Department of Civil Engineering

Report for NASTT

Headquarters

Niloofar Rezaei

Vice President

NASTT Student Chapter – The University of Texas at Arlington

March 20, 2016

Department of Civil Engineering

Outline• Introduction

• Objectives

• Sample Research Projects

• Events

• Field Visits

• Trenchless Technologies Class at UTA

• New Construction Management Program

• Conclusions

Department of Civil Engineering

Introduction

• Inception: Fall 2006

• Faculty Advisor:

– Dr. Mohammad Najafi, P.E., F. ASCE

• President:

– Ameya Paradkar

• Vice-president:

– Niloofar Rezaei

• Secretary:

– Saeed Janbaz

• Treasurer:

– Saleh Mehraban

Department of Civil Engineering

Objectives

• Training graduate and undergraduate students under supervision of

Dr. Mohammad Najafi.

• Focusing on Underground Construction and Trenchless Technologies.

Department of Civil Engineering

Sample Research Projects

• Underground Freight Transportation (UFT) System in Texas

• Tunneling and Pipe Jacking are considered.

• Several routes:

• Port of Houston to Dallas

• Border at Laredo

• Port of Houston to a Satellite Distribution

Department of Civil Engineering

Sample Research Projects

• Testing and evaluation of a new PVC pipe

• Fatigue, pressure, bedding, tensile, and stiffness testing

Department of Civil Engineering

EventsNo-Dig Show, Denver, CO (March 15th – 19th, 2015)

• NASTT’s 2015 No-Dig Show was the largest trenchless technology

conference in North America .

• Hundreds of professionals attended.

• Dr. Mohammad Najafi, NASTT-UTA Faculty Advisor, and 8 students

attended “No-Dig” show.

• Students volunteered for various tasks.

Department of Civil Engineering

EventsASCE Pipelines Conference, Baltimore, MD (August 23th - 26th, 2015)

• 600 to 800 attendees annually and over 80 exhibits from Industry leaders.

• Dr. Mohammad Najafi attended with 10 students from UT Arlington.

• Dr. Najafi and his students presented topics on HDPE Pipe Testing and

Pipe Soil Interactions.

Department of Civil Engineering

EventsUnderground Construction Technology (UCT),

Atlanta, GA (February 1st - 4th, 2016)

• 20 Students volunteered for various tasks.

• UTA held exhibit at the show.

Department of Civil Engineering

CUIRE Schools, Atlanta, GA (February 1st -2nd , 2016)

• CUIRE held 8 Trenchless Technology Training and Certification Schools:

– Pipe

– Mud

– Geotechnical

– Horizontal Auger Boring

– Advanced HDD

• Planning and Design

• Construction

– Pipe Lining

– Pilot Tube and Microtunneling

Events

Department of Civil Engineering

Field VisitCP&Y Inc.

Dallas, TX (October 7th, 2015)

• CP&Y is a major Engineering, Design and Consulting firm headquartered

in Dallas.

• Listed on ENR (Engineering Companies) with more than $33 M annual

revenue.

• Toured different departments at CP&Y

• Great learning experience for the students at

UTA to meet the professionals at CP&Y.

Department of Civil Engineering

Field VisitEricsson

Plano, TX (November 3rd, 2015)

• Ericsson is a world leader in the rapidly changing environment of

communications technology – providing equipment, software and services

to enable transformation through mobility.

• They have more than 39,000 granted patents.

• They are just getting into trenchless technologies.

• Introduced CUIRE and the research projects.

• Learned about Ericsson’s project on using HDD for fiber optic

installations.

Department of Civil Engineering

Field VisitHDPE Roadshow & Industry Showcase

Richardson, TX (November 5rd, 2015)

• Organized by the Texas HDPE industry.

• Included educational sessions and demonstrations on a wide variety of

topics of HDPE pipes.

• McElroy Company performed the butt fusion joint for the HDPE pipe.

Department of Civil Engineering

Field VisitPre-chlorinated Pipe bursting for Water Main Replacement

Arlington, TX (February 25th, 2016)

• Upsized 480 ft of existing 6-in. AC Water Pipe with 8-in. HDPE Pipe

with 7 services.

• The services were established using open-cut method.

• This was the first pre-chlorinated pipe bursting project in North Texas.

• Murphy Pipelines was the contractor.

Department of Civil Engineering

Trenchless Technologies Class at UTASummer 2015

• Dr. Najafi taught graduate/undergraduate level course for pipeline construction

and trenchless technology with 60 in-class students and 10 online students.

• All methods of Trenchless Technologies were practiced.

• Guest speakers from local trenchless companies presented.

Department of Civil Engineering

NewConstructionManagementProgram

• The new Master of Construction Management at UTA now has more

than 200 students.

• There is a focus area on Underground Infrastructure and Trenchless

Technology.

• The program is offered in-class and online.

• It is open with different student backgrounds, such as Engineering and

Architecture.

Department of Civil Engineering

Conclusion

• NASTT Student Chapter at UTA has been one of the most active student

associations.

• Now it has more than 60 student members.

• The students are introduced to trenchless technology by classroom

instructions, field trips, and guest speakers.

Department of Civil Engineering

Thank You!

Come visit us in Arlington!

Attend the International Underground

Freight Transportation Symposium at UTA

on August 22 – 24, 2016.Niloofar Rezaei Dr. Mohammad Najafi

Phone: (817) 272-9177 Phone: (817) 272-9180

Email: niloofar.rezaei@uta.edu Email: najafi@uta.edu