Road trip: Trine CE seniors visit dam, cement plant and bridges

Six Trine University civil engineering seniors and two faculty members toured a cement plant and the Newburgh Lock and Dam, learned about the Ohio River Crossing project and traveled to bridge construction sites during a senior trip in November.

The Reiners Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering hosts the trip each semester for its seniors.

Large-scale projects

Civil engineering seniors who took part in the trip were Annalise O’Daniel of Indianapolis, Sarah Ryan of Hilliard, Ohio, Logan Hooley of Goshen, Indiana, Elaine Somers of Champaign, Illinois, Samuel Whitney of Danville, Ohio, and Boston Briseno of Defiance, Ohio. Civil engineering chair Gary Greene, Ph.D., and faculty member Tim Tyler, Ph.D., led the trip.

Somers said she decided to go on the trip because she thought it would be fun and a good opportunity to learn about real-world civil engineering practices.

Ryan said she went because it was a great opportunity to see what she had learned at Trine applied to large-scale civil engineering projects.

“Additionally, it was a great opportunity to celebrate how far I and my classmates have come in our education with the professors who have supported us along the way,” she said.

“Many times in our CE classes we talk about concepts that are really interesting and tangible, and it is such a neat experience to see those principles and designs in real life,” Hooley agreed.

The group left Trine’s campus on Nov. 13. The next morning, they visited the Heidelberg Materials cement plant in Mitchell, Indiana.

They toured the company’s cement bagging plant, took an elevator ride to the top of its 400-foot-tall preheat tower and walked along the cement kiln.

“We were able to go to the very top of one of the structures, which was fascinating, but also a little scary,” said Somers.

“Temperatures inside the refractory-lined kiln reach nearly 3000 degrees Fahrenheit and are hot enough to melt the powdered limestone inside the kiln,” explained Dr. Greene.

“From the top of the preheat tower, we could see the quarries used to supply the limestone and clay, the main two raw ingredients that are fed into the kiln and used to produce the clinker nodules,” he added.

The clinker nodules, he said, are eventually ground into fine powder and mixed with gypsum. The plant produces 4,000 railcars of Portland cement each month.

Lock and dam, bridges

The group traveled next to the Newburgh Lock and Dam in Evansville, Indiana. They received a full tour from Brian Mays of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

“It was super cool getting to walk on the top of the dam,” said Somers.

“We saw a 14-barge tow heading upstream pass through the lock. We saw the tainter gates and the mechanism that raise and lower them to control the water level on the Ohio River to maintain a navigable channel,” Dr. Greene said.

The next morning, the Trine group traveled to the Ohio River Crossing (ORX) field office for a presentation on the project led by Matthew Bullock of the Indiana Department of Transportation and Vincent Alley of Walsh Group, which is providing construction services. After the presentation, they visited three new approach bridges under construction in Indiana.

The bridges are part of the approach spans leading to the future new I-69 Ohio River Crossing bridge that start construction in a few years.

“We got to see the bridge piers being formed and built, the massive bridge girders in place, and the lengthy bridge as a whole,” said Hooley. “It was a great opportunity to gain insight about how the design process works in conjunction with actual construction practices.”

“Several spans were over 180 feet long and were made from high-strength, lightweight concrete,” Dr. Greene commented. “They completed an 11-hour-long concrete deck pour, one-third of the total bridge deck, during their presentation to us.”

Supporting students

Both Ryan and Somers said their favorite parts of the trip were going to the top of the Heidelberg Materials cement tower and the top of the Newburgh Lock and Dam.

“They were civil engineering projects that seemed larger than life, and we got to go up on really tall heights for both,” Ryan said.

They also said they will remember the time spent with their classmates and professors.

“It was a fun trip, while still being educational,” said Somers.

“I would just like to say how grateful I am for the time and effort that the civil engineering faculty puts into supporting their students,” said Ryan. “They truly get to know each student and want to see them succeed, not just academically but also in life.”