[DJC]
[design '96]

ENGINEERS GO UNDERWATER FOR BRIDGE INSPECTION

BY LUCY BODILLY
Special to the Journal

Engineering can be a dangerous profession.

The designer's computer could crash in the middle of an important calculation. The businesswoman can discover a run in her stocking after a make-it-or-break-it presentation. Or, the president and owner of the firm can be chased underwater by 1,000 pound male sea lions.

Shelley Sommerfield can handle all three of these threats. As a civil engineer and the registered women owned business owner of Echelon Engineering, Inc. she has mastered the first two. As an experienced diver, she knows that the sea lions encountered at an underwater pier inspection in Kodiak were only menacing. Nobody has heard of a sea lion ever seriously hurting a human.

The Kodiak contract called for the firm to inspect the steel piles at the Kodiak pier as a subconsultant to Sverdrup. Sommerfield, who often goes on dives herself, backed up visual observations of the piles with ultrasonic readings.

"They did have extensive corrosion problems there, but have done a good job maintaining it," said Erling Vegsund, manager of the inspection division for Echelon. He accompanied Sommerfield on dive.

As for the sea lions,"Males are very territorial," explained Vegsund."We would get near one of their spots and they would come up very quickly and then swerve away."

Sommerfield started designing bridges, then worked as a construction inspector on Guam where diving was necessary.

"I always wanted to own my own company," she said. "This way I can use both my engineering design and diving experience."

Though many major engineering firms have their own inspection teams, Echelon has gained a reputation for more technically difficult situations. "The reason is that we are all comfortable diving in varied situations. That means we can concentrate our effort on the inspections. We don't have to think about how to safely dive in difficult situations."

The combination engineering and diving experience of other employees also benefits the firm. "We have a good grasp of structural elements. We are better capable of deciding if the damage is significant." Sommerfield said.

All told, the six divers have more than 100 years experience in the water. Depending on the situation, they can use either scuba gear or surface air supply.

It's a good thing. Employees of the six year old firm that specializes in inspecting underwater structures encounter things that could take the average person's breath away.

One is a marine borer, a microscopic creature that attacks timber pilings. When it is not even visible to the naked eye, it enters the pilings around knotholes, which are difficult to penetrate with creosote. By the time the creature is discovered, it can be several feet long, and the inside of the piling looks more like swiss cheese than wood. The borers don't look very attractive either.

Going under the piers in Elliott Bay provides another source of wonderment.

Though the water is quite deep at the end of the piers, underneath can be very shallow, because of years of garbage accumulated there.

"It is really more like an aquarium, with lots of large octopus and squid," Vegsund said.

Though the marine life the divers encounter may be foreign to landlubbing engineers topside, the structural problems Echelon discovers are not. The firm does complete structural inspections of any materials -- wood, concrete or steel. Geographically it ranges from British Columbia, where is has a satellite office to California.

One of its latest contracts is a three-year open ended contract with the state Department of transportation for bridge and ferry terminal inspection.

The contract calls for visual inspection of concrete, steel and timber members and underwater photography, destructive and non-destructive testing and possible maintenance recommendations.

The company also works in a smattering of other inspection areas. Employees are certified to complete biological studies for shellfish and eel grass in saltwater and has completed fish migration studies. It also completes inspections in emergency situations.

For instance, after a serious windstorm last winter, the company was called to inspect both the city of Seattle police harbor patrol facility on Lake Union and the fire department facility on Elliott Bay.

Emergency work can bring on a new set of problems, Sommerfield said. Typically bridge inspections are done in the late summer and fall when water levels are low and currents less bothersome. But in an emergency, diving sometimes takes place in more harried conditions.

"You can't always dive in the best situations. In those cases, we try to pick the best of the worst time for an inspection," Sommerfield said.

When the two are not diving, they are working in the office, partially on underwater inspection standards for the American Society of Civil Engineers.

"The federal highway department has some, and the city of Seattle Department of Construction and Land use has some, but for the most part, no standards exist," Sommerfield said. She has been working with colleagues from across the country for a year, and hopes to have a set of standards within 18 months.

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Copyright © 1996 Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce.