Judges Awards-Industrial (Heavy) and Design

Judges Award-Industrial (Heavy)
Deer Park Energy Center
Submitted by: Zachry Construction Corp., San Antonio
Location: Deer Park

Key Players:
Owner: Calpine Corp., Folsom, Calif.
General Contractor: Zachry Construction Corp., San Antonio
Architect/Engineer: Burns & Roe Enterprises Inc., Oradell, N.J.

Zachry Construction Corp. of San Antonio served as general contractor/manager for the the $193.3 million three-phase Deer Park Energy Center. The project called for the construction of a four-on-one cogeneration facility to provide up to 2.5 million lbs. per hour of steam to plant host Shell Complex and electricity to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas utility grid.

The project began on Sept. 24, 2001, and was completed in May.

Phase one included the installation of the initial heat-recovery steam generator/combustion-turbine generator and supporting infrastructure, including a water- treatment unit, underground services in the 12-acre power block, a main pipe rack and an auxiliary cooling tower.

Phase two included installation of a second heat-recovery steam generator/combustion-turbine generator. The first and second phases operate out of the same powerhouse, using an auxiliary three-cell modular cooling tower.

In Phase three, Zachry installed the third and fourth heat-recovery steam generator/combustion-turbine generators, a steam-turbine generator and the main cooling tower. All phases were completed ahead of schedule and with an excellent safety record.

During the project, 2.3 million labor work hours were expended. At completion, the center is made up of four Siemens-Westinghouse 501F combustion-turbine generators, four Nooter-Eriksen heat-recovery steam generators and a 275 megawatt Toshiba steam-turbine generator.

The team used bolted tanks for the project as opposed to conventional welded tanks, which eliminated the need for coating and meant a lower total installed cost to the project. The quicker assembly time also allowed other craftworkers to begin work ahead of schedule.

Shorter pilings saved time and money. After a series of piling tests, Zachry recommended that the 1,800-plus pilings be shortened from 65 ft. to 48 ft., making the pile driving easier and quicker.

Zachry employed flowable-concrete fill at the project site, allowing for placement with minimal effort and saving schedule time and labor versus placing and compacting soil or granular material.

Among the creative solutions employed to operate efficiently within the tight work area was the integration of a smaller-than-normal, fully enclosed SF6 insulated switchgear electrical interconnect unit. The 345,000-volt unit allowed for placement in a relatively small two-acre site, which subsequently allowed for a smaller switchyard.

A shortage of sufficient laydown area became apparent during planning. Because the project trailers and installed equipment occupied the 12-acre work area, a 300-ft. apron on the north side of the powerblock was provided as additional laydown area. This was accomplished through a temporary construction easement. Zachry constructed offsite material laydown and employee parking on the easement.

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Judges Award--Design
SkyLink Automated People Mover
Submitted by: Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR) Inc., Dallas
Location: Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport

Key Players:
Owner: Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Board
Design, Design Management, Construction Administration and Quality Assurance: Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR) Inc., Dallas
Design Team: KBR Inc, Dallas; CAGE Inc., Dallas; Chiang, Patel & Yerby Inc., Dallas; Evan Evans Associates Inc., Dallas; Freese & Nichols Inc., Fort Worth; Johnson-McKibben Architects Inc., Dallas; LOPEZGARCIA GROUP, Fort Worth; PSA Constructors Inc., Orlando; Teng & Associates Inc., Chicago; URS Consultants Inc., Dallas; Williams-Russell & Johnson Inc., Atlanta
General Contractor/Construction Manager: Hensel Phelps Construction Co., Greeley, Colo.
Architect of Record: Corgan & Associates Inc., Dallas
Structural Engineer of Record (stations): Fresse & Nichols Inc., Fort Worth
Structural Engineers of Record (guideway): KBR Inc., Dallas; URS Consultants Inc., Dallas; Teng & Associates Inc., Chicago; Freese & Nichols Inc., Fort Worth

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport's new 5-mi.-long, dual-track, bidirectional Automated People Mover system has an initial performance capacity of 5,000 passengers per hour per direction.

The system will have a two-minute headway between trains and will carry passengers to the farthest interconnection point on the airport in only nine minutes at speeds of up to 37 mph. The APM system traverses the secure side of the airport, allowing passengers to interconnect without passing through security checkpoints.

The 25,400-lin.-ft. guideway structure has two independent bidirectional lanes. The guideway is a continuous loop that extends along the airside face of four existing terminals and through the interior space of the new Terminal D.

Construction of the guideway is equivalent to building a 5-mi. elevated bridge structure while having aircraft operate and function underneath. The guideway alignment between terminals follows the airport's existing public service roadway system, adding to the construction challenges.

The north and south ends of the guideway alignment also span across existing public/service roadways, which had to remain operational.

The guideway superstructure consists of either concrete U-beams or steel trapezoidal-box beams topped with an 8-in.-thick concrete deck supported by post-tensioned concrete columns.

The columns, which range in height from 50 ft. to 70 ft., have an elliptical shape with strong vertical/horizontal reveals and a dimension of 5 ft. by 7 ft.

The APM program schedule was the driving constraint of the project. From the start of design, the $45 million program required that initial service to the public be provided in 60 months. The general contractor had to complete the last section of the guideway and the propulsion power substations within 33 months.

The consolidated design/construction schedule was coordinated to meet this contractual obligation and required aggressive design and construction sequences. Construction began in 2000 and was completed by the end of 2004.

The design team, led by Kellogg Brown & Root, was made up of engineers, architects and designers from 15 subconsultant firms, with 66 percent being minority/women-owned business enterprises.

Pricing packages were developed for early procurement of long-lead and bulk items that would be used throughout the airport by multiple subcontractors. Bid packages were developed for units of work that paralleled the contractor's subcontracting plan and installation critical path.