Name: Cuthbert Yeo, Year 4

Organisation: Land Transport Authority

Area of Specialisation: Geotechnical/Project Management
VIP period: 18 May 15 6 Aug 15
Designation: Site Intern @ C923 Upper Changi Station
Personally, I really felt the need to see for myself what I have actually learnt so far from school that is
applied in reality, so I have requested from HR to place me on site nearest to my house. I was posted to
C923 Upper Changi Station of Downtown Line 3 Package C which would complete by 2017. Only
Entrance A was Top-Down (with secant bored piling) and the rest of the station box was constructed
Bottom-Up (with Dwall). This is a Design-Bid-Build project.

C923 site surrounded by various stakeholders; sheltered walkway to be provided within 400m radius of
station to provide better connectivity for commuters to ride.

The beginning weeks were rather daunting. I was inundated with meetings (project
safety/risk/design/instrumentation audit/concrete casting plans/CD Door inspections@Yongnam
factory/PDM/QPs audit/weekly and bi-weekly progress meetings from main contractor Samsung C&T) as
well as policies that you have to pick up and be aware of in 1 to 2 weeks time (mainly your TR26, CP65
Concrete bible, CP4 Foundation, LTA Construction Safety Handbook, LTA Materials and Workmanship
(M&W) Specifications bible and Civil Design Criteria RevA1 as well as some BCA Advisory) so that you
understand what is exchanged on the meeting tables. They can be found here:
https://www.lta.gov.sg/content/dam/ltaweb/corp/Industry/files/Construction_Safety_Handbook.pdf
and this VIP: https://www.corenet.gov.sg/general/e-info/codes-and-regulations.aspx
After youre done, quickly move on to method statements (so that deviations can be spotted during PGI),
design change reports and GIBR for borelogs and preliminary damage assessment reports by consultants.
In my case, these were done by MEINHARDT, Amberg and instrumentation readings by TRITECH.
It is important to get the hang of how the drawings are to be read based on sections or gridlines (in my
case 1xGL ~ 11.6m) as well as understand their shorthand acronyms. You also have to make the personal
effort to break the ice and establish good relationships with not only your colleagues from your site
office, but also those from the main contractor and QPs teams. What I did was to went round the
Samsung C&T office and Parsons Brinckerhoff office and introduced myself personally and for staffs who
arent around at their tables, you could leave a POST-IT note leaving your name and school email (or HP
number if you really need to) so that you can get the required information you need later in your report.
It is good to do all of this early so it wouldnt be so awkward later.
I will now briefly elaborate as much as I can remember in these 13 weeks based on topics:
Diaphragm Wall (Dwall) similar to CE3115
I was guided by HENO Hafiz on construction of Dwall.
The general sequence is to survey, mark, then hoard the areaperform trial trench whenever utilities
or SPPG or Singtel cables are thereconstruct guide wall(control alignment of box cutter)setup
bentonite plant (foundation has to be PE calc; pipes embedded must be properly connected; concreting
slurry to be fresh and not reused; working slurry can be reused)mobilise excavator then grab cutter
then box cutter(increasing depth for different reach of machine; bite sequence shown below
pic)KODEN machine to test vertical profile of trenchStop ends with water stops placed at corners of
panels to be castedRebar cage inConcreting through surging( where concreting bentonite slurry
floats up as concrete is tremie in; with pipe at least 3m embedded to prevent re-entry of slurry; RFI first
then cast!)Stop ends are removed when concrete still green leaving behind the water stop
(hydrophilic water strips)

Any bulge would then be hacked. Major cracks or water seepages would then be Polyurethane grouted
depending on the severity of the finishes. If honeycombs were found in panels, they would be hacked,
BRC and casted.

Key problems faced and solutions implemented are summarized in mindmap below:

Utilities Gap and Diversion

I was guided by
ENO Vasu on
utility gaps. (See
Instrumentation
for settlement
limits of utilities
as an example)
The utilities were
either supported
by I-beams or
concrete
haunching.

Most of the utilities were not diverted despite being in the way of the designated construction area due to
the high cost of fines imposed for damages. The presence of the utilities would impede the use of grab
cutters or BAUER box cutters in the construction of diaphragm wall. Hence, the construction of diaphragm
wall beneath these utilities was constructed in stages as excavation progress. Based on the soil condition,
the utility gap excavation may vary with different depth and with or without the use of BRC. Exposed soil
surface at utility gap must be monitored for water seepage or soil collapse. Lean concrete was used as soil
protection wall to protect the soil face from collapse. At every section of the utility gap, hydrophilic strips
and re-groutable tubes would be installed along the perimeter of the opening to manage the water
seepage through the construction joint. After the main reinforcement is installed, formwork installation
follows and gaps will be casted with C40 concrete between existing Dwalls.

PUB, SP telecom and SPPG utilities

clearly surveyed and marked.

Strutting with Bottom-Up Approach similar to CE5108/CE5112

I was guided by SPE Karthigesh on strutting systems used. It was unusual to use 3xUB as struts for deep
excavations (usually 2xUB) until after 2005. This also meant greater emphasis of settlement or
deflection readings by TRITECH and contractors. The lack of openings requires the Sub contractor
YONGNAM to lower all the struts in pieces. These pieces of struts would then be preloaded with
hydraulic jacks, before assembling them on site and installing them at required levels. For diagonal
struttings, shear ankles has to be placed between the waler and concrete packing; this would also mean
longer time for hacking and removal as compared to 20.2m long horizontal struts. LTA requires
reinforced concrete strutting system for certain area in this project.

Hydraulic Jacks used to preload

the horizontal struts

Minimum of 2 Strain gauges attached on web of struts

Omission of S7 @Section F-F and G-G

This deep excavation requires 7 struts initially, which contractors themselves later found the last
unnecessary and the final strut (S7) was omitted at Section F-F and Section G-G. I made the attempt to
do a similar soil modelling with the help of FEM analysis tool PLAXIS. The estimated excavation depth
during construction is approximately 28m below existing ground level. The following results were found:

BCA Advisory Note on ERSS: https://www.corenet.gov.sg/einfo/Uploads/Circulars/CBCA090402.pdf

Comparisons of design results from FEM programme, actual strain gauge readings from TRITECH and
ultimate deflection limits imposed by BCA would then be compared to see if they meet serviceability
state requirements. BCA also requires the analysis in the event of a one strut failure. When all
requirements are satisfied would then validate the omission of S7 strut from initial design.
Instrumentation similar to CE4216
C923 tunnel and station box is mainly situated in Old Alluvium (OA). Hence, most report took only
drained analysis. EC7 requires both drained and undrained analysis. Also, with the presence of
important services and live utilities, settlement is closely monitored with settlement markers and optical
prisms to ensure they do not reach alert level or work suspension level. For example, for C923 project,
Singtel Submarine cable can only settle no more than 5mm; 15mm or more settlement would cause a
SWO. Monitoring frequency is arranged prior to and during excavation as well as during and after
backfilling. It is important for instruments to be placed in sets (in the event one spoils; the next closest
reading would provide an equally realistic result) as well as to monitor the drawdown of groundwater
table for excavations.

TR26 Technical Reference for Deep Excavations

Site Language and Work Culture
Relationships between supervisors and workers must be good to ensure good exchange of information.
Whatsapp messenger is pretty much abused when reporting on site conditions haha, so its important
that you are in the group chat. It is also important to learn the Chinese, Blangadashi and Korean
language (in my case of Korean engineers) when communicating with the worker on progress of works.
The following are some important phrase you should learn to effectively communicate with workers:
Blangadashi

Meaning in English
Shobu Shakal
Shobu Dopul
Shobu Aso
Tara Teri
Astei Astei
Aseh
Nei
Ak
Dul
Tin

Good Morning
Good Afternoon
Good Evening
Faster
Slowly
Yes
No
1
2
3

Cha
Pass
Dono Butt

4
5
Thank You

I must say the work culture and perks given by LTA can be pretty good! There is travel credit provided to
full time personals and welfare events like yoga, dragonboat and even floorball for you to interact with
the people from other departments like the project, contracts or design teams even!

Floorball welfare organized monthly around months end by Racheal