plaxis...

Last Saturday I told I would start with a sheet pile calculation with Plaxis. But right before we wanted to begin, somebody came in the office to announce we had to leave the office within thirty minutes. This was because of maintenance in the office. So, weekend started earlier than expected. That’s also one of the big differences I remarked in Kazakhstan. Appointments and meetings can be made some hours or even minutes before, also if it concern business. In this case we even didn’t know. Yesterday we also had to leave the office a little earlier because of maintenance there was a powercut.

So last Monday we could really start to work with Plaxis. It’s sophisticated software, so quite hard for me to work with it. My colleague explained me first some common things about the new EPC4 Island. It’s also an island surrounded by sheet piles. On every side there are other demands, like there have to be a possibility for berthing of a ship, or different loads by cranes. My job was to adjust the positions of the tie rods and anchor walls in different models. It takes about one hour per calculation, so it takes a lot of time. In the meantime I could go on with detailing the steel foot bridge.

Detailing takes so much time. There were also some changing’s in the design. What makes it a more difficult is you have to take into account to if the types of materials you need are available. So I was quite long busy with design of the lifting provision and after it I found out the materials I used in my design where not available. But I learned first to think about that.

Next week I’ll try to put another blog. I don’t know yet if I can manage it, because it’s the last week here in Aktau for my holyday in the Netherlands, and I have to finish some work before I leave. And by the way, feel free to comment!