Publications / 1989 Proceedings of the 6th ISARC, San Francisco, USA

Automated Inspection of Earthworks for Hazardous Waste Storage

Gregory B. Baecher, Philip G. Greenspun, Walter E. Gillett
Pages 268-276 (1989 Proceedings of the 6th ISARC, San Francisco, USA, ISSN 2413-5844)
Abstract:

Construction inspection for quality control and quality assurance is central to ensuring compliance to contract standards and to assuring owners that work has been done right. This is especially true on critical facilities where inadequate performance can have severe consequences, for example, in the construction of earth works to contain hazardous waste. On these jobs, intensive quality assurance (QA) data are demanded both by regulatory authorities and by owners. Traditionally, QA inspection has been done manually, with sometimes large crews of surveyors and inspectors. On some jobs the inspection crew has numbered as many as 1/3 the total staff on site. The process is labor intensive, time-consuming, expensive, and prone to error. Inspection can also delay other construction activities and thus have indirect costs. A new, automated system has been developed for streamlining QA inspection. The system directly links real-time location measurement and electronic data entry to terrain analysis software running on an on-site engineering workstation. The system substantially decreases inspection cost, while reducing errors and providing continually updated information to management. On modest size projects the system has s payback of four to six months. To date, the system has been used primarily in construction control of engineered waste disposal facilities and in characterization of uncontrolled waste sites, but applications to broader construction problems are being pursued.

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