2. 0
Executive Summary
The summer break was utilised to attend the internship program. Internship was an eye-
opening experience where engineering knowledge is applied critically to solve problems by providing
the most economical solutions in terms of limited space, construction time constraint while complying
with the authorities’ requirements. Co-operation between engineers and draftsmen are necessary to
translate designs into drawings. These drawings are necessary for submission to authorities, tendering,
contractors to construct and for the client’s reference. Engineers are grounded to ensure that they
understand the fundamentals of technical knowledge through manual calculations before being
exposed to softwares. Experience gained from the application of these tools will certainly be an asset
in future projects.
Moreover, several sites were visited to gain an insight about various plant operations. The aim
is to understand the importance of planning and site layout by taking into consideration client’s
logistics, labour utilisation and future expansion plans. Another significant aspect that must be
observed at the site is the health and safety of workers. Usually, the client would require the
contractor’s workers to undergo a safety induction course conducted by a safety officer before they
are allowed to be deployed at site. During construction, it is compulsory for workers to wear a safety
helmet, safety boots and goggles to avoid any undesirable accidents form happening. Where work has
to be done at high elevation, workers are required to wear a safety harness.
4. 1
Acknowledgements
I would like to express my gratitude to M/s Rekanan Jurutera Perunding for providing me the
opportunity to have the industrial training during the 12 weeks summer vacation period. I had gained
invaluable experience from my supervisors who are professional engineers of Institution of Engineers
Australia, United Kingdom and Malaysia to design and implement various projects. I would like to
thank my supervisor, Ir. Chuah Kean Huat for teaching me the practical structural design skills and Ir.
Chew Ching Chong for guiding me throughout the entire duration of my internship. Besides that, I
would like to thank my colleague and engineer, Mr. Tam Wai Kin for checking my calculations and
assisting me on the use of software in structural analysis and modelling.
Background
M/s Rekanan Jurutera Perunding is a chartered civil and structural engineering consultancy firm
which has been involved in projects both locally and internationally since 1966. The company
provides conceptual planning, management, design and supervision of construction works. Services
provided by the company can be summarised as follows:
Building, Civil and Structural Consultancy
Technical Consultancy For Local and Overseas Clients
Auditing and Validation of Design
Technical Support for Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Management (EPCM)
and also Commissioning (EPCC) Services
Co-ordinating Mechanical and Electrical, Process and Speciality Services
Implementation and Administration of Contract
M/s Rekanan Jurutera Perunding has wide experiences in industrial, commercial, residential,
institutional, civil works, agricultural developments, rehabilitation, and appraisal projects. The firm is
actively involved in the design and construction of palm oil refineries and other plants for downstream
palm oil products like biodiesel and oleo-chemicals. The company also planned and designed
factories for the manufacturing of semiconductor, electronics and electrical appliances, automotive
assembly plants as well as warehouses.
5. 2
Project Management
Construction projects in Malaysia are mainly divided into two categories, namely, traditional or
turnkey. Traditional is still the most popular. Under this category, the client engages a civil and
structural engineer consultant. Documents comprising architectural drawings and material
specifications are prepared and submitted to relevant authorities for approval. Similar documents are
used for the tender to secure reasonable prices for construction. A tender report is compiled by the
engineer for a technical review before the final negotiation between contractor and client on the prices.
The consultant will award the tender on the instruction of the client for the building construction to
commence once approval is obtained from the authorities. The responsibility of the civil engineer is to
ensure that all drawings and specifications are complied with during the construction at site. Once the
building is completed, the contractor hands over the completed building to the owner or client. The
building is fit for use once the certificate of completion and compliance is issued by the engineer. The
following flow chart summarises the procedure.
Authority Submission &
Approval
Subject to
Approval
Consultant: Architect/ Civil & Structural Engineer
Client
Drawings
Documents for Tender
Specifications
Tender Report
Technical Review
Negotiation Client & Contractor
Consultant Awards Tender
Contract Administration
Handing Over from Contractor to Client
Certificate of Completion and Compliance
Authority
Inspection
6. 3
Projects Participated
Mewah Datu Palm Oil Refinery Complex
Participation in this project was throughout the duration of the internship. Experiences gained
were site visitation, desk top calculations and usage of design software. Knowledge in mechanics of
solids and concrete structures are necessary to design the hydrant pump house. In addition, knowledge
in steel design is required to analyse the portal frame in the biomass boiler house.
The project is located in Lahad Datu which is to the east of the Borneo Island in Sabah, East
Malaysia. A site visit took place on the first week of the internship. Upon my arrival at the site, I
noticed that the site had been cleared of all vegetation.
To mitigate flooding downstream of the site, a water
detention pond was excavated as required by the law.
Earth drains were provided along the perimeter of the
site to capture the rainwater runoff to discharge into
the detention pond. This provision is also to trap the
sediments caused by rainwater runoff on the exposed
soil surface from causing siltation downstream of the
site. At the main drain discharge from the site, gabion
mattresses were designed to dissipate the flow and to
reduce erosion. This small but important structure
forms part of the good management practice (GMP) as
required by the local drainage authorities.
Various rock types were observed at the site which includes conglomerate, basalt and granite.
The presence of basalt and granite which are igneous rocks provides an indication of the history of
volcanic activity in the ground. Sedimentary rocks called conglomerate is basically a mixture of rocks
and sand cemented and compacted by lithification process. Such geology of the substrata presented a
challenge in the design of foundation. Basing on the borehole logs, it was decided to provide piles for
the foundation.
Figure 1: Gabions to reduce erosion
Figure 2: Conglomerate rock excavated Figure 3: Piling at site
7. 4
At the site, I was instructed to check the pile locations to ensure that they conform to the
construction drawings. It was noted that cylindrical spun pile were originally proposed because it
provides better shaft resistance in clay soil conditions. However, due to economic reasons, the client
preferred to use square RC piles. I was assigned to check the pile capacity due to the effects of
eccentricity. Eccentricity occurs when the pile was driven more than 75mm away from its designated
position as specified on the construction drawings. Deviation can occur when piles are driven due to
wrongly pegged positions, displaced pegs or due to piles hitting a boulder or hard strata below. Basing
on the analysis it was found that the pile capacity is sufficient to withstand the additional moment,
with the worst eccentricity recorded at 98mm.
During the third week, a briefing was given to allow me to familiarise with various materials
used in construction. Among these materials is a gabion. Gabions are stones stacked and placed in
galvanised iron cages as a retaining structure to prevent soil erosion. Other materials are Webforge
grating and Bondek formwork which are commonly used as flooring for palm oil refineries.
Aluminium lourvers are sometimes installed instead of windows for natural ventilation in the building.
To enhance ventilation at the roof, ridge ventilators that work on Venturi’s principle are provided
along the apex of the roof. Supplier’s catalogues are helpful sources of information to aid the design
process by providing the self-weight, sectional properties and dimensions data.
Design tasks were assigned during the last two months of internship. I was assigned to design
the hydrant pump house consisting of steel roof truss, non load-bearing masonry, reinforced concrete
slab, beam and column. British Standard is the accepted code of reference for structural design in
Malaysia. Hence, the reinforced concrete slab, beam and column of the hydrant pump house were
designed according to BS 8110:1997. Loads such as pump machinery point load and non-load bearing
masonry are taken into account during the designing process. The concrete members are provided
with sufficient steel areas to cater for stresses due to bending moment and shear forces.
Besides that, I had the opportunity to use various softwares in the office to analyse structures
more efficiently. Softwares such as Tedds and Fastrak which are developed by CSC, a British
Engineering Software Company are used throughout the duration of training to aid design. Tedds can
be used to determine accurately the amount of steel necessary to withstand bending moment and shear
failure in RC beams. The roof truss is analysed using Fastrak which is a software used to check the
adequacy of steel truss members and steel columns.
Week 8 is devoted to design the steel structure of the biomass boiler house. The size of the
roof purlins necessary to support the roof sheeting is evaluated so that a proper size of lipped C
channel can be used. It is noted that the size of the lipped C channel is based on the serviceability
requirements. The portal frame analysis is necessary to determine the column and rafter size. Since
the bending moment is critical, universal beam is used for the column instead of universal column.
Castellated universal beam was used for the rafter with a long span of 30.4m. The advantage of using
the castellated beam is to minimise the weight of the rafter and also to allow any utility pipes to run
through. However, the cost of fabricating castellated beams is easily 20% higher compared to the
ordinary universal beam.
8. 5
Crane gantry girdlers are designed to move heavy loads within a factory. I was assigned to
determine the size of the crane runner beam and stanchion. Loadings acting on the runner beam
include the crab, crane gantry girdler and beam self weights as well as the lifting load. A 25% impact
load is added as a precaution to the acceleration of the lifting load when it moves from rest. The load
transfer from crane runner beam to the stanchion is analysed by calculating the reactions acting on the
crane runner beam when one of the wheel loads is over the support. The stanchion is designed based
on the bending moment due to eccentricity and the axial loading from the reaction on the crane runner.
Cargill
The client wishes to upgrade the existing refinery by adding a high
pressure boiler and pre-heater tanks with a flooded weight of 93
tonnes. Therefore, the building height needs to be raised to
accommodate the vessels. Shallow foundations such as pad
footing are required to support the additional loads. I was involved
in this project for two weeks beginning from week 6 to 7. The
scope of works includes tender preparation, site visitation and
checking architectural drawings. The tenders submitted by
contractors are checked for arithmetic errors and rates of major
construction materials. I went for site inspection and check
whether there are any obstructions affecting the construction.
Miscellaneous
Engineering involves the application of knowledge in various fields. I was assigned to create
an excel spreadsheet to calculate the pile capacity based on Effective Stress Analysis method, also
known as β-method. A comprehensive knowledge in Microsoft Excel and Geo-engineering was useful
to create such a spreadsheet. The objective of this task is to reduce the time needed for repetitive
manual calculations and hence, increase the efficiency of analysis.
On the 26th
of January (Week 9), I visited an automobile assembly plant which was completed
by the firm several months ago. The site belonging to M/s Tan Chong Motors is located in Serendah,
Selangor. The area was reclaimed from a former mining pond. The purpose of the visit was to discuss
the installation of additional machinery in the manufacturing complex. Basing on the discussion with
the client and the contractor, the proposed work requires a tight schedule of four days to construct the
RC ground beams needed to transfer the load from the new machine to the existing piles. The
manufacturing complex is divided into four main sections namely warehouse building, body shop
building, paint shop building and the trim and chassis building. The proposed site for the new
machine is situated in the body shop building.
Figure 4: Upgrade of existing refinery
9. 6
After the site meeting, I had the opportunity to tour the assembly plant which starts from the
warehouse building. Crates of vehicle components are stacked and stored in the warehouse. Each
crate weighs 300kg on average. Due to adverse subsoil conditions, piles were designed to support a
floor load of 1.5 tonne per square metre. The steel materials are transported to the body shop building
for assembly by forklifts. The assembly process is semi-automated and many trenches were provided
to install the tracks and cables. Besides the self-weight, the roof trusses were designed to support
some robotic machinery. The slender columns supporting the roof truss is restrained by the platform
of the machinery and encased with concrete.
Next, the car steel frame is hot-dipped galvanised and painted in the paint shop. The resulting
wastewater from these processes is channelled to the wastewater treatment plant to remove dissolved
heavy metal ions and nitrates. Car components are installed within 20 stations in the trim and chassis
building. Components like steering wheel, dashboard, tyres, car seats, gear box and engine are
installed by the workers while the conveyor belt is moving slowly. This is to ensure that the workers
install the assigned car parts promptly on schedule. Finally, the finished car product is washed and
tested on the track.
Figure 6: Car frames lined up in paint shop building
Figure 5: Tan Chong Motor Assembly Plant, Serendah, Selangor
10. 7
Personal Assessment
Internship was an eye-opening experience where engineering knowledge is applied critically
to solve problems by providing the most economical solutions in terms of limited space, construction
time constraint while complying with the authorities’ requirements. I have learned the tender process
and the design of structures. Co-operation between engineers and draftsmen are necessary to translate
designs into drawings. These drawings are necessary for submission to authorities, tendering,
contractors to construct and for the client’s reference. The project management style implemented by
the firm is very practical to me since it provides a clear understanding of the responsibility of
engineers and contractor engaged by the client. Engineers are grounded to ensure that they understand
the fundamentals of technical knowledge through manual calculations before being exposed to
softwares. Experience gained from the application of these tools will certainly be an asset in future
projects.
Moreover, I was privileged to visit several sites and gained an insight about various plant
operations. This experience will provide me an understanding about the importance of planning and
site layout by taking into consideration client’s logistics, labour utilisation and future expansion plans.
Another significant aspect that must be observed at the site is the health and safety of workers.
Usually, the client would require the contractor’s workers to undergo a safety induction course
conducted by a safety officer before they are allowed to be deployed at site. During construction, it is
compulsory for workers to wear a safety helmet, safety boots and goggles to avoid any undesirable
accidents form happening. Where work has to be done at high elevation, workers are required to wear
a safety harness.
Furthermore, I realised the importance of several units learned such as design of steel,
concrete, solid mechanics and geo-engineering in applying to the civil and structural consultancy. I
can also foresee that the work experience will give me the edge to obtain a better understanding in
future subjects such as project management and building structures. From this short-term experience, I
have acquired the basic skills in project management where teamwork is of paramount importance.
All these experiences will spur me on to pursue a carrier as a consulting civil and structural engineer
in the future.
