Client: The Middlesex Corporation
Contract Value: $25 Million
Description: Geometric Forensics in support of Bridge Construction

During construction of what should have been a relatively straightforward box girder bridge in South Boston, The Middlesex Corporation was plagued by a series of geometric problems that threatened to shut down the project entirely. When the precast components of the structure did not bear properly on the substructure, the owner and its engineer put the blame on the contractor's failure to maintain proper construction tolerances. Such were the problems that the project had been at a virtual stand still for several months when Civil Geometrics was retained to review the problem and analyze the design.

A detailed review of the design and associated 3-D modeling quickly determined that the problems encountered were inherent in the design itself and were almost exactly what would be expected if the project had been built precisely according to plan. To provide a more defensible proof than the CAD model could provide, we performed numerous longhand calculations to back up the contractor's position, employing such tools as differential calculus and vector analysis. With exhibits in hand, a meeting was held between the contractor, the owner (Mass highway), and the engineer. Once it was demonstrated that design rather than execution was responsible, all parties became immediately cooperative in finding relatively easy solutions and the work progressed to completion.

In a preferable scenario, these problems would have been detected much earlier and solutions found before project schedule was impacted. All parties (except lawyers) would have benefitted.