Indianapolis counts down to NAT 2012
May 2012
Peter Kenyon, TunnelTalk
- This year's NAT Conference at the JW Marriott Hotel in Indianapolis follows on from the successful 2010 event in Portland, and promises to be rewarding both in terms of the variety of technical sessions on offer as well as the many social events that will encourage networking.
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JW Marriott Hotel hosts NAT 2012 in Indianapolis
- Hosted by the UCA of SME, a collaboration of engineers, owners, contractors and suppliers, the conference, which this year gathers under the title Tunneling: Driving Value, promotes the sharing of engineering challenges, experience and ideas relating to underground design and construction.
- Last year the host city of Indianapolis attracted nine highly competitive bids from an array of American and international contractors for its largest tunnel project to date, the Deep Rock Tunnel Connector CSO - which features an 8-mile hard rock TBM drive.
- Against that backdrop it is fitting that Indianapolis is selected as the host for this year's NAT (June 24-27). The program gets under way on the Sunday (June 24) with two all-day courses: Grouting and Underground Construction; and Sequential Excavation Methods in Tunneling. Additionally there is an Owner's Forum at 2.30pm on the subject of Tunnel Industry Trends.
- Chaired by Colin Lawrence, Senior Vice President at Hatch Mott MacDonald, this will involve a panel discussion on a variety of topical issues, including public versus private funding sources, engaging international contractors and suppliers, issues concerning construction safety, the importance of selecting the right consultancy group, plus a discussion on lowest claims versus lowest final cost, to prequalify or not prequalify, and whether DRBs and GBRs work.
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Indianapolis: home of the world famous Indy 500 race
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Technical sessions
Some of the largest projects in the USA, Europe, Russia and Central America will come under the microscope during a series of more than 100 technical sessions that are split into categories of design, planning, case studies, and technology. These include:
•Roadheader and TBM preparation, including TBM launch box construction using case studies from New York's 2nd Avenue Subway.
•Mechanized tunneling case histories, including the Gotthard Base Tunnel, 2nd Avenue Subway and the Brightwater wastewater treatment project.
•Analysis of soft ground tunnels, including TBM monitoring, challenges for conveyors, and face pressures and related ground losses in EPBM tunneling.
•Design and construction of large underground spaces, looking at the 72nd Street large and shallow rock cavern in New York City, and design considerations for deep single-level braced TBM launch pits.
•Technology, focusing on cross passage design and construction in soil, cutterhead wear for EPBMs in glacial soils, innovations in EPBM cutterhead wear protection, and a case study looking at the ground movement challenges of Panama's US$500 million 8.2km long wastewater tunnel.
•Transit tunnel challenges, with presentations on the design and construction of the LRT tunnels for Sound Transit's U-link in Seattle, ground freezing challenges presented by New York's East Side Access Project, repairing leaks in TBM tunnels, seismic design and an analysis of tunnel linings and how to mitigate the seismic risk, and tunnel ventilation design.
•Challenges presented by St Petersburg Metro, one of the deepest systems in the world. -
Full guide to technical sessions
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Thomas Traylor
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Exhibition
The JW Marriott Hotel and Conference Centre is the ideal location for the exhibition hall, which is all on one level and situated between the four lecture theatres so delegates are never far from where they need to be. - More than 120 companies will be demonstrating their expertise, cutting-edge products and technical innovations. TunnelTalk continues its commitment to attend all the world's leading tunnelling conferences, will be there in force. Catch us at Booth 10.
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Social highlights
The social calendar features the NAT Luncheon on the Monday (June 25, 12 noon), with Thomas W. Traylor, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Traylor Bros., as speaker.
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Lyn St. James
- Tom has contributed a lifetime of engineering expertise through his involvement in industry organizations such as The Beavers, The Moles, the Construction Industry Round Table, the National Academy of Construction, and the American Society of Civil Engineers, and has received national recognition given only to a select few annually by both The Beavers and The Moles.
- The Awards Banquet takes Indianapolis' Indy Car racing heritage as its theme, with the keynote speaker being IndyCar race driver Lyn St. James, the first woman to win Rookie of the Year, and a veteran of seven Indy 500 starts in nine years. The event, which takes place on the Tuesday (June 26, 6.30pm) also doubles as an awards ceremony at which Richard Lovat will receive a lifetime achievement award, Edward Cording will receive and Outstanding Educator award, and the East Side Combined Sewer Overflow Tunnel Project, designed by Parsons Brinckerhoff, will receive a Project of the Year award.
- TunnelTalk looks forward to meeting all of you there, and bringing you all the news from this year's event. See you there!
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Slim spreads in Indianapolis' CSO tunnel bids - TunnelTalk, August 2011
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