Underground Construction - June 2017 - 18

TTC Report
TTC Celebrates 10-Year Partnership With
China For Trenchless R&D

Tour of the TTC Facility in the South Campus in LA Tech University

For 27 years, the Trenchless Technology Center (TTC), an industry/
university/government research
center at Louisiana Tech University, has served as a global leader for
the development of technologies
influencing almost every aspect of
trenchless construction methods.
In April, the TTC's Dr. Thomas
Iseley hosted a 14-member China
delegation to celebrate the 10-year
TTC Partnership with the China-U.S. Joint Center for Trenchless
Research and Development (TRD).
On April 7, the Chinese delegation had a lunch meeting with
Shreveport, LA, Mayor Ollie Tyler
and the Program Management
Team (PMT) leaders of the city.
This program was sponsored by
CDM Smith, the program manager. Walter Carpenter, CDM Smith,
made a presentation on how the
firm is assisting Shreveport to
meet the objectives and milestones
of a Federal Consent Decree. He
described how trenchless technologies are critical to meeting those
challenges.
Dr. Ma Baosong, professor at
the China University of Geosciences, provided an overview of
the China Delegation program
and the China-U.S. Joint Center
for Trenchless Research and Development program. The Chinese

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delegation also toured TTC's stateof-the-art facility in the South
Campus of Louisiana Tech University to become more familiar with
the TTC operation and research
program.
A banquet was held on at the
Davison Athletics Complex, where
Louisiana Tech President Dr.
Leslie Guice introduced Dr. Bill
Marcuson as guest speaker. Marcuson is the past president of the
American Society for Civil Engineers. Also, addressing the group
was Dr. Baosong who discussed
trenchless technology developments in China.
The official celebration of the
10-year TTC Partnership with the
China-U.S. Joint Center for TRD
will be held on October 2017 in
conjunction with the International Conference on Pipelines and
Trenchless Technology (ICPTT) in
China.

TTC has strengthened its international leadership during the past
few years. In China, the TTC has
established agreements with the
China University of Geosciences in
Wuhan, Xi'an Jiaotong University
in Xi'an (XJTU), Institute of Geosciences and Environment in Wuhan, and Tianjin Qingcheng Water.
Programs identified for potential
funding include the Sponge City
Program, utility tunnels, pipeline
seismic analysis, smart pipeline
networks, etc.
In partnership with XJTU, Iseley
has been a guest lecturer there on
trenchless technology and received
a three-year Adjunct Professor
appointment from the president
of XJTU, Dr. Shuguo Wang. The
TTC is collaborating with the China
University of Geosciences (CUG)
in Wuhan, on research projects.
Recently, Peng Zhan, a Ph.D. candidate in geological engineering at the

The banquet ceremony at the Davison Athletics Complex in Louisiana Tech University

CUG, joined the TTC to complete
his research. His research topic is
focused on the largest curved pipe
jacking roof support structure to
date which is currently being constructed in Zhuhai, China. This tunnel project consists of 36 pipelines
installed by microtunneling.
In addition, the TTC hosted a
Visiting Scholar from China, who is
the director of construction engineering teaching and research section at Hubei Urban Construction
Vocational and Technological College. Two more Visiting Scholars
will join the TTC this summer from
Chengdu University of Technology
and the Southwest Petroleum University, China.
The TTC also has a memorandum of understanding with Tianjin
Qingcheng Waterworks Engineering Co., Ltd. (TQCW), and Tianjin
Hua Miao Research and Design
Institute of Water and Wastewater Co., Ltd. TQCW has purchased
over 12, 200 square feet of prime
office space in the prestigious
business district of Tianjin, China.
Tianjin is a neighboring mega-city
to Beijing. This space has been
dedicated to the Trenchless Technology Center - Tianjin (TTC-TJ)
through the MoU partnership
agreement.
Iseley also participated in the
"Planning, Construction and
Operation of Common Utility
Corridors" ITACET Conference in
Chengdu, China, in April, along
with Dr. Robert Stein (Stein &
Partner). In August 2016, the TTC
and Stein & Partner based in Bochum, Germany, entered into an
agreement to expand the awareness of the UNITRACC (Underground Infrastructure Training
and Competence Centre) training
and learning programs.
For more information:
Tom Iseley, dtiseley@latech.edu
Underground Construction June 2017

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Underground Construction - June 2017

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