Structural Assessment for Coal Breaker Reconstruction/Stabilization

ECKLEY MINER'S VILLAGE

Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission

Eckley Miner’s Village, Weatherly, PA

SSM's structural engineers assessed the existing condition of the timber-framed structure and provided engineering analysis and design to replace or reconstruct a portion of the coal breaker, called the tipple. (A tipple is a structure used at a mine to load the extracted product (e.g., coal, ores) for transport, typically into railroad hopper cars). SSM provided detailed structural designs, technical specifications, STAAD models for the tipple frame for the breaker and for the pole structure. In addition we provided construction services.

Founded in 1854, Eckley is an example of a planned nineteenth century coal mining town. It is a community, or coal “patch town,” which provided mining families with the basic necessities such as housing and medical care, as well as basic amenities like a store, a school and churches. Companies often designed and constructed industrial communities to house their employees in close proximity to the collieries, or mining operations, for which they worked. Such mining towns were built to attract other mining families to live and work among the coal fields of northeastern Pennsylvania. While the company greatly influenced the lives of its village residents, and each family member faced challenges and difficulties every day. The way in which they faced these challenges is the history of the region that is studied, preserved and interpreted.

Since 1970, Eckley has been owned and operated as a museum by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. The Molly Maguires a 1970 film was filmed in Eckley in 1969. The wooden "coal breaker" featured heavily in the film. The filming of the movie resulted in the town's being saved from demolition, and it was afterward turned into a mining museum under the control of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.

Structural Engineering for Higher Education Facility Addition

LINCOLN UNIVERSITY | STUDENT UNION

Student Union and Services Building

Lincoln University

Lincoln University, Pennsylvania

Provided structural engineering for an approximately 15,000 square foot addition to the Student Union and Services Building at Lincoln University. The project included significant upgrades to the existing building area. 

The existing two-story concrete framed building was expanded on three sides by the addition of a two-story steel framed structure. The upgrades included the addition or modification of a mailroom, bookstore, cinema viewing area, offices, game room, two story atrium, storage and maintenance areas, and a multi-purpose area.

The existing structure was analyzed and reinforced as required for new loads, including new rooftop mechanical equipment. The structural design included design of foundations, ground floor slab, retaining walls, elevated floor slabs, steel framing, and roof deck.

Performed construction phase services including structural shop drawing reviews, responding to contractor's “Request for Information (RFI), and occasional site visits to review construction.

LINCOLN UNIVERSITY | STUDENT UNION INTERIOR

Multi-Discipline Engineering for New Fitness Center

GATEWAY MOTION AND FITNESS

Gateway Motion and Fitness

Lewes, Delaware

Spotts, Stevens and McCoy has been engaged with the Owners of Midway Fitness since 2012, performing a building energy audit, expansion feasibility projects for their existing facility located in Rehoboth DE. After their decision to relocate, SSM was engaged to provide due diligence and concept planning for alternate sites with existing structures and ultimately, the greenfield site selected for development of a new facility, Gateway Motion and Fitness. Due diligence and concept planning included site and civil engineering, and multi-disciplinary building systems.

SSM is partnered with Ambit Architecture to provide professional services to develop new building design from Programming through Construction Documentation and has been further engaged as the Owner’s representative and Project Manager. The project is currently in Design Development Phase. Basis of Design calls for a 48,000 square foot multi-level facility with diverse programmatic needs for fitness, aquatics, physical therapy and administration.

SSM technical services include: structural design, mechanical, plumbing, fire protection and electrical design and Project Management services to coordinate the efforts of the architectural design work of Ambit Architecture, the engineering design teams and the pre-construction services of Wohlsen Construction.

Structural Engineering for New Animal Hospital

ANIMAL CARE HOSPITAL HUMANE SOCIETY OF ST. THOMAS

Humane Society of St. Thomas Animal Care Hospital

St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands

SSM's engineers provided structural engineering for multiple buildings at this complex to meet the challenging wind and seismic conditions demanded by the project location. Our structural engineers worked worked closely with the rest of the design and construction team (consisting of SSM, Caribbean and California-based architects and consultants).

The structural design included extensive retaining wall design for this hill top site, as well as 3 large underground cisterns to hold water for the entire complex.

Working with Caribbean and California-based architects and consultants, SSM carried out a structural design that included extensive retaining wall design for the hill-top site, as well as three large underground cisterns to hold collected rainwater for the entire complex.

Landscape architects and civil engineers provided site and civil engineering services, integrating the architectural plans with the site in terms of vehicular and pedestrian circulation, landscaping, and exterior site features. In addition, provided sewage treatment plant design and collection system design.

ANIMAL CARE CAMPUS HUMANE SOCIETY OF ST. THOMAS

Concept Design for Probable Maximum Flood

Reading Area Water Authority

Reading, Pennsylvania

LAKE ONTELAUNE DAM | READING AREA WATER AUTHORITY

Lake Ontelaunee Dam, built mid-1920, has stood for over 90 years supplying drinking water to the City of Reading and surrounding areas. Pennsylvania Code (Chapter 105) now requires most dam owners to upgrade to new flood standards or breach their dams. 

SSM’s team of professional engineers (hydrologist, geotechnical and civil), geologists (geophysicist, structural and hydrogeological), surveyors, GIS technicians and construction specialists completed a Concept Design to fortify Lake Ontelaunee Dam to safely comply with design criteria for a Probable Maximum Flood (PMF).  The Concept Design was prepared for the Reading Area Water Authority in response to the PADEP – Division of Dam Safety’s requirements to bring Lake Ontelaunee Dam into compliance. 

The dam consists of a 544 foot uncontrolled ogee crest concrete spillway and a 2,890 foot earthen embankment section.  Under the PMF criteria, the earthen embankment will perform as an emergency spillway.  To fortify the embankment and prevent it from eroding away during a PMF event, its upstream face needs to be thickened and its downstream slope requires hardening with Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC).  However, prior to RCC installation, subsurface soils need to be stabilized to support the proposed overtopping engineering controls and subjected PMF forces.  In addition, the team addressed complications created by State Highway 73 which traverses the top of the dam with its guiderail system that raised the PMF.

In developing the most cost effective solution for the Authority, SSM evaluated several technologies and their subsequent costs or risks in addition to RCC including:  articulated concrete block, 1,000 linear feet of culvert beneath Route 73, dam height reduction, a parapet wall option and a hardened artificial turf like system. Stability analysis, geotechnical investigations, environmental assessments, underwater dam inspections, and geophysical and hydrogeological studies were included with the Design Concept.

LAKE ONTELAUNEE | READING AREA WATER AUTHORITY