Design Brief

Design the layout of the fueling station for boaters to access at the Sandy Hook Green Marina year round, and provide the details for installation of the components for the system.

Bi-weekly Log Update

10/6/10 - This week, I have been trying to catch up and make small changes to little details in my background information, testing procedures, and alternative solutions. I have also been working on a design matrix for the dock layout solutions. That needs to be posted as soon as possible. Also, another set of solutions regarding the dock installtion must be developed and posted, along with a design matrix for that. I am waiting to hear from the team member who is designing the dock whether the fueling dock will be stationary or floating before I create the installation solutions. There is no need to create a set of solutions for the installation of pipes on a type of dock that will not even be used, so that is causing me to be a bit behind the ball.

Alternative Solutions: Dock Layouts

            I have created three solutions for the fueling station layout. The purposes of the different layouts are to minimize boat traffic and provide fuel in an efficient way to the various types of boats that come in and out of the marina. The solutions range in size, shape and number of vessels that have access to the fuel.

The fueling dock layout for Solution #1 will span over a 115 by 125 foot space. There will be special slips on each side of the dock that are angled at 45 degrees. The boats will be able to back into the slips and it will minimize boat traffic by allowing more boats to access the pumps at a time. For this design, there would be 6 pumps and 8 slips (4 slips per side). There will be a pump per every two slips with two hoses on each pump, meaning that two slips share one pump. The other 2 pumps are located at the end of the dock so boats can pull up and access the pumps quicker than they would be able to backing into a slip. The slips are at 45 degree angles and are 50 feet long and 20 feet wide. The piping would lie under the center of the dock and extend to each pump. The fuel house is 20 feet by 15 feet and lies in the center of the dock where it is 55 feet wide. It is 30 feet from the end of the dock.

            The fueling dock layout for Solution #2 takes up a 90 foot by 90 foot space. In this solution there are 4 slips that boats would be able to back into (2 slips on each side). The two slips on each side will each share a pump with two hoses. The slips are at 45 degree angles and are 20 feet wide and 40 feet long. In addition to the two pumps near the slips, there is one more at the end of the dock. The dock is 70 feet at the end allowing for larger boats to access fuel. As in the previous solution, there is a fuel house that lies in the center of the end diamond shaped portion of the dock. It is 15 feet from the end of the dock and its area is 20 feet by 15 feet. The piping for the dock lies underneath it in the center of the dock and extends to each of the pumps.

            The third and final solution for the layout of the docks takes up a space that is 100 feet long and 75 feet wide. It is the smallest of the three designs. There are 4 slips (2 on each side) and they are 18 feet wide and 25 feet long. They can potentially accommodate ships that are longer than 25 feet long. The pumps are located right off of the main dock in the middle of the sets of slips. The gas pumps that jut out from the dock are protected by the triangular barriers. There are two more pumps at the end of the dock on either side. They occupy the spaces that are the 135 degree parts of the trapezoid. The fuel house is in the center of the trapezoid end of the dock. It is 20 feet wide and 12 feet long. The piping runs under the center of the docks.

            These solutions can all efficiently provide fuel. They range in size, shape, number of slips and pumps. The layouts will minimize boat traffic and safely provide fuel.

           

Testing Procedures

The final solution should function to its fullest ability. The layout of the dock must allow the fueling station to be used as efficiently as possible. There should be a sufficient amount of pumps so that they are all used nearly the same amount without a significant amount of boat traffic. Boats normally have gas tanks in the back of the boats, so traffic can be eliminated if there are slips for boats to pull into and if there is a single traffic direction that boats can take. The system that is to be tested is the layout of the fueling dock. What will be specifically tested is its protection from external elements such as vessel impacts and water levels, the fluidity of the expected vessel traffic, and the maneuvering ability the gas attendants would have from pump to pump. The installation of the fueling system will undergo its own series of testing procedures, which will be administrated by the company which installs it. The design and layout of the dock will be administrated and tested by the designer (myself) throughout the design process. Also, the users of the dock which include the customers and the fuel dock staff, will be testing the design. The location of the testing will mainly focus at the end of the dock that is jutting out into the water. There is where most of the details in which need to be tested reside (i.e. the pump placement and protection). These tests will mainly occur in the preliminary and secondary stages of the design. The testing types that I will use are exploratory, assessment, validation, and comparison tests. 

Exploratory testing will be used in the preliminary stages of development. This type of testing will develop the motivation for the overall design. They will basically test the users' interest and feelings towards the concept of the design. They will test how well the users' requirements are met. It will test all of this through surveys and common sense. For example, would a boater want to wait or have to maneuver through traffic? The answer derived from common sense would be "no," so that is as far as that test would go. This testing step, although very simple, is vital to the motivation for the design.

Assessment testing will aim to measure the usability of the chosen alternative solution. This testing will be done in the secondary stage of design once the solution is chosen. Specifically, it will test the effectiveness of the design involving the way that boats maneuver, how protected the fuel pumps are, and how easily the attendant may move from pump to pump. This can be assessed by measuring distances properly. Boats of all shapes and sizes should be able to have enough space to easily maneuver in and out of the fuel dock and its slips. Giving the biggest boat enough space to maneuver forward, backward, left and right among the fuel dock, (and then some), will ensure that there will be no problems for any size of boat. To test the distance the fuel pumps should be from the dock, ideally, a simulation of a boat crashing into the dock would be used. There is not a standard distance that the pump is required to be away from the edge of the dock, but that does not mean that one cannot be found with a simulation. If a simulation is not available, a well estimated distance for the pumps can be found through comparison. This distance would also have to correlate with the level of access the dock gas attendant would have to the pumps. The dock attendant must have proper access to the pumps without the risk of falling in the water and losing too much time as he walks from pump to pump. As long as there is enough space for a person to have access to the pumps without risk of falling in the water, the test would be successful.

Validation tests will be conducted in the latest development process and they will test the overall design goals. Once designed and constructed, the usability, performance, and maintainability of the placement of the fuel pumps and the boat movement will be tested by observation. If boat crashes occur often in the fuel dock environment or the wait time for boats is often very long, then the design fails the validation test. This also applies to the maneuverability of the dock attendant from pump to pump and the distance the pump is from the edge of the dock. If the pumps are often damaged by boat crashes and the attendants often fall in the water or more generally have a hard time maneuvering from pump to pump, then adjustments to the pump placement have to be made.

Comparison tests will be used in a couple different stages of the design process. They will be used to compare concepts and products between the design and other established examples. I will be using comparison tests to find a manageable distance between fuel pumps and placement of the pumps from the edge of the dock. I will do this by comparing my design to other actual marinas. Comparing different marinas to figure out the best way that boat traffic is to maneuver would also be ideal.

Numbered Procedures

1.      Validate the need of minimal boat traffic for boaters

2.      Compare the distances the fuel pumps are from the edge of the docks of other marinas

3.      Acquire measurements of boats that would be using the fueling stations

4.      Observe boat traffic

5.      Observe boat crashes into dock

6.      Observe abilities of fuel dock staff to manage pumps

Survey

Will be given out to the boaters to explore their needs and thoughts on maneuvering in, out, and around of fuel docks:

-         Would it benefit you to have minimal boat traffic?

-         What is the length and width of your boat?

-         How long has your waiting time for fueling been at other marinas?

-         What time of day would you mostly use the marina?

-         Would you rather have a fueling slip for your boat or come right up to the edge of the dock from the front?

-         Do you have enough space to maneuver in and out of the fueling stations?

Observation Sheet

List of things that will be observed by overseer once the marina is operating.

-         Are there enough gas attendants hired?

-         Are there complaints about not having enough space to maneuver boats?

-         Can the gas attendants easily access the pumps?

-         Are there many boat crashed into the docks?

-         Are the hoses long enough?

Specifications/Limitations

Specifications

• Product must safely and efficiently provide fuel
• Design must prevent fuel spills
• Design must not interfere with the surrounding ecosystem
• Design must connect with the civil fueling system
• Must be accessible to a trained maintenance staff
• Piping must be able to resist all types of weather extremities
• Fueling hoses must be long enough to access all types of vessels
• Design must adhere to the laws and regulations provided by head engineerDesign must not be prone to any types of large scale contact resulting in damage
• Design and construction cannot damage the park’s environment and ecosystem

• Must be designed for saltwater
• Amount of pumps must correlate with the number and size of fuel tanks

Limitations

Pumps are only for diesel and petroleum

 Cannot have more than 6 pumps

Amount of power available is limited by accessibility to central building

Limited to materials that are non-corrosive in salt water

Dock design is limited to 125 feet in width, 300 feet in length

Must be powered to not exceed the amount availible which is unknown at this point

Amount of pumps limited by the 10,000 gallon diseal tank and the 8,000 gallon fuel tank

Marina Piping Brainstorming

I have recently found a distributor of marina piping called Northwest Pump & Equipment Co., and my goal is to use their "XP Marina/Aboveground Product Piping" in my design along with a few of their other products. The description is as follows:

APT Metallic Ducted (MD) pipe is the ideal choice for aboveground and marina fuel delivery systems. The MD series piping system contains our product piping inside a flexible metallic conduit. This superior construction adds fire protection, impact resistance and UV stability to what is already the highest quality piping system. The MD series pipe is shipped with single wall or secondary contained pipe already installed into the metallic jacket, reducing installation time in the field. For marinas, the flexibility of this product easily handles variation in water levels and can be installed alongside or under docks.

I would use this type of piping for under the docks due to te fact that it has some flexibility and it is made to easily handle aquatic environments.

Another website I found with some alternative solutions for a floating dock is provided by Franklin Fueling Systems. It exists at a PDF file, so information cannot be directly quoted. It provides flexible piping which will be needed in my different designs for connecting the pipes to different locations where flexibility is needed, such as connecting to sumps which provide fuel to the dispensers.

The Marina Team: The Same Group Effort

Design Brief: The team effort is to design an environmentally friendly marina, which will provide the public with recreational water access, by enabling each member of the project to complete tasks pertaining to their delegated specialty to create a cohesive solution for a functional “green marina” on Sandy Hook.

Specifications:

• Location: Sandy Hook Chapel area
• Environment: sandy soil and uneven elevations (you guys might want to fix the wording, idk how)
• Addresses needs of both employees and patrons of the marina
• Easily accessible to any party

Limitations:

• Size: limited to 848 ft of beachfront property, extending backwards 331 ft
• Power: environmentally resourceful and efficient
• All structures and materials must adhere to “green marina” guidelines
• 2 trees must be planted for every tree removed
• No more than 40% of property may consist of impermeable structures