Liftech hosted 35 engineering students from Stuttgart University in Germany on October 12, 2010. The students toured the Bay Area’s unique structures and various construction sites giving the students an introduction to a wide-range of civil engineering topics. Their tour included trips to the Golden Gate Bridge, the construction sites of the new Caldecott Tunnel and the new East Bay span…
Author: L Weber
Liftech Softball Season Recap
Our 2010 softball team set Liftech records for wins and winning percentage! This was the first season in which we finished 0.500. We finished 4-4 and took third in our league. We also beat the eventual division champion (Parsons) in our next to last game to give them their first loss of the season. Overall, our defense struggled at times,…
Liftech Wins Award for Bay Bridge Floating Crane Project
Liftech received an Award of Excellence from the Structural Engineers Association of Northern California (SEAONC) in recognition of our engineering work on the 1700 t floating crane, also known as the Left Coast Lifter. The Left Coast Lifter is a barge-mounted crane designed to erect the major components of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge self-anchored suspension span. The crane was…
Liftech Engineers Venture Out of the Office to Visit Pacific Steel Casting Company
Pacific Steel Casting Company (Pacific Steel) graciously opened its doors yesterday for Liftech engineers to tour their Berkeley steel foundry. The tour was guided by some highly experienced Pacific Steel employees, including the president, Joe Emmerichs, and a knowledgeable technical sales representative, Dave Standafer. The tour began at the technology center, where we learned how computers help determine the optimum…
Crane and Wharf Damage Assessment
Following are Feroze Vazifdar’s first hand observations of the damage to the major terminals in Chile, supported by local consultants’ preliminary reports. San Antonio San Antonio has seven berths with six ship-to-shore gantry cranes. Two of these cranes were damaged due to ship collisions. Another crane was derailed, but has no significant structural damage, and was placed back on the…
The Earthquake in Chile
Crane and Wharf Performance in the Earthquake in Chile Liftech is communicating with a local structural consultant and terminal operators regarding the damage assessment of the cranes and the wharves. Preliminary reports indicate that the container cranes that were designed to the modern seismic codes at the two container terminals in the Valparaiso region performed well, and some wharves sustained…
Liftech Engineers Teach Local High School Students about Engineering
Liftech engineers Derrick Lind and Anna Dix taught at the Oakland School for the Arts (OSA) this year in association with the Engineers Alliance for the Arts (EAA). As part of EAA’s student impact project, local professional engineers visit classrooms to teach students about bridges. The focus of the six week curriculum is for students to learn about basic engineering…