A few cool instrumentation and monitoring projects, we enjoyed working on

The Project is a massive infrastructure tunneling program designed to capture wastewater during rainfalls before it ever reaches  rivers.  We installed several thousand sensors to make sure to ensure everybody is safe when the 26' diameter tunnel is being dug almost one hundred feet below the ground. We  reported the collected data in real time  so everybody involved can see the results of our work. 

 This project involves the construction of a new LEED® Silver Certified garage facility, comprising one level of vehicle storage and repair facilities, with three levels of personnel support facilities and a below grade parking serving Brooklyn Sanitation District Brooklyn 3.  We monitored the surrounding properties for vibration and movement induced by the construction activities. 

New Jersey’s Department of Transportation plans to build a service road near a major waterline passing through a swamp to easily access the waterline for maintenance. When building a road in a swamp land, the structures around the new road (such as the existing pipeline) can move. We installed instruments on the waterline and the soil around it so the Department can monitor the movement of the pipe when the road is built.   

To build a new tunnel under an existing active subway line the ground needed to be frozen with refrigeration so it creates a solid environment for miners to dig the tunnel safely without impacting the existing subway above the new tunnel. When you freeze and ultimately thaw the soil, there is a chance that the tunnel above will start moving after the ground thaws. We designed a program to change the pressures under the existing subway to lift it in the event that the existing subway experienced settlement.  

 If you have been to Governor’s island after 2016, you have probably experienced some breathtaking views of New York City from the island. Those spectacular views are made available to us by creating hills 70 feet above sea level. Those hills were not there before 2016. In order to build on the very weak native soil of the island,  a geotechnical instrumentation monitoring program needed to be implemented. We built a geotechnical instrumentation and monitoring system (inclinometers, piezometers, and amts) to ensure that while the hills are being built, no excessive movements are experienced to endanger the operation.  After the hills were constructed, we continued monitoring to ensure the underlying soil was stable to carry that new load permanently.  

New Yorkers have been waiting for the 2nd Avenue Subway line for several decades. When mining under Manhattan, you have to keep in mind that you are in the middle of one of the most expensive real estate zones in the world. You need to ensure that the foundation of buildings and structures are sitting on strong enough soil so the mining operations does not undermine the foundation of impacted structures.  We designed a soil improvement program to inject “glue” into the soil to keep the soil particles together.