Final Year Project 2004-2005

The Final Year Project –FYP (CIVE 501/2) was introduced as a requirement in the CEE curriculum for the first time in 2004-05. Teams of 3 students were formed and the following projects were submitted and presented. A list of the projects, student teams, faculty supervisors, and abstracts:

Design of Incineration Plant
Students: Wassim Balaa, Antoine Chahine, and Paul Rebeiz
Faculty Supervisor: Mutasem El Fadel

The project consisted of the design of an incineration plant for solid waste management for the Saida and Bourj Hammoud dumping areas. The study included a design of all the civil engineering features of an incineration facility as well as a design of the mechanical equipment that was used for this purpose.

Traffic Analysis using GIS/GPS
Students: Elie El-Daccache, Frederic Kassardjian, and Joe Mattar
Faculty Supervisor: Isam Kaysi
Winner of Dean’s Award for Creative Achievement (CEE Department)
Winner of Best Technical Paper at the 4th FEA Student Conference (CEE Department)

Shared “Taxi” or “Service” operations in Lebanon and especially in Beirut are known to have a negative effect on normal traffic conditions. The objective of this paper and the related experiment was to quantify the influence of the “service” operations on traffic conditions. This was done in two phases with the Beirut Central District being the study area. The first phase consisted of gathering information related to the driving behavior of the “service” with the help of GPS units; this relatively new method has rarely been used in such studies but yields accurate results. The data collected was analyzed and used to characterize “service” driving behavior at a macroscopic and microscopic level. The second phase involved performing a microsimulation of the traffic in Beirut Central District with VISSIM software which yields data at a level of detail similar to that of the GPS, and enabled a simulation of “service” traffic impact. The analysis and the simulation was used to assess present traffic conditions and to help in evaluating new mitigation measures to help ameliorate traffic congestion problems caused by “service” traffic operations. The study area consisted of the Beirut Central District (BCD).

Harbor Design
Students: Heitham Bo Shaheen, Tony Chatila, and Majed Itani
Faculty Supervisor: Habib Basha

The project was about the economic study of the design location, the harbor navigation, the type of harbor (industrial/economical), the design of harbor buildings (administrative and storage) and the design of breakwater, docks, jetties, and other facilities.

Dam Design
Students: Hamouda Alame, Boddoa’ Farah, and Joumana Sayegh
Faculty Supervisor: Hamed Assaf

Over the past years, the interest in building new dams in Lebanon has increased due to the obvious water shortage during the dry season and the increase in population. Natural habitats have already been destroyed by urbanization, rock quarries and deforestation. Because of the country’s small size, every valley is a part of the heritage, so any plan to build dams needs to be studied thoroughly. Entire valleys would be lost by building high dams on the western side of Mount Lebanon. In the Bekaa, large areas of fertile land have been lost due to buildings and roads. A balance should be made between the amount of land lost to agriculture and gains as a result of the project. Small dams do much less damage to their surroundings and do not destroy entire areas. Perhaps Lebanon needs several small dams that serve local areas. However, there has to be a way to maintain water flow more uniformly throughout the year.

Extension of a Sewage Treatment Plant
Students: Roy Bikhazi, Raji Daou, Omar Ghazzawi, and Amer Khansaheb
Faculty Supervisor: George Ayoub

The project was a design plan to improve the only sewage treatment plant in Lebanon to include all the processes of treatment of wastewater. The existing plant deals only with the preliminary treatment. The current design will cover the primary and secondary treatments.

Design of Industrial Factory
Students: Elias Abou Haidar, Charbel El Feghali, and Sumer Daou
Faculty Supervisor: Mohamed Harajli

The project was a design of an industrial factory that would construct floating islands. The floating islands were made of a space frame steel structure, fiberglass pipes and boats as well as light material buildings. The design included some or all of the following aspects: economical assessment and feasibility study; required land area, facilities, machinery and manpower; management scheme; factory layout; structural design of hangers and utility buildings; running cost study and expenses for one year; national economic impact; and environmental and safety assessment.

Stadium Design
Students: Nizar Estatie, Akram Haroun, and Ali Shmaysani
Faculty Supervisor: Bilal Hamad

The project was the structural analysis and design of a steel-structure stadium with a cover tent to be held by cables, bolts, and lighting towers. The study included a feasibility assessment for the location determination and an analysis for the parking areas and entrances.