Projects - Surveying Engineering Services

The Holyoke Dam at the time of its completion in 1900 was one of the longest dams of its kind in the United States and was considered an engineering marvel. The existing masonry dam is located downstream from a timber crib dam that was constructed in 1849 which remains underwater to this day.

Located on the Connecticut River between the cities of South Hadley and Holyoke, Massachusetts, construction on the dam began in 1895 and was completed on January 5, 1900. The structure is 30 ft. high and 985 ft. long and originally consisted of approximately 11,000 fitted blocks of granite. The dam is currently owned and operated by the Holyoke Gas & Electric Department (HG&E) in Holyoke, Massachusetts.

Remedial work on the main dam and subsequent dam safety inspections by outside consultants suggested an upgrade of the existing deformation monitoring program for the facility. The physical environment of the project site presented several unique challenges for HG&E including the age and location of the structures to be monitored.

Scope Of Services

• Design an upgraded monitoring for the century plus year old main dam and appurtenant structures capable of detecting a minimal horizontal displacement of ±3 mm and a minimal vertical displacement of ±1 mm at the 95% confidence levels.
• Installed new permanent monitoring points and reference monuments (pillars) off and away from the structures.
• Incorporated new digital leveling and robotic instrument technology for performing the field surveys.
• Performed all field observations on an annual basis for the first 5 years and then every 5 years thereafter.
• Performed all data reductions, stable point analysis of the reference points, and the geometrical analysis the deformations of the monitoring points.

Hadley Falls Station

• 
• 
• 

The Surveying Engineering Services Group provided construction survey support and deformation monitoring of the Museum of Fine Arts $365 million East Wing Expansion Project.

Scope Of Services

• Retrieval and expansion of survey control for construction layout by tying to existing design phase survey control.
• Confirming project benchmark elevation by tying elevations to Boston City Base benchmarks located one mile away from project site.
• Establishing a reference network and benchmarks for deformation monitoring of the existing Museum of Fine Arts building, the associated soil mix wall and adjacent roadway during excavation and construction. Five control points were set on buildings adjacent to the site and four vertical benchmarks were established within the project area.
• Horizontal and vertical deformation monitoring of 126 monitoring points.
• Utilized a new digital leveling system and robotic total station technology for the hundreds of observations that had to be collected during each survey.
• Periodical control resurvey of reference points and benchmarks to assure data quality and to verify the stability of the reference points.

Survey data was collected, processed, and submitted to the client within 24 hours. Submittals included a tabular listing of the deformations, statistical significance of the detected horizontal and vertical displacements, as well as enhanced color graphs and plots showing cumulative deformation trends.

Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) - Boston, Massachusetts

• 
• 
• 

Coler & Colantonio, Inc. provided geodetic control and hydrographic survey support for the New Bedford Harbor Navigational Dredge Project - Phases I through III. This project is part of the New Bedford Harbor Development Commission's re-vitalization plan that includes maintenance and improvement dredging of portions of the federal navigation channel and federal maintenance area in New Bedford Harbor. Included were over a dozen private marinas, commercial marine piers, slips, and wharfs, as well as several public boat launch areas. Dredging also included the slip area located south of the New Bedford State Pier and the Massachusetts Steamship Authority Fairhaven Maintenance Terminal.

The Surveying Engineering Services Group performed GPS control and project datum verification surveys and completed an existing conditions survey of the entire dredge area for the design of the dredge footprint. During the dredging phase, Coler & Colantonio, Inc. performed pre-dredge, interim dredge, and post-dredge surveys were performed with field-to-finish post-processing and plan generation within 24-hours. Volume computations and final plan submittals were completed within three days of performing the surveys. Hydrographic surveys utilized a totally automated survey system consisting of an RTK GPS positioning system, digital precision echosounder, and tide gauge interfaced to a ruggedized notebook computer. Dedicated hydrographic survey software provided real-time data collection and navigation.

Scope Of Services:

• Geodetic control verification surveys
• Tidal datum verification
• Boundary research and property line surveys
• Existing condition hydrographic surveys
• Pre-dredge hydrographic surveys
• Interim post-dredge hydrographic surveys
• Final post-dredge hydrographic surveys
• Cross sections and volume computations
• Final dredge plan submittals

New Bedford Harbor State Pier Expedited Dredge Project

• 
• 
• 

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) has opened a transit corridor less than 10 ft. below the 100-year old Russia Building in downtown Boston. The corridor passes beneath the Russia Wharf complex and Fort Point Channel on its way to South Boston and is designated as the Silver Line section of MBTA's subway system. The Silver Line is the MBTA'S sole rapid bus transit (BRT) line with special buses operating partially within reserved traffic lanes, a dedicated bus tunnel, and special surface right-of-way. To minimize damage to the buildings located above the tunnel segment, the MBTA selected the New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM), selective underpinning, and ground freezing to temporarily support building loads and prevent groundwater infiltration during construction.

Coler & Colantonio, Inc. was contracted by Modern Continental/Beton-und Monierbau, A Joint Venture to design and establish a geodetic control network to support surveying and deformation monitoring activities associated with the construction of the NATM tunnel segment of the project. A survey control network was established using the Global Positioning System (GPS), which was used to determine the geodetic positions of several new control points within the project area. A unique wall mounted surface control network was then established around the vicinity and at the access shaft to the tunnel to facilitate the transfer of survey control for underground excavation and deformation monitoring.

Special Considerations

• Busy urban environment experiencing significant construction activity.
• Restricted and limited survey control and site access.
• Conventional survey monuments would be subject to construction damage and localized ground or structural movements.

Scope Of Services

• Site reconnaissance and preparation of a proposal for the design, execution, and analysis of a geodetic network to support the excavation and deformation monitoring activities associated with the NATM tunnel.
• Performed a pre-analysis of the surface control network using rigorous least squares analysis techniques that would meet the project specifications for survey control to support excavation of the tunnel, in this case Second Order, Class I accuracy standards for horizontal and vertical control.
• Performed a pre-analysis of the surface control network using rigorous least squares analysis techniques that would meet the project specifications for survey control to support deformation monitoring activities, in this case ±5mm or better for horizontal control and ±2 mm / km for vertical accuracy, both at the 95% confidence level.
• Assisted Modern Continental with a GPS control survey to tie site control points into existing Central Artery/Tunnel geodetic control to Second Order Class I horizontal accuracy standards.
• Provided Modern Continental with guidance on survey target/reflector selection and placement. Designed a surface control network based on a wall mounted survey control points located on substantial buildings located around the project site.
• Designed a survey methodology based on the proposed network configuration and prepared field procedures for Modern Continental surveying personnel outlining the types of observations, methods of observation, and data quality control parameters required during the field data acquisition.
• Performed all surface control network data reduction and processing tasks, least squares adjustments and statistical analyses of the data, and preparation of a control survey report.

Russia Wharf and Fort Point Channel Tunnel

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

The Sherman Island Development is owned and operated by Brookfield Renewable Power, L.P. and is located on the Hudson River near Glens Falls, New York. The main dam, a concrete buttress structure built in 1923, was originally constructed with no provision to accommodate movement and thus experienced extensive cracking and structural deterioration over its first 69 years of service. The dam has 31 buttresses and is 584 ft. long with a maximum height of 63.6 ft. above the base slab.

The dam was redesigned and rehabilitated in 1992 to extend its service life and to facilitate the renewal of a FERC operating license under the then current owner, the Niagara Mohawk Power Company. A comprehensive geotechnical and geodetic deformation monitoring program was deemed necessary in light of the dam's geologic setting and past settlement history. The geodetic monitoring program was designed to detect a horizontal movement of ±3 mm and a vertical movement of ±0.5 mm at the 95% confidence level. Coler & Colantonio, Inc. provided surveying engineering consulting services for the geodetic deformation monitoring investigation of the main buttress dam. These services have been expanded to include deformation monitoring for both the penstock intake and powerhouse structures since 2000.

Scope Of Services

• Designed an upgraded monitoring program for the century plus year old main dam and appurtenant structures capable of detecting a minimal horizontal displacement of ±3 mm and a minimal vertical displacement of ±1 mm at the 95% confidence levels.
• Performed an analysis of the historical data collected for the penstock intake and powerhouse structures since 1935 which led to the redesign and implementation of a new monitoring program for these structures.
• Installed new permanent monitoring points on the buttress dam, penstock intake and powerhouse structures, as well as new horizontal and vertical reference monuments off and away from the structures.
• Incorporated new digital leveling and robotic total station instrument technology for performing the field surveys.
• Performed all data reductions, stable point analysis of the reference points, and the geometrical analysis the deformations of the monitoring points.

Sherman Island Development

• 
• 
• 
• 

The Yankee Nuclear Power Station in Rowe, Massachusetts is currently being decommissioned and dismantled. As part of this process, spent nuclear fuel assemblies must be removed from the spent fuel pool and eventually transported offsite to a federal nuclear waste storage facility. The Spent Fuel Pool is a stainless steel lined tank approximately 16 ft. by 32 ft. with 35 ft. of water. The spent fuel assemblies are arranged vertically in racks and that occupy approximately two-thirds of the pool.

Coler & Colantonio, inc. was contacted by Duke Engineering & Services to perform an engineering survey to determine the floor conditions for the support of a transfer cask lay down pad. The transfer cask would be lowered into the pool and an overhead crane would transfer the spent fuel assemblies to the cask for removal and storage. The design of the lay down pad required consideration of any irregularities or obstructions present on the pool floor to maintain verticality and provide a solid foundation for the transfer cask. An obstruction survey was also required to locate any obstructions within 12 inches of the transfer cask vertical access corridor into and out of the Spent Fuel Pool.

Special Considerations

• High security area with highly restricted access requiring a facility escorts.
• Access required General Employee Training and Radiation Worker Training of survey personnel, and security background checks.
• Extensive pre-planning and facility approval of all personnel, procedures, and equipment prior to performing the work.

Scope Of Services

• Site reconnaissance and preparation of a proposal for two methods of survey, a direct contact and an optional indirect (close range photography or laser scanning) survey method.
• Design, fabrication, and testing of a 45-ft. long special carbon fiber survey rod for use in the Spent Fuel Pool using the direct contact survey method.
• Design of a survey methodology to perform the pool floor and access corridor obstruction surveys.
• Performed a test to confirm the designed survey methodology, ascertain functionality of the survey rod in an underwater environment, and to evaluate the accuracy of the observation data.
• Calibrate all necessary equipment and complete preparations required to perform the survey prior to the actual survey.
• Perform the pool floor and access corridor obstruction surveys, process and evaluate the field survey observation data.
• Prepared a set of plans showing the underwater floor topography, floor obstructions, and access corridor clearances.

Yankee Nuclear Power Station

• 
• 
• 
• 

The Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) is located near Palo Alto, California southeast of San Francisco and is operated by Stanford University for the Department of Energy (DOE). The center is devoted to experimental and theoretical research in elementary particle physics and to the development of new techniques in high-energy accelerators and elementary particle detectors.

Major facilities at SLAC include a 2-mile long linear accelerator which generates high energy electron beams. Two large colliding-beam storage rings and a linear collider where positive and negative electrons from the 2-mile accelerator continuously circulate in a ring of magnets and are made to collide. These collisions take place inside massive, sensitive detectors to discover smaller particles and the forces that bind them together.

A number of accelerator components, including quadrapole and dipole magnets, must maintain precise mutual alignment with relative accuracies of the order of ±0.1 millimetres. Achievable only by using geodetic observation techniques and specialized, high-precision surveying and alignment instrumentation.

On October 17th, 1989 at 5:04 pm, shock waves from an earthquake in California's Santa Cruz Mountains (Loma Prieta) struck the San Francisco Bay area. Damage was extensive in the coastal area west of the San Andreas fault as well as several localized areas in San Francisco and Oakland.

The SLAC laboratory reported ground accelerations that were as much as 30% of the acceleration due to gravity. These ground motions caused misalignment of the linear accelerator and movements of the magnets and beamline components throughout the facility.

Coler & Colantonio, Inc. was responsible for assisting the SLAC Survey & Alignment Group with conducting surveys to determine the effects of the Loma Prieta earthquake. Personnel participated in the linac alignment and repositioning of the magnets in those areas most affected by the earthquake.

Personnel from Coler & Colantonio, Inc. then spent over 4 months assisting SLAC with accelerator component realignment and maintenance surveys during a facility shutdown. Including the costs of realignment, SLAC suffered $2 million in losses due to the earthquake.

Stanford Linear Accelerator Center

• 
• 
•