Career Episode 3

CAREER EPISODE: 3

CE3.1 Introduction:

Chronology: Project duration from August 2013 to February

2016
Geographical Location: Riyadh – Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Organization: alfanar
My Position: Planning Engineer
Project: Construction of 380KV Double Circuit Overhead
Transmission Line from Al-Jouf-2 BSP to Arar BSP

Background:

CE3.2 This career episode describes my third gainful employment move to alfanar
Riyadh-KSA. Alfanar was working as a contractor for the construction of
transmission line. My job was based on site planning, mobilization, procurement
and construction supervision. I learned substantial knowledge about Extra High
Voltage (EHV) Transmission Line (T/L) while working on the project.

CE3.3 Objective of the project was to construct safe, durable and economical
transmission line to cover the demand for electricity. As time passes, population
growth placing pressure on electric utilities to build more electric transmission
power lines. The main objective is that to meet the construction requirements as
mentioned in project technical specifications (PTS-12EO360) and in international
standards. Project technical specifications was a document containing scope of
work, tender drawings and referring local standards to fulfill for construction.

CE3.4 First thing, I had to go through project technical specifications, standards and
tender drawings as provided by the client for complete understanding of the
project and good planning for the construction activities.

CE3.5 As a part of civil contractor team I had to make the site visit first, where the
Transmission line had to pass. Although, geotechnical investigation was carried

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out by Geoscience Consulting Engineers but providing tower spotting was also
under my scope.

CE3.6 I was also responsible to study the topography of the area and site grading and
paving details as provided by the client. I did the survey of all transmission line to
validate the right corridor, levels and route plotting profiles and spotting the tower
position using sag templates.

CE3.7 Being Planning Engineer, I had to make sure that all the construction activities
should be as per the approved baseline schedule. All construction activities
should be as per the Saudi Electricity Company standards and follow the
international practice.

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

Executive Manager

Engineering Manager

Section Manager Transmission Line Section Manager Electrical Section Manager Civil

Sr. TL Engineer. Sr. Electrical Engineer. Sr. Civil Engineer.

TL Engineer. Electrical Engineer. Planning Engineer

MUHAMMAD UMAIR KHAN
Site Inspectors Site Inspectors Site Inspectors/Surveyor

Personal Workplace Activity

CE3.8 One of the most important stages in a project life cycle is its mobilization and
demobilization stages. I was well aware of the fact and for that matter I knew that
all the items necessary for mobilization must be procured while the activity of
design and engineering was going on. Since this was an EPC project I got a fair
time for planning and procuring for mobilization while the design work continues.

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First I made a mobilization schedule, in which mobilization activities were sorted

as per their early date of start. The schedule works for me as an internal baseline
to prioritize my work activities.

CE3.9 My Civil Section Manager gave me the responsibility of Survey of Transmission

Line, Tower Spotting and Construction of Tower Foundations. He provided me a
young energetic team consist of surveyors, helpers and assistant civil engineers
to complete this task and guided me about my job.

CE3.10 Firstly, I studied the topo-sheets which had been prepared by the survey
department of KSA about location and surface conditions. Further I marked the
various feasible routes of the line on the topo-sheets and then I made a
preliminary walkover survey. In walkover survey, I had established Right-of-Way
and physical features which were not available on the topo sheets. I was well
aware of this step because the provisional route may be affected by the recent
trend in fast development of buildings.

CE3.11 I carried out the detailed survey with total stations, GPS, digital theodolite, long
range scanners.I selected the line corridor to be short and straight to make the
project economical and cost efficient. I kept the transmission line closed to a
roadway for the ease of construction. I kept minimum numbers of angle towers.

CE3.12 Also I avoided good framing area, religious places, civil and defence installations,
lakes and gardens. I marked the points related to making road access. I
minimized the crossing of line with roads and railway lines. I also avoided
difficulty and unsafe approaches. I selected the rout keeping in mind the future
developments in that area.

CE3.13 During survey, I had encountered inclined sights to mark the tower line. I used
Total station to calculate horizontal and vertical distance. For this I used following
equation as stated in EHV Transmission Line-Construction Manual.
Horizontal Distance = KH Cos² ɸ
Vertical Distance = KH Cos ɸ Sin ɸ

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Where K= Instrument Co-efficient (usually 100)

H= Staff intercept reading
ɸ= angle of inclination

CE3.14 Then I did Aerial survey and route marking because I was aware of the next step
which was Plotting of Profiles and Tower spotting. In Aerial survey I compared the
small scale photographs (1/1600) of that area with the actual physical conditions
and point out the location of the tower.

CE3.15 Then I plot profiles in my office on the basis of field observations and calculations
which I done during detailed survey. I had done it by considering many points like
longitudinal profiles, cross section and line deviation. All profiles were checked by
senior engineer and also by section manager and found no error.

CE3.16 Next step after plotting of profile was tower spotting. I know that it is the most
critical task in construction of EHV transmission lines because alfanar arrange
one training with collaboration of Saudi Electricity Company to give technical
knowledge about tower spotting that how I spot a tower and what points I will
consider for tower spotting. The work of tower spotting is a very precise job as it
has an implication on overall cost. After the tower designs are finalized, the tower
spotting chart or structure limitation charts are prepared. Similarly the drawing of
the sag template and its replica is prepared on Acrylic sheet. Application of Sag
Template helps to decide optimum tower position on Survey Chart, which
ultimately helps in finalizing the quantity of each type of tower and their
extensions (3 meter & 6 meter etc).

CE3.17 I had prepared the tower schedule with the consultation of client. First I decided
the tower type by checking IFC drawings. To prepare the tower schedule I
decided the Angle of line deviation on each tower, section tower or dead end
tower and weight span on each tower.

CE3.18 After the survey work was over; the activity of foundation was taken on hand. The
foundation work mainly includes Pit marking, Excavation, Stub setting,
Concreting, Back filling and curing.

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CE3.19 Before the activity of excavation is taken up, I had accurately mark the Centre
point of the tower, Centre point of each leg of the tower and then periphery was
excavated for each leg foundation.

CE3.20 Then I had taken the decision about the type of foundation. The client had given
us two choices (Auger and Pad & Chimney) to select the type of foundation
depending upon the type of strata. I confirmed the bearing capacity of soil for
static load on spread footings by ASTM: D1194. The strata were matched with
Soil Type B. So I selected Pad & Chimney foundation for soft and hard rock.

CE3.21 As I encountered the hard rock, so I planned to excavate this foundation with
blasting material. I had drilled 12 holes in the tower footing and filled the blasting
material. I had completed this activity with utmost care as I was known if the
footing was excavated more than the planned then I had to use more concrete to
fill up the blasted area. I controlled the limiting velocity, induced in the structure
created by blasting to a maximum of 50 mm/sec mentioned in SEC standard
TES-S-130. I had done this activity with the approval of Government department
of Saudi Arabia. My section manager appreciated me after the finishing of this
activity according to the approved safety method.

CE3.22 After excavation, I used the form work as per the approval from Saudi Electricity
Company. I had checked the following points during inspection of formwork and
confirmed according to ACI 347R (Guide to Formwork for concrete).
 To confirming the shape, lines and dimensions as shown on the approval
foundation design drawings, and be as constructed as to the rigid during the
lacing and compacting of concrete, and be sufficiently tight to prevent loss of
liquid from concrete.
 To check design, flexibility of movement without distortions.
 To check the inner surface coming in contact with concrete should be smooth
and free from projections.

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 Window on one face should be provided for pyramid forms to facilitate

concreting in the lower parts which shall be fixed after concrete in the bottom
part is placed.
 The form work for slabs and pyramids shall be made symmetrical about the
base of the chimney to ensure interchangeable faces.
 Also I had checked that all the form work should be free from all rubbish,
chippings and sawdust.

CE3.23 Next step was stub setting. I used the combined Stub‐setting Template for all the
four stubs of the tower including extension portions. This stub-setting Template
consists of a light rigid square formwork which holds the four stubs at the correct
alignment and slope in four corners. I had centered and leveled the Template by
sighting through transit. Then I bolted all four stubs to hold their proper position
until the concrete was poured and gets hardened.

CE3.24 I carried out concreting with coarse and fine aggregates confirming ASTM: C127
and ASTM D422 respectively. I used the ratio M20 (1:1.5:3 mix). Sometime I
used M10 (1:3:6 mix) depending upon the type of foundation. I checked concrete
strength by casting concrete cylinder and tested on 7 days and 28 days as per
ASTM: C39. I used pure drinking water for concrete mixing at site. I make sure
that it should be free from oil/acid or any other impurities.

CE3.25 I removed form work after 3 days (72 hours); I had responsibility to check the
concrete surface of foundation whether the concrete surface is found to be
defective or not. If it has some damage then a repaired activity was required with
rich cement and sand mortar.

CE3.26 My next step was to backfill the foundation with the same material which I was
excavated for foundation. I had done this activity by checking that no large
boulders/stones used for backfilling. As the strata were rocky so I had broken all
the large boulders with maximum size of 80mm. The last step was curing the
foundation with curing compound as per ASTM: C309 – 11. I used wax based
curing compound with name of City White cure J8.

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CE3.27 I ensured all the safety standards from the start of transmission line construction
laid down in OSHA (Occupational Safety & Health Administration, U.S.
Department of Labor) Subpart “Power Transmission and Distribution”. Prior to
start of construction I met with SEC representative to discussed safety standards
and requirements applicable to the work. I prepared a safety program in written
form and submitted to SEC for approval. I organized daily safety meetings to
guide my team with respect to the nature of the work to be undertaken. I provided
safety tools and personnel protective equipment (STPPE) to every team member.
I also recorded each and every accidents happened at site during the
construction of the project.

CE3.28 During the excavation, when I was installing form work, one side of excavation
was collapse because this side was covered with soft rock. Immediately, I
checked the safety of other worker, all were safe. Then I analysed that situation
why it was happened. I came to know that this side of excavation was not in
slope and it was vertical. As per OSHA safety standards, it should be in slope.
Further, I also applied shuttering on this side to hold the pressure of soft rock for
the safety of all workers and then I completed this foundation.

CE3.29 Another problem I faced during the construction of transmission line was that in
some area GWL (Ground Water Level) was very high. So I used
mechanical/electrical pumps for dewatering. As I learned this lesson from the
previous data study adopted my company for dewatering process. I used this
method till the casting of foundation.

CE3.30 When I was doing backfilling after casting of foundation, I checked the density of
backfilled area. It was 75% and not as per the client satisfaction. As the backfilled
material was mixture of soft and hard rock. So I used backfilling with chipped
stones mixed with the cement slurry. I confirmed the density of backfill material
through many ASTM standards like ASTM: D4253, D4254 & D1557. It gave me a
greater strength for backfilled material and client was also satisfied with this
method.

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CE3.31 Being a planning engineer it was also my responsibility to monitor the site
progress for each activity and I had to keep the record on daily basis of all the
activities performed. I ensured this responsibility with full concentration as it was
very key assignment. All the basic information of site activities had to prepare by
me and then circulated this information to my higher management and Saudi
Electricity Company. I used to make a detail presentation for client to show the
site performance during the meetings by taking weekly quantities of different
items completed on site and then compared it with remaining planned quantities.

CE3.32 During my occupation as Planning Engineer, I used to prepare my team at the

start of the day by telling them that daily activities to be accomplish in their tool
box talk meeting. I used to give them prizes on achievement of intermediate
milestones to make keep their working spirit high. I clearly defined the objectives
of the project in every team meeting to boost the moral up. I adopted confronting
technique for human resource, in this way I solved the issues and enhance team
member’s satisfaction. I introduced recognition and incentive system and set its
criteria fully performance based. I focused on the training of my team members
because I know if I shall improve the skills of the worker then the quality of work
will automatically improve. In every problem I lead from front and provided
solutions to every problem.

Summary:

CE3.33 Construction of transmission line itself a diversified project with multi-cultural

activities. While working on this project, I felt self-confident, self-assured and
hardworking person. I encountered many problems during the project which I
solved by applying different self-motivated techniques. The problems which I
encountered during my project length allowed me to strengthen myself and judge
myself as a good team player and found capacity in me to become a leader.

CE3.34 This project provided me great opportunity to become familiar with new
engineering standards, construction methodologies and HSE methods. I made
noteworthy efforts to ensure that all aspects of engineering codes at execution
stage are being used correctly.