The webinar discusses the case study of Waikato Expressway, New Zealand, that only for the final 22 km stretch of the Project, more than 100,000 tests had been done, with each test taking 17min to review and check by Engineers.
The complicated and time-consuming quality testing programme on a road construction project in New Zealand has been solved thanks to an engineer with a life-long interest in computing. Thousands of hours of checking the quality assurance programme on the Hamilton section of the Waikato Expressway in New Zealand, under construction in 2020, were reduced significantly due to a software application developed by then NZ’s Transport Agency civil engineer Alexios Kavallaris.
The Hamilton section is a 22 kilometre four-lane highway running east of the city and the final piece in the 102 kilometre Waikato Expressway. The Waikato Expressway was built by a NZTA alliance, in seven sections, with the final section (Hamilton) completed in July 2022.
As Alexios explains, he has always looked for opportunities to exploit any new software that would fall into his hands. He saw opportunities to really be effective on the project when he joined the Alliance’s quality team as a zone quality engineer, initially working to help out in the drainage team.
During the first three years of the project more than 100,000 tests had been done, and each needed signed-off verification under the Inspection Test Plan (ITP) including a review and mathematical checks.
Alexios explains that it took 17 minutes for an engineer to review and check just one test. Furthermore, there was two years’ work for three people assessing all day, all week.
Alexios developed an automated method to fast-track the numerous mathematical calculations, giving a dynamic review of testing. According to Alexios, the first Excel spreadsheet created was simple and was created to assess if the theory was correct. Moreover, he explains that after a successful trial period more effort was put into bulk calculations for all drainage piping installed in a sector. The spreadsheet used complex formulas giving rapid results for Pass/Fail.
Based on Alexios work, ITP compliance and subsequently work-pack close work was conducted in two clicks: one for importing final test results from the lab and then filtering results per layer. The automated tool developed by Alexios gave the reviewers the full picture of testing done for every pipe installed from bottom (foundation) to top (backfill). Any fine-tuning could be identified early and implemented rapidly to avoid any potential rework costs.
Alexios’s spreadsheet had been developed into a software to produce real-time reporting for the City Edge Alliance building the Hamilton section. He says the tool can be potentially applicable (when the formulas are tweaked) to any construction discipline that needs an automated level of QA.
Alexios mentioned that he had a lot of support from drainage site engineer Justin Matthews, and his help with advanced use of spreadsheets was invaluable.
