethe painting and repairworks themselves on 7November 2004 and 28November 2004.

In conjunction withthe project, G&S organis-ed a lunch with the folksand children of the home on 5 December2004. We were honouredto have Y.B. Datuk Dr. M. Kayveas and IEMDeputy President, Ir.Prof. Dr. Ow Chee Sheng

Activity : Facelift Work for PKWTWP (Persatuan Kebajikan

Warga Tua dan Kanak-kanak Wilayah Persekutuan).

Date : 2 November to 5 December 2004

Organised by : Social & Community Portfolio, G&S.

Organising : Sdr. Cheng Wei Loon (Leader), Sdr. Ho Wee Leong,

Committee Sdr. Bernard Tan, Sdr. Ivan Tan,

Sdri. Cheong Sze Yin.

Facelift For Old Folks And Children Home...............................................................................................................................................................................................

Reported by: Sdr. W.L.Cheng

Datuk Dr. M. Kayveas: “Good job!”

Engineers in action Show them we care

Project kick-off

Drawing contest

R E P O R T Graduate & Student Sect ion


R E P O R T

to grace the event. Both Datuk Dr. M.Kayveas and Ir. Prof. Dr. Owcommended G&S young engineers ontheir committed effort in community

service. Datuk Dr. M.Kayveas said, “I’mimpressed by yourcommitments to help theneedy, to give them thebetter quality of life. Youreffort has helped to lessen the constraints ofvoluntary organisationsin sheltering the lessfortunate in our society.”

In the morning, G&Sheld a drawing contest forthe children. The childrenhad fun and showed theirdrawing creativity. DatukDr. M. Kayveas present-ed souvenirs from IEM G&S to sponsors andvolunteers of the project

and to the drawing contest winners.The highlight of the day is the

launching of the brand new G&Sbanner with the theme “Show Them

We Care”. This is a symbol of G&Scommitment to community service.

The greatest reward for us G&Sthrough this project, is the smile andappreciation from the children and oldfolks. Come on engineers, be part ofour community service team!

Another milestone for the hip,happening and CARING youngengineers.

The G&S team would like to recordour appreciation to the followingsponsors: Bluescope Lysaght (M) Sdn.Bhd., Sungai Besi Contruction Sdn.Bhd., Kitacon Sdn. Bhd., Pagoda SteelWorks, Giant Ace Sdn. Bhd.,Jurusanwa Enterprise Sdn. Bhd. &Pumpen Engineering Sdn. Bhd. n

Thank you G&S!

For more information about IEM G&S community

service projects, please [email protected]


R E P O R T

As in any other hydro constructionsite visits I have conducted before,

the technical visit to the BakunHydroelectric project which is underconstruction in Sarawak certainly livedup to my expectations.

Upon arrival with a group of sevenother IEM members, my curiousanticipation and enthusiasm weredeflated when after waiting for sometime at the arrival hall of the Bintuluairport, no one came to receive us asarranged. After a few phone calls, wepiled into three four-wheel-drive vehiclesand were on our way to the Bakun sitesome 150km away.

Upon arrival after a journey of almost three hours, we checked in at the Bakun Resort located within theproject site. The dam site is located on the Balui river which forms the uppercourse of the Rajang river, upstream of Belaga town in the Kapit Division ofSarawak.

After lunch at a restaurant near theResort, we were briefed by the ChiefResident Engineer, Mr. Tan Chuan Nganof Sarawak Hidro Sdn Bhd (SHSB). SHSBis a wholly-owned subsidiary of theMinistry of Finance Incorporated, thedeveloper of the Bakun HydroelectricProject. The Bakun Project comprised aConcrete Face Rockfill Dam 205m high,eight power tunnels each 8.0m indiameter, 8 x 300MW (2400MW) powergenerating units housed in a surfacepower station, and a gated spillway witha discharge capacity of 15,000m3/s. The upstream coffer dam (70m high) andthe three diversion tunnels each 12m indiameter and approximately 1.4km longare completed and in operation. Thediversion tunnels were completed inApril 2001 while the upstream cofferdamwas completed in June 2002.

According to the constructionprogramme, the first unit (300 MW) is scheduled to be commissioned in July 2007 and the other seven units will follow subsequently. The reservoirimpoundment is planned to commencein early 2007 and upon impounding, anarea of 696km2 will be submerged.

Apart from our group, thelocal Councillor and his staffwere also present at the briefingand there were good exchangesand discussions on the projectfrom all parties. The briefingended rather late and there wasa heavy thunderstorm as wellwhich was quite unusual at thistime of the year. We were quiteworried about the raincontinuing to the followingmorning as we were scheduledto go for the site visit.

Even though it was drizzling thefollowing morning, the sun finallyshowed up later in the morning when westarted our site visit. Our first stop wasthe outlet of the diversion tunnel whichwas flowing at full capacity after the rainthroughout the night. Then weproceeded to the inlet of the massivediversion tunnel and saw the river flowlevel lapping the crown of the tunnels.We were informed that the river has on afew occasions swollen to full potentialreaching a further 10 meters, submergingthe diversion intake and causing

spectacular water jet discharges at theoutlets.

Next, we were driven to the crest ofthe completed upstream auxiliarycofferdam and had a good view of thedam foundation and construction of theBakun dam. Placing of rocks from thedownstream toe of the dam andexcavation along the spillway on the leftabutment went on steadily. Our next stopwas the left abutment of the dam at acrest level of 235m asl (above sea level.)

The next highlight of the visit was the walk through the adit tunnelwhich accesses the eight power tunnels.

Site Visit To Bakun Hydroelectric Project, Sarawak (10-12 September2004)........................................................................................................................................................

Reported by: Ir. Zainal Abidin bin Othman, Water Resources Technical Division


RESERVOIRMaximum Operating Level : 228m aslMinimum Operating Water Level : 195m aslSurface Area at Maximum Operating Level : 695km2

Catchment Area : 14,750km2

Volume at Maximum Operational Level : 44 x 109 m3

Perimeter : Approx. 2,000km

RIVER DIVERSION WORKSLength of Diversion Tunnel T1 (riverside) : 1,337m Length of Diversion Tunnel T2 (riverside) : 1,429mLength of Diversion Tunnel T3 (mountainside) : 1,520mInternal Diameter of Diversion Tunnel : 12mHeight of Auxiliary Cofferdam : 70m (104m asl)Height of Integrated Cofferdam : 91m (121m asl)Height of Downstream Cofferdam : 30m (64.5m asl)

DAM (CONCRETE FACE ROCKFILL DAM – CFRD)Height : 205.0m Crest Level : 235.0m aslCrest Length : 814.0mParapet Wall Elevation : 236.5m aslVolume of Rock Fill : Approx.16.0 million m3

Surface Slope (upstream) : 1V:1.40HSurface Slope (downstream) : 1V:1.52H

POWER TUNNELNo. of Tunnels : 8Type of Lining : Concrete and SteelInternal Diameter of Tunnel : Concrete Lining – 8.5m

: Steel Liner – 7.0m(max.int.design pressure=2.6Mpa.max.ext.design pressure=0.6Mpa)

Length of Tunnel : Approx.av.597m

SPILLWAYType : Open chute with gated weirElevation of Weir : 209m aslLength of Chute : Approx. 608mWidth of Chute : 50mNo. of Gates : 4Discharge Capacity (PMF) : 15,000m3/sReservoir Surcharge (PMF) : 4.6m

POWERHOUSEType : SurfaceNo. of Turbines : 8Type of Turbine : Vertical Axis FrancisRated Turbine Flow : 208m3/sRated Generator Capacity : 8 x 300MW = 2400MW

BAKUN HYDROELECTRIC PROJECT TECHNICAL DATA

R E P O R T

It was unfortunate for our ladiescolleagues that the superstition of notallowing females to enter the tunnelsduring construction is being enforced.However with the help of digitalcameras, they did not miss anythingapart from the noisy and dusty walkthrough the tunnels. The tunnels areconstructed using the traditional drilland blast technique.

The visit ended around lunch timewhen we headed for the restaurantbefore taking a boat ride to Belaga, thenearest town downstream of the Bakundam.

The boat ride to Belaga which isabout 37km downstream of the dam sitetook about 1 hour. Belaga has been

serving the needs of the communitiesalong the Balui river before theresettlement of the population due to theconstruction of the Bakun dam. It is arather sleepy town with little businessactivity. We spent about an hourexploring the town and we also talked tothe local communities.

On the way back, we stopped at oneof the long houses and had a goodappreciation of the Orang Ulu lifestyle.We were received by the Chief of theCommunity and were treated withafternoon tea.

The boat ride was interesting and there were anxious moments when the boatman had to steer the boat through turbulence and mini rapids.

We reached the Bakun site late in the evening and feeling tired andhungry.

It was early on the third day when wesaid our farewells to the CRE and hisstaff. On the way to Bintulu we stoppedat Kg. Asap which was built for theaffected communities. It is about 30kmfrom the Bakun site and is a well-plannedresettlement scheme. As it was on aSunday, the market and the town centrewere rather busy.

After the three day visit, we left forKuala Lumpur with fond memories ofthe people we met, the Bakun siteconstruction challenges, and thehospitality extended to us by the officersof SHSB. n


R E P O R T

Visit to Sungai Selangor Water Supply SchemePhase 3.............................................................................................................................................................................................................

Reported by: Ir. Marlinda binti Abd. Malek, Water Resources Technical Division

The Water Resources TechnicalDivision, of The Institution of

Engineers, Malaysia (IEM)organised a technical visit to theSungai Selangor Water SupplyScheme Phase 3 in Kuala Selangoron 10 April 2004. 28 participantsattended the one-day visit.

BackgroundSyarikat Pengeluar Air SungaiSelangor Sdn. Bhd. (SPLASH) isthe concessionaire appointed bythe state government of Selangorto develop the Sungai SelangorPhase 3 Water Supply Scheme(SSP3) on a Build, Operate andTransfer (BOT) basis.

The main components of thescheme are the construction of the Kuala Kubu Baru Dam, therealignment of the Kuala KubuBaru–Frasers Hill Road and the construction of the Rasa and Bukit Badong Water Treat-ment Plants.

Upon completion, SPLASH isrequired to operate the dam andtreatment plants for the duration of the30-year concession, commencing fromJanuary 2000. Under the scheme,SPLASH recovers its investment fromPerbadanan Urus Air Selangor (PUAS)through a fixed capital charge and a variable supply charge based on the volume of water supplied in bulkto PUAS.

Bukit Badong Phase 3 WaterTreatment PlantThe Bukit Badong Water TreatmentPlant is located at Mile 28, JalanIjok–Sg. Buloh, Ijok which is about7km from the town of Batang Berjuntai in the district of KualaSelangor. The plant is built in 2 stages.

Stage 1 with a capacity of 400MLD was completed in December 2003 andstarted supplying water in bulk toPUAS since then. Stage 2 constructionstarted in March 2003 and will becompleted in July 2005, adding another 400MLD to its capacity. Thetotal capacity for both stages is800MLD, catering to the water demand in Shah Alam, Klang and partof Kuala Lumpur.

The Bukit Badong Water TreatmentPlant employs a conventional treat-ment process consisting of aeration,clarification, filtration and disinfection.The plant consists of 8 main buildings,namely the administration building,filter control building, chemicalbuilding, store, workshop, chlorinebuilding, treated water pump house

and generator building. A total of 40quarters are provided for the 50employees and their families.

The Kuala Kubu Baru DamThe Kuala Kubu Baru regulating dam completed in July 2003 is an earth core rock-filled embankmentdam of 110m height and 750m crestlength, giving a total storage of 235 million m3. The catchment area is 197km2, while the impounded area is just 6km2. This makes the damthe highest in terms of storage inrelation to the area that needs to be flooded. The dam provides a yield of 1100MLD which is sufficient for the Rasa and BukitBadong Water Treatment Plantslocated downstream. n

IEM members participating in the Sg. Selangor Water Supply Scheme Phase 3, Kuala Selangor visit.


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R E P O R T

The Advanced Oleochemical TechnologyDivision (AOTD), formerly known as

AOTC, is a newly-formed division inMalaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB). Thedivision was established on 18 May 2004.Any new laboratory-scale process ortechnology developed by AOTDresearchers that has the potential to becommercialized will be scaled up into pilotplant production.

Laboratory findings have confirmedthat when palm oil and its products areepoxidized, they react with polyhydricalcohols to yield polyols. These polyols areused to produce polyurethanes for variousapplications. In view of the promisingdevelopment, the laboratory scale processof palm-based polyol was upgraded intocomplete pilot plant production. A pilotplant capable of producing 800 kg polyolsper batch was erected in 1999. It wasdesigned by considering the overall view ofvarious functions involved in unitoperations. Several technical problemswere encountered during the pilot plant commissioning stage and wererectified after a series of modificationworks. Currently the pilot plant is fully operational. Numerous batches ofpolyol has since been produced.

Pilot Plant Processes and UnitOperationsThere are eight unit operations involved inthe process, comprising three reactors (R1,R2 and R3), one settling tank (S1) and fourstorage tanks (T1, T2, T3 and T4). Theprocessing stages and their respective unitoperations are shown in Figure 1.

Three main reactions are involved in thepilot plant production of polyol:• Reaction between glacial acetic acid and

hydrogen peroxide to produce peraceticacid in R1.

• Reaction between palm oil and in-situformed peracetic acid in R2.

• Reaction between dried epoxidizedpalm oil and polyhydric alcohol in R3.

Construction MaterialsAll the vessels used for the entire processare made of either stainless steel 316 or316L. Other equipment besides the vessels(e.g. pumps, pipe works, valves andancillary items) are also made of stainlesssteel. The gaskets and seals are made ofeither PTFE or PVDF.

The internal surfaces of the three vessels involved in service with hydrogenperoxide and peracetic acid were initiallypolished with a rotating abrasive disc togive 240 grit roughness before beingsubjected to chemical treatment. Polishingtreatment was also made on otherequipment to ensure cleanliness and

stability of the contact surfaces to avoidexcessive decomposition of hydrogenperoxide and peracetic acid. The four-stepchemical treatment involves detergentcleaning, pickling, passivation andconditioning.Chemical TreatmentThe first detergent washing process wasapplied to remove extraneous materialsfrom the metal surfaces to ensure that theydo not adversely affect the process and alsoto give proper foundation for subsequentchemical treatment. Detergents containingno alkalis or abrasives were used.

The second pickling process was toremove metals, metal oxides or weld scalesfrom the surfaces at the start of a treatmentexercise. It effectively exposed inclusions offoreign bodies. Commercially availablepickling paste was used.

The third passivation process involvedtreatment using a nitric acid solution,which rendered the metal surfaces lesslikely to decompose hydrogen peroxide. Italso protected these metals from corrosion.

The final conditioning processimproved the compatibility of the surfacesthrough prolonged contact with dilutedhydrogen peroxide.

Process Safety of Polyol Pilot PlantReactor R1: Production of Peracetic AcidThe first stage of the process is an oxidationreaction between glacial acetic acid andhydrogen peroxide from which the productis a peracetic acid solution. R1 is a jacketedvessel equipped with heating and coolingsystems and an agitator.

The minimum concentration ofhydrogen peroxide that can cause explosion when mixed with organiccompounds is 44%. Keeping the overallcomposition of hydrogen peroxide in R1below 20% ensures that the compositioncannot enter the explosive limits. Thereaction temperature is maintained below45˚C. If the temperature exceeds 45˚C,cooling is applied immediately. This isnecessary to avoid the operation fromexceeding the self-accelerating decompo-sition temperature of peracetic acid, whichis above 55˚C.

For safety reasons, R1 is equipped with a temperature alarm system. Thealarm is set at 5˚C above the operatingtemperature. Incorrect reactor conditions or the presence of unusual amounts ofdecomposition catalysts may result intemperature exceeding the self-acceleratingdecom-position temperature. When thishappens, peracetic acid emits acrid smoke and toxic fumes of carbon monoxideand carbon dioxide. The oxygen liberatedby decomposition could result in an

oxygen-enriched atmosphere, which canlead to fire and/or explosion risks.

R1 is also equipped with an exhaustventilation system. This allows adequateventilation to permit gases and vapours toescape to the atmosphere during reactionand in case of serious decomposition. Thissystem prevents pressure from building upin R1. The surrounding air is drawn into R1through an inlet nozzle. The gases andvapours mix intimately in air and theseairborne mixtures are carried through thepolyethylene pipes before being emitted tothe atmosphere.Reactor R2: Epoxidation of Palm Oil andSpent Acid RemovalCrude palm oil is melted in T3 before beingallowed to enter R2, which is a jacketedvessel equipped with a heat exchanger andan agitator.

The epoxidation reaction in R2 is highlyexothermic and could break the epoxiderings if the temperature exceeds 90˚C. Thetemperature of R2 can be efficientlycontrolled below 70˚C with the heatexchanger. An experienced operator who iswell aware of the temperature increaseprofile should carry out the dosing ofperacetic acid.

For safety reasons, R2 is equipped withan exhaust ventilation system to preventpressure build-up. For additional safety incase of emergencies, an emergency reliefsystem is fitted to carry the liquid into acollection tank.

The spent acids are separated from theproduct (epoxidized palm oil) in R2. Atransparent plastic hose is used to transferthe aqueous spent acids into a fully ventedHDPE container. This is to prevent pressurebuild-up in the container due to decom-position of the remaining hydrogen

Talk On AOTD Experience In Pilot Plant Operations....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Reported by : Mr. Parthiban Siwayanan, AOTD, Malaysian Palm Oil Board


R E P O R T

peroxide and peracetic acid in the spentacids. The spent acids are further dilutedwith water before being discharged into the drain.Reactor R3: Drying of Epoxidized Palm Oiland Production of PolyolsThe wet epoxidized palm oil is dried in R3,a jacketed vessel equipped with vacuum,cooling and heating systems and anagitator. R3 is operated under vacuum toremove the water present in the oil phase of

wet epoxidized palm oil. The vacuum isreleased after the drying process byallowing nitrogen gas to enter R3 (nitrogenblanketing.)

For the production of polyol, it isnecessary to premix polyhydric alcohol andboron trifluoride etherate in a vessel toform a complex mixture before beingpoured into T4. The vessel is fitted with a vent that is connected to an exhaustventilation system in order to eliminate

ether, which is highlyflammable. The epoxi-dized palm oil reactswith polyhydric alcoholin the presence of borontrifluoride to producepolyol.

As part of the safetymeasures to counter the exothermic reactionin R3, the temperature is controlled below 90˚C by cooling, toprevent polyol frompolymerizing. A smallportion of water isadded to the polyol at the end of the reaction to deactivatethe remaining borontrifluoride.

ConclusionThe process and safety aspects of the palm based polyol pilot plant encompassthe processing steps involved in theproduction, design of the unit operationsand operation procedures. Effectiveengineering controls and operatingpractices are essential in the pilot plantproduction in order to ensure the process to be completely safe and clear of danger. n

Figure 1 : Process flow chart of Polyol Production


R E P O R T

A Half Day Seminar on “Innovations in Pump Installation,Maintenance and Energy Savings”...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Reported by: Ir. Gary Lim Eng Hwa, Deputy Chairman, Building Services Technical Division

Ahalf-day seminar on “Innovationsin Pump Installation, Maintenance

and Energy Savings” was conducted by“Mr. Jim Laidler, International SalesManager” of S A Armstrong Ltd. on 7 August 2004, in conjunction with the Building Services Technical Division (BSTD) 2004 AGM chaired by Ir. Yeo Boon Kah, Chairman of BSTD.

The seminar touched on thetechnology of Vertical In Line (VIL)pumps which can result in energy andspace savings. The first VIL pump wasdeveloped in 1921 by United Pumps foruse in the oil industry. Today, VILpumps cater for the general industrywith flows exceeding 10,000 usgpm at180 feet of head.

The VIL pump system wascompared to conventional basemounted pump systems and thespeaker highlighted various benefits ofusing a VIL pump system. However, tomaximise the benefits, a VIL pumpsystem should be introduced at thedesign stage whilst retrofitting existingsystems may still yield benefitsdepending on the extent of the exercise.Pictures of actual installation of bothsystems were shown to highlight thebenefits of VIL pump systems. Figure 1shows an installed VIL pump.

For a single pump arrangementcomparison, these benefits werediscussed:• space saving because the pump is

mounted along the pipeline abovethe ground level;

• saving in installation costs by doingaway with base plinth, groutingand pump alignment;

• saving on the number of accessorieslike flexible connectors;

• able to expedite piping installationwithout the presence of physicalpumps by providing a pre-determined space for the VIL pump;

• easy of maintenance of the pumpbecause the access is from the topwithout affecting the pipeline.Impeller trimming and balancing is

critical to optimisepump performanceand energy savinghence good access tothe impeller makesthe job easier. Lessparts in theinstallation equate tolesser frequency ofparts change. It canalso imply lesserfriction losses alongthe pipeline whichequates to lesserenergy cost;

• vibration-free operation without theneed to carry outpump alignment allthe 3 planes.

For a multi-pumparrangement comparison,these benefits werediscussed:• pipeline saving

because of shorterlength of pipes;

• shorter pipes meanslesser pipe frictionlosses, hence energysavings.

From the picturespresented, it is clearlyshown that head space is critical for a VIL pumpinstallation because lift-ing equipment like a chain block or even an electrical hoist (forlarge multi-pump instal-lations) should be erectedin order to lift the motorand impeller out of thecasing. There should be a clear path out of the maze of pipelines in a large installation. In this respect, retrofittingany conventional basemounted pumps to VILpumps will have to take this factor intoconsideration. n

Figure 2: Multi-pump comparison showing space and cost savings

Figure 1: An installed VIL pump


C O L U M N

Awriter once said “deaths in magnitude isincomprehensible to the human mind

that it becomes a statistic.” Even when I seebefore and after pictures of Aceh, bloatedbodies floating in rivers and sufferings of thepeople in the Tsunami-hit disaster areas, I amnot able to fully comprehend the magnitude ofthe disaster. Of course there is a deep sense ofsadness and my prayers are offered to thoseaffected by this disaster. But ashamedly, I amincapable of empathising. Empathy is thecapability of a person to put himself or herselfin the sufferer’s shoes. How can I when all mylife I have been sheltered in this safe littlecocoon of mine. When I have never had awhiff of a rotting corpse nor had to go hungryin my life. When my daily whining wouldhave to be the cramp on my left foot caused bythat daily jam (so I should get an auto!) or thatmy butt has gone lumpy from that piece ofchocolate cake.

I am currently reading Dalai Lama’sthoughts on the art of happiness. It gives foodfor thought. The wise one says that pleasure isnot always the same as happiness. Does thatring a bell? Pleasure is only fleeting, derivedfrom the new car or the new dress I amwearing today. But does it make you happy?Of course being in that nice car makes thetraffic jam more bearable and really, it does

give you the cool edge ala Brad Pitt but I’veseen families piled into Kancils happilychatting away (not that I’m advocatingoverloading a car at that.) My happychildhood memories are of picnics by thebeach with my parents over a bucket of KFCor playing in my grandmother’s backyardwith her pots and pans. It’s also the smile onthe face of a child I tutored when he finallycould write his alphabets. Of course havingnice clothes and all those little comforts in lifeare very good. But there would always besomething better to desire for, to upgrade to.

The reason I joined IEM G&S, asunglamorous as it may sound, was because afriend bugged me to death to join. But whatmade me stay? Maybe it was because there isan effort to add that human element to theengineer in their community projects.Admittedly, they are baby steps compared tosome other NGOs like Mercy Malaysia. Butstill, I guess baby steps are better than none.The volunteers in IEM G&S have full timejobs, and some, like me, work 6 days a week.Sundays are our only day off and believe me,when you work 6 days a week, Sundaysbecome precious. You get selfish the way youspend it. So really, I understand if you can’tcome out to help. But you can still help inother ways. You can help donate building

materials, clothes; you can volunteer yourtechnical skills; you can create awareness bywriting or help spread the word around toothers who have the time. In fact, if you stilldon’t know how to help out, just drop us a lineand we’ll find something for you to do.

I am at that point in life where I am taking a step back and reflecting where I amgoing next. The new year is always a timewhen we sit back and take stock of our lives. This disaster, at a time like this, made megive thanks for what I have already beenblessed. And because I have been so blessed,have I ever given anything back in return?Have I been an instrument of His love? Have you?

For more info on our hip and happeningyoung engineers, visit http://www.iem.org.my/external/g&s/ or e-mail us [email protected] n

Graduate & Student Sect ion

The Art Of Happiness....................................................................................................

By: Sdri. Elaine Koh

Announcement:IEM G&S is currently working on

its mammoth issue of the Annual scheduledout in May 2005. So if you’re an engineer

itching for a say, or just have an inexplicable wish to see your name

emblazoned in print, buzz me.