U.S.-Germany Cooperative Workshops on Trenchless Excavation Technology; Dresden and Dusseldorf; September, 1995

该奖项支持10名美国土木工程师，他们都是美国大学的初级教授，于1995年9月前往德国参加一个会议和实地考察项目，以更多地了解过去15年来在那里开发的一种新的非开挖技术。他们将由一组由美国建筑行业支持的执业工程师陪同，他们已经开始在美国使用这项技术。此外，他们还将参加在德累斯顿举行的有关该主题的国际会议，该小组将参观汉堡附近的一家微隧道制造工厂和吕内堡的一家复合聚合物混凝土（“polycrete”）管道制造工厂，并讨论那里的工程研究，并探讨在美国对这些系统和材料进行大规模测试的可能安排。由于其强度和极高的耐腐蚀性和耐磨性，polycrete现在在欧洲广泛用作下水道材料。最后，代表团将在杜塞尔多夫附近新建的隧道技术研究所（Institute for Tunneling Technology）呆上几天。该研究所得到了德国政府和工业界的大力投资，已被公认为世界级的卓越中心。其任务是开发、测试和优化地下基础设施系统的技术。在那里，他们将与学术和行业研究人员一起参加一个研讨会，研究美国和其他地方对这项技术的教育和研究需求，以及美国和德国机构在该领域的研究和教育交流方面的合作机会。非开挖技术提供了安装和/或修复地下民用基础设施系统的能力，通过最大限度地减少挖掘，将地表破坏和破坏降到最低。自15年前在美国以外地区发展以来，它在建筑行业的应用迅速增长，因为它为地下基础设施更新的复杂问题提供了安全、经济和环保的解决方案。美国发展自己的该技术研究基地，减少对外国公司技术转让的依赖，是非常值得的。计划中的以研究为导向的德国之旅将加强美国学术界和美国工业界在这一工程领域的互动，并在这一战略上有用的技术方面开展更多相关的研究和培训。

This award supports ten U.S. civil engineers, all of whom are junior professors at U.S. universities, to travel to Germany in September, 1995, for a program of conferences and site visits to learn more about a new trenchless excavation technology developed there over the past fifteen years. They will be accompanied by a group of practicing engineers supported by the U.S. construction industry, who have begun using this technology in the U.S. In addition to participating in an international conference on this subject in Dresden, the group will visit a microtunneling manufacturing factory near Hamburg and a composite polymer concrete (`polycrete`) pipe manufacturing facility in Luneburg and discuss the engineering research there and to explore possible arrangements for large scale testing of these systems and materials in the U.S. Polycrete is widely used in Europe now as a sewer material due to its combination of strength and extremely high resistance to corrosion and abrasion. Finally, the group will spend several days at the new Institute for Tunneling Technology near Dusseldorf, which has received heavy investment by German government and industry sources and is already recognized as a world-class center of excellence. Its mission is to develop, test, and optimize technologies for underground infrastructure systems. There they will participate in a workshop with academic and industry researchers to examine the educational and research needs for this technology in the U.S. and elsewhere and the opportunities for collaboration in both research and educational exchanges between U.S. and German institutions in this field. Trenchless technology provides the ability to install and/or rehabilitate underground civil infrastructure systems with minimum surface disruption and destruction by minimizing excavation. Since its development outside the U.S. around fifteen years ago, its use by the construction industry has grown rapidly because it offers a safe, economical and environmentally compatible solution to the complex problem of underground infrastructure renewal. It is very worthwhile for the U.S. to develop its own research base for this technology to reduce reliance on technology transfer from foreign companies. The planned research-oriented travel in Germany will enhance interactions between U.S. academia and U.S. industry in this area of engineering and lead to more relevant research and training in this strategically useful technology.