ALOR SETAR, 7 JULY 2018: The Malaysia Public Work  Department (namely JKR) has organized an annual Conference of  Malaysian JKR Officers (SOCs) themed "JKR ASPIRATION ON  INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION ERA (IR) 4.0" held from 7 to 9 July  2018 at Hotel TH and Convention Center, Alor Setar, Kedah. The  ceremony was officiated by the Minister of Works, Mr. Baru Bian  followed by a speech by YBhg. Dato 'Sri Ir. Dr. Roslan bin Md  Taha, Director General of Public Works.

The main objective of organizing this annual conference is the platform for senior JKR officers to share knowledge, experience, expertise as well as a field of discussion on issues and matters relating to the Department, exchange ideas and opinion to inspire new innovative ideas in business improving the level of professionalism to achieve excellence in the delivery of departments.

The program involves the participation of 400 Senior Officers of the JKR consisting of Branches and State Directors, District Engineers, Kader Officers who lead the branches, divisions and units from all over the country. A total of eight papers on the construction industry have been presented throughout the conference. Opening and Exhibition Visit by YB Minister was held shortly after the opening ceremony expired. There are 43 exhibition booths that have participated in the exhibition involving government departments and private agencies. This year, it has become the 9th year of Dura Technology has been invited to take part in this exhibition. During the exhibition, YB Minister, along with JKR Officers, was briefed by Ir. Dr. Voo Yen Lei, on UHPC's technology.

Also present at the opening ceremony was YB Tuan Haji Mohd Anuar bin Mohd Tahir, Deputy Minister of Works, YBhg. Dato 'Sri Zohari Bin Haji Akob, Secretary General of the Ministry of Works, senior officers of the Public Works Department and senior officers of the Public Works Department. Among the essence of YB Minister's speech are:

On the 20th June, the chairman of Zhunglu-Dura International Engineering Co. Ltd (中路杜拉国际工程有限公司)Mr. Mao Zhi Jian (毛志坚) has brought 12 people in a team of top government officers from People’s Republic of China (PRC) visited some of the highlighted bridge projects in Perak using Dura UHPFRCFRC precast girders. These group of distinguished guests consists of (1) Mr. Ye Gui Ying, general manager of Guangdong ShunKong Traffic Investment Co., Ltd (叶桂莹, 总经理 , 广东顺控交通投资有限公司), (2) Zhou Cheng Dong, Vice President, Guangdong Shunde Holding Group Co., Ltd (周乘东, 副总裁, 广东顺德控股集团有限公司); (3) Liang Yong Bin, Deputy Director, Shunde Area, Country-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Office, (梁泳斌, 副主任, 顺德区国有资产监督管理办公室), and (4) Zhan Guo Liang, Deputy General Manager, Guangdong Hua Sui Construction Group Co., Ltd, (詹国良,副总经理, 广东华隧建设集团股份有限公司).

During the first site visit, the group travelled 180 km North to the 100-meter single span UHPC Batu 6 bridge site and another 100km to the centre first spine bridge. The Batu 6 bridge was the major inspiration to them as the Batu 6 bridge shows the lightness of the superstructure and the advantages of what high strength concrete can do. This structure provides first bridge over the River Perak, enabling safer, easier transportation to and from the small city of Gerik. The groups agreed the UHPFRC technology has big potential market in PRC as it that can reduce overall maintenance cost, reduce carbon footprint and most importantly, it enhanced the overall serviceability or service life of the structures built using UHPFRC.

The next day, the officers from PRC, were attend to the Dura factory in Chemor. Following that, the CEO of DTSB Adj. Prof. Ir. Dr. YL Voo presented the talk on Ultra-High-Performance Fiber Reinforced Concrete to educate about UHFPRC and to create an understanding on it’s applications as to how it can be more sustainable compared to current technology. After that, the demonstration of the sand type used in production has been showed by Dr. Voo and also steel fibre type used during mixing of UHPFRC to give the participants an opportunity to experience the material itself.

The honourable guest and participants were impressed by the possibilities and capability of this material. The chairman of Zhunglu-Dura International Engineering Co. Ltd Mr Mao believe that this technology is able to bring huge benefit to PRC and bring China to a higher level in constructions in the world and is able to put China as a leading country in using this material.

IPOH: Group of four visitor from Czech Republic which include Prof. Drahmir Novak and Associate Prof. David Lehky from Brno University of Technology, while Dr. Radomir Pukl and Martin Berka  from Cervenka Consulting were visit Dura Technology Sdn Bhd  Factory on 24th April 2018.

 

They toured the factory’s production process of bridge segments , and an experimental testing of specimens in three-point and  four-point bending configurations for expert discussion, knowledge exchange and establishing a future cooperation.

Later on, during the presentation session, two professors from Brno University of Technology presented the FraMePID-3PB software for mechanical fracture parameter identification of plain concrete which is now being extended for UHPFRC. The presentation include, parameter identification procedure implemented within the software uses artificial neural network-based inverse analysis.

They showed the main advantages compared to other commercial software highlighting its tight connection with the reliability software FReET (http://www.freet.cz) and the identification software FraMePID-3PB. The whole system is very powerful tool for reliability analysis and lifetime prediction of bridges and other structures.

Finally, possibilities of future cooperation were discussed. There is a high interest from both sides especially related to mechanical fracture parameter identification and FraMePID software development. “We have planned to collaborate with Dura Technology to develop our software (FraMePID-3PB & ATENA) in Ultra High Performance Concrete,’’ they said. The Czech group will analyze data from Dura Technology company and will consider them for implementation into the software. A future international project collaboration will be appreciated by both sides.