The Newspaper of The Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka Vol. 46, No 12, December 2011

Registered at the GPO as a Newspaper No. QD/86 /NEWS/2011

ENGINEERING NEWSSRI LANKA

Established 1906

INDIA’S GENIUS ANIL GUPTADELIVERS RAY

WIJEWARDENE MEMORIALLECTURE

First in a chain of lectures to inspire localinnovators

Colombo, Sri Lanka:The RayW i j e w a r d e n e

Charitable Trust (RWCT)hosted its inauguralmemorial lecture inpartnership with theInstitution of Engineers,Sri Lanka.

The theme of the inauguralRay Wijewardene MemorialLecture was Grassrootsinnovations for InclusiveDevelopment, by ProfessorAnil Kumar Gupta who is aProfessor at the IndianInstitute of Management,Ahmadabad and holds theExecutive Vice-Chair of theNational Innovation

Press Release ofRay Wijewardene Charitable Trust

Foundation of India. He is aVisiting Professor of theEuropean Business School,Berlin. Fellow of the NationalAcademy of AgriculturalSciences and a Fellow of theWorld Academy of Art andScience. A distinguishedacademic and visionary, Dr.Gupta holds an HonoraryProfessorship at TianjinUniversity of Finance andEconomics and is a memberof the guest faculty atUniversity of NaturalResources and Applied LifeSciences in Vienna, Austria.

Harnessing knowledgethrough GrassrootsInnovations is a necessary

concept for Sri Lanka as itguides and inspires localinnovators to use thetraditional knowledge of theirancestors to invent in amanner that is sustainableand beneficial for futuregenerations. A concept thatcould be applied to nativemedicines, traditionalagricultural methods, craftsand agriculture.

In addition to hostinglectures of this nature, RWCThas a number of objectives

Contd. on page 11...

OUTGOING

PRESIDENT’S SPEECH

AT THE ANNUAL

SESSIONS 2011 / 2012by Eng.(Prof.) Ananda Jayawardane

21st October 2011

Contd. on page 14...

Engineering professionhas the proudrecognition as the

nation building profession,wealth creating profession,and the profession whichcontributes the most forraising standard of living ofthe people. The IESLestablished over 100 yearsago to address the interestsof the engineers and theengineering profession hasnow grown over 15,000members covering allengineering disciplines,serving all sectors of theeconomy, in many industries,working in all geographicalareas including othercountries with increasedscope of its activities.

At a time when ourmotherland is going throughrapid economic developmentof over 8% growth, alreadywitnessing many megainfrastructure projects,increased foreign directinvestment, emphasis onsocial managementsystems, increased attentionto research & development,innovation &entrepreneurship, there is nobetter time for us to make asignificant impact making theengineering profession moreimportant and dominant.

In order to provide aconcerted effort, a morefocused direction and aproactive approach by the

IESL, in my inauguraladdress last year I declaredmy tenure as the “year ofoutreach”. I also declared towork on four goals: (1)enhancing the image of ourprofession and professionalpractice, (2) raising theinternational standing of theIESL, (3) enhancing memberservices and membership,and (4) positioning the IESLas an important educationalprovider. I am extremelyhappy that we were able toachieve significant progressin all these four goals.

The first goal – enhancingthe image of our professionand professional practicecould only be achieved byproviding our best services tothe entire spectrum ofcustomers including thosewho seek our expertise and

In this Issue

The Institution of EngineersSri Lanka

120/15, Wijerama Mawatha,Colombo 7, Sri Lanka.

Tel: 2685490, 2698426, 2699210

Fax: 2699202

E.mail: ed@sltnet.lk / iesl@slt.lk

Website: http://www.iesl.lk

New Vice

Chancellor............................ 2

Editorial............................... 4

Puzzle of the...................... 5

month

Hon. Prof. Tissa VitharanaCabinet Minister, severalAmbassadors, Dr. A TAriyaratne, founder,Sarvodaya Movement, Ms.Sunethra Bandaranaike,Chairperson, SuneraFoundation and familymembers of late RayWijewardena were amongthose attended the Memoriallecture. Prof. MalikRanasinghe, Chairman-RWCT and former Vice-Chancellor of University ofMoratuwa presided over thegathering.

Sri Lanka Engineering News - December 2011IESL NEWS2

ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONFEES FOR THE YEAR 2012Class of Amount in Rs.Membership (Excluding VAT)

Fellow 5000Member 4000Associate Member 3000Affiliate Member 2500Associate 2500Companion 2500Student Member < 35 1000Student Member > 35 2500

International Professional Engineer (IntPEng)Subscription Fees excluding VAT- Rs 2,500/=

Discounts1. In respect of membership subscription fees, a discount of

25% will apply to members other than Student Members

who are above 60 years of age and who declare that their

annual income is less than Rs. 600,000/=.2. A discount of 10% on all annual subscription fees (including

IntPEng) for the year 2012 will apply if paid in full on orbefore January 31, 2012.

ANNUAL EVENTSCALENDAR - 2011 / 2012

Event Dates

♦Dr. Ray Wijeyewardene Memorial Tuesday – December 13, 2011 Lecture♦♦♦♦♦Eng. B D Rampala Memorial Lecture Tuesday - December 20, 2011

♦♦♦♦♦R H Paul Memorial Lecture Thursday – February 09, 2012

♦♦♦♦♦Induction and Graduation Ceremony Friday – August 17, 2012

♦♦♦♦♦E O E Pereira Memorial Lecture Thursday – September 13, 2012

♦♦♦♦♦D J Wimalasurendra Monday – September 17, 2012 Memorial Lecture♦♦♦♦♦Techno Exhibition Friday – Sunday October 5-7, 2012♦♦♦♦♦Inauguration of the Annual Sessions Friday – October 19, 2012

♦♦♦♦♦Annual Sessions Seminar Saturday – October 20, 2012

♦♦♦♦♦Annual Field Visit Sunday – October 21, 2012

♦♦♦♦♦Presentation of Technical papers Monday-WednesdayOctober 22, 23 & 24, 2012

♦♦♦♦♦Presentation of Technical Papers Thursday - October 25, 2012 by Young Members

♦♦♦♦♦Dr. A N S Kulasinghe Thursday – October 25, 2012 Memorial Lecture♦♦♦♦♦Techno Awards Ceremony Wednesday – October 24, 2012♦♦♦♦♦Annual General Meeting Saturday – October 27, 2012

Note:

Associate Members who wish to apply for the Professional Review,are strongly advised to attend all Memorial Lectures and keep a recordof the attendance for any future reference.

This story was related by another senior professor in our university.Some time back, there was a middle-aged engineer who went tocomplete his M.Sc. in UK, under the supervision of an eminent

professor. Whenever a student of him was making the return trip aftercompleting the degree, this professor would visit his place of stay to helphim pack his luggage. So, on the day of our engineer’s return trip too, theprofessor came to help him.

The engineer had packed most of his belongings but was left with two things;his M.Sc. thesis and another parcel of similar size. Unfortunately, only onewould fit into his suitcase. The professor looked in curiosity as the engineerstood undecided as to what his choice should be. He would take one andput it into his suitcase only to remove it at the next moment and select theother one.

After a period of hesitation, the engineer finally made up his mind. To theabsolute bewilderment of the professor, the engineer selected the largeparcel over his M.Sc. thesis. The professor could not take it any longer. Hejumped out of his chair and asked the engineer;

“What are you doing? Are you going to abandon your thesis in place of thisparcel? Just take the thesis with you to show your wife, children and grand-children. Say them; ‘This is what I did in UK’.”After a moment he asked;“Anyway, what is in this damn parcel?”The engineer replied;“Sir, my wife asked me to bring some curtains when I return...!”The professor was stunned, yet he would have probably understood thesituation of the poor engineer. So he allowed him to take the curtains withhim and promised to send him the thesis by mail, even bearing the cost ofshipping. It is learnt that this professor has later told this story to our professor,adding a small request;

“Please send us more postgraduates but try to send younger ones. Wewould really like to deal with younger minds...!”

THE LIGHTER SIDE OF OURPROFESSION

by Dewmini Gamlath Student Member

Faculty of Engineering, University of Moratuwa

On a Cloak and DaggerMission

Vidya Jyothi Professor DayanthaWijesekera appointed first Chancellor

of UNIVOTEC

His Excellency the President Mahinda Rajapakse, has appointed VidyaJyothi Professor Dayantha Wijeyesekera, as the first Chancellor ofthe University of Vocational Technology (UNIVOTEC).

Professor Dayantha Wijeyesekera who is currently the Chairman of the Tertiaryand Vocational Education Commission, has been the Vice Chancellor of theOpen University of Sri Lanka and also of the University of Moratuwa for anunprecedented total aggregate period of 15 years, having been the first ViceChancellor to be appointed to two Universities in Sri Lanka. He served asVice Chancellor under the first Executive President H.E. J. R. Jayawardena,subsequently under every Executive President of Sri Lanka and finally underthe present Executive President of Sri Lanka when he completed his terms ofOffice at the University of Moratuwa during his periods of Vice Chancellorshipit is reported the University was not closed for a single day due to studentunrest.

Prof Dayantha Wijeyesekera who started his career as a Junior TechnicalOfficer, obtained his Doctorate in Philosophy degree (PhD) from University ofEdinburgh U.K., and also has been conferred with three other HonoraryDoctorates namely from the British Open University, Sri Lanka Open Universityand the University of Moratuwa respectively. Furthermore, he is a Fellow offive Professional bodies and has received awards from them, both local andoverseas.

He has been the youngest President of the Institution of Engineers, Sri Lankaelected in 1992. When he was the Secretary of the Ministry of Skills Development,Vocational Training and Technical Education in 2004, he initiated the drafting ofthe Parliamentary Act for the establishment of the University of VocationalTechnology, which was eventually established in 2008. He firmly believes that inaddition to the Conventional route of University education, there needs to be theCompetency Based Training through the National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ)and through other mid- level qualifications, for students to acquire degreequalifications and also post graduate qualifications in which manner he himselfacquired higher education.

He feels that contributing towards the University of Moratuwa to be ranked as oneof the best in Sri Lanka and promoting other avenues of Tertiary Education includingOpen and Distance Learning to those who have not pursued the ConventionalState University Education in Sri Lanka, have brought him great satisfaction. It ishis desire to promote applied research at the UNIVOTEC in Technical TeacherEducation and also in Vocational Technology relevant to the needs of the countryand also link the new University with relevant national and international, HigherEducation Institutions, Professional Bodies, Qualification Frameworks and aboveall with the local relevant industries.

The objective of the university is to produce Graduates in Technical TeacherEducation, required for the secondary school education due to commence theGCE A-level Technology stream and for the Technical and Vocation Education andTraining sector, also Graduates in Technology required for the industry .

Sri Lanka Engineering News - December 2011IESL NEWS 3

New Vice Chancellor forMoratuwa University

Prof. AnandaJayawardane hasbeen appointed as

the new Vice Chancellor ofthe University of Moratuwawith effect from 28th

November 2011 to succeedthe outgoing ViceChancellor Prof. MalikRanasinghe who served inthat capacity for six years.

Prof. Ananda Jayawardane served as the first NDB BankEndowed Professor in Entrepreneurship at the Universityof Moratuwa for one year until recently before he assumedduties as the Vice Chancellor. He is also a Senior Professorin Civil Engineering at the same university. He served asthe first Head of Department of Management of Technologyand the Head, Department of Civil Engineering before hewas elected as the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering,University of Moratuwa in March 2004 in which capacityhe served for 6 years. He is also the immediate PastPresident of the Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka, thepremier body of professional engineers. He obtained BScEngineering degree with first class honours from theUniversity of Moratuwa in December 1983, a Master ofScience Degree in Construction from the LoughboroughUniversity of Technology in the UK in 1986 and PhD inConstruction Management in January 1990 from the sameuniversity.

Prof. Jayawardane joined the University of Moratuwa in1984, became a Professor in December 2001 and SeniorProfessor in December 2009. He is a Chartered Engineer,International Professional Engineer and a Fellow of theInstitution of Engineers, Sri Lanka. He has co-authoredand contributed for several international text books andpublished and presented over 60 research papers bothlocally and internationally in the areas of technologymanagement, technology transfer, project management,education, public private partnerships, social managementsystems and construction management.

During his tenure as the first Head, Department ofManagement of Technology he commenced the first everMBA course at the University of Moratuwa in the area ofManagement of Technology which continues to be a verypopular MBA Course. This initiative led to the developmentof several other MBAs in areas of Information Technology,Infrastructure Management and Project Management.During his tenure as the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering,the Faculty witnessed considerable expansion of itsactivities in student numbers, courses, quality, innovations,inventions, research and development, and several industrysupported laboratories and close university industryinteraction. His contribution to position the University ofMoratuwa at high esteem was considerable. As theEndowed Professor in Entrepreneurship he significantlycontributed for enhancement of entrepreneurial culture ofthe university facil itating student companies,entrepreneurship minor specialization, research, andseveral linkages and partnerships with externalorganizations.

In addition to his services to University, his contribution tonational development was significant. He served as amember of the Council of the National Institute of Education,Sri Lanka, a member of the Board of Management of theInstitute for Construction Training and Development, amember of the Governing Board of the State EngineeringCorporation, and a member of Board of Management ofthe Institute of Technology, University of Moratuwa.Currently, he is a member of the Board of management ofPost-graduate Institute of Management and the NationalScience Foundation. He has served in many other nationalcommittees such as the committee for the developmentof Science and Technology Policy, Science and TechnologyStrategy and University & Tertiary Education Policy. He hasreceived several awards for his research publicationsincluding Manaperi Award, Prof Varghese Award for hisundergraduate research and thrice the IESL Award for thebest paper published in the Engineer Journal. He is also aCommonwealth Scholar and a Fellow.

PREPARATION OF A LIST OFSTRUCTURAL ENGINEERS

By letter dated November 24, 2004 the Urban Development Authority (UDA) has informedthat from January 1, 2005 the Regulation 13 of the Colombo Development Plan 1999 wouldbe strictly enforced as they have recognized the importance of implementing same. Intheir letter they state as follows:

“Regulation 13 of the Colombo Development Plan 1999 require the details of structuralplans to be submitted to the Local Authority together with a copy of the design calculationsprepared by a qualified person before the building works are carried out or resumed. Thisrequirement is exempted only for a plan to carry out minor addition or alteration to abuilding which does not affect any structural part thereof or construction of a single or twostoried building with a total floor area not exceeding 3000 sq.ft and whose walls or columnsare not situated on the boundary of the property and the construction does not involve pileor raft foundation.”

The UDA has requested the Institution to forward a list of members who are qualified tocarry out structural design of buildings of following categories:

1. Low Rise buildings with up to 4 floors2. Intermediate Rise buildings with only up to 8 floors3. Middle Rise and High Rise buildings with up to and more than 8 floors

In respect of the Low Rise category, the Institution has already recommended to the UDAthat any Corporate Member of the Institution in the field of Civil Engineering should beconsidered as being qualified to certify structural designs, calculations and drawings ofbuildings in that category viz., Low Rise.

In this regard all Corporate Members in the field of Civil Engineering who have specializedin structural design /(supervision) and who are interested in having their names in the saidlist under the building categories Intermediate Rise (buildings with only up to 8 floors) andMiddle Rise and High Rise (buildings with up to and more than 8 floors) are requested toapply to the Institution on or before January 31, 2012 provided they have not registeredwith us already for the building category concerned. (Those who have already registeredunder the Intermediate Rise category could apply to upgrade themselves to the MiddleRise/High Rise category as well, if they so wish.)

The members who apply may be requested to attend a discussion at the Institution toclarify matters connected with the information that has been provided.

The relevant application form could be downloaded from our website at www.iesl.lk.

It is hereby informed that in certifying documents related to structural engineering work, itwill be mandatory to use the seal issued by the Institution.

Sri Lanka Engineering News - December 2011IESL NEWS4

Sri LankaEngineering News

Lakshitha Weerasinghe, Editorlakshitha@ieee.org Contd. on page 15...

Letters to the Editor

Soil is the most important thing!Soil is the most important thing!Soil is the most important thing!Soil is the most important thing!Soil is the most important thing!by Eng. Kapila Peiris

The article titled “Feeding the soil or the plant” by Eng. (Dr.) Gamini Kulathunga wasvery interesting and important. It views the technical-socio-economic-cultural aspectsaltogether in a very simple beautiful way. Therefore this article was a beautiful small

thing.

Within the basic view of that article it is high time to add some more facts. This small articleis written with that objective.

There was a time when we were trying to evaluate everything in terms of money. That timewe totally ignored the original purpose of the concept of money. Then came the era ofenergy. At that time people like Arthur C. Clarke were telling that energy (in terms of Joules/s) is a more objective, practically important entity and in future all our activities related withgoods and services will be measured in terms of energy. Soon after that it was argued thatnot simply the energy but it should be measured with its quality ie entropy. But now at themoment none of these measuring strictly has given rise to a sustainable system for ourplanet earth. The Development model which we are following today with modern WesternScience and Technology is ruining our planet earth with all the lives on it. Althoughsustainability is a key word in almost all the forums today, all these modern 'sustainabilities'are directly coupled with the modern development model. All the 'sustainabilities' tries tocarryout the modern development model in a sustainable manner! But this is a contradictionin total. The modern development is the result of unsustainability. The most fundamentalillusion in our minds today is that the modern Science and technology will be able to makethe relevant discoveries and inventions to carry out the modern development in a sustainablemanner. We are dreaming for this to happen. But now the question is how long can wedream like this. If we look at the history of past 300-400 years it will be clear that manyscientific – technological revolutions has taken place but after few decades or so the maleffects of those revolutions has come forward significantly overcoming those few positiveeffects. Now the most recent revolution is related to “Nano technology” Now we think that all,our problems could be solved by this. Now how long can we be based on this illusioningconcept, ie carrot of modern science technology. We shall not forget that we are living in aplanet and all resources are from it and all the waste that we create also thrown into thissystem. We cannot get rid of them. If we are able to get the resources from some whereelse, do the relevant experiments also some where and only the successful results could bepracticed on earth and the waste could be thrown some where else, then we have no problem,and we can carry out the modern development model and the science and technology asnow. If this is so, we could have practiced only the positive results and we will not be effectedby the negative results.

Therefore now we have to think of how our ancestors lived sustainably for thousands ofyears, what was their engineering tradition, what was their development model, and whatwas their world view etc.

A typical vewa based ecosystem which could sustain until sun-moon lasts. The water systemwithin the system fertiles the soil and this fertile soil facilitates the cyclicity of the system byusing the ‘energy’ of sun and moon.

This figure was developed by Dr. P B Dharmasena-Soil scientist.

Credit from the fingertips

There was an article in the Sunday Times

recently about increasing number of credit

card frauds in the country. Many local banks

have stopped Global credit card usage in countries

like Thailand and China due to increasing number of

reported frauds. Even though many thought “plastic

cash” could be a more secure form of cash transit,

experience shows otherwise.

Our Credit Cards carry an encoded number in the

magnetic strip which enables us to establish a

connection with our Account when the bank number

is dialed by the cashier.After the confirmation is

received from the bank, the signature that we place

provides the authentication as to our identity.

However, high tech thieves equipped with portable

swiping machines had learnt to copy the encoded

data in the magnetic stripe of our Credit Card in

seconds. Thereafter, they can create the duplicate

of any of our credit cards carrying their own signature.

Since our signatures are not verified against a data

base at the time of completing the transactions, credit

cards have become easy prey to organized swindlers.

Our fingerprint on the otherhand is unique. Thumb

scanners too have become common devices

replacing even the attendance registers at our offices.

Thus, I wonder whether our thumbs could take the

place of the plastic credit cards! If a finger scanner

(instead of the credit card swiping machine) at a

commercial outlet could scan our thumb print, convert

that to a digital image and send the data via the dialed

communication link to the relevant bank where we

maintain our account, such image could be compared

at the bank against the database to verify and

establish a link to our account. Alternatively, if sending

images via communication data links is difficult, the

thumb image could be converted to a unique digital

number by the scanner itself before transmitting.

Either way, since this verifies both the account and

the identity, we theoretically should be able to do the

transaction, sans the risk.

Once again, the Editor only wishes to stimulate the

minds of those who can take forward a simple idea

like this to the full distance as the “necessity is the

mother of all inventions!”

Sri Lanka Engineering News - December 2011IESL NEWS 5

Puzzle - 45 Solution forPuzzle No. 40

Metal BallsCorrect Solutions were received from the following Members for the above mentioned

Puzzle.

1. Eng. Ranil Senaratne

2. Eng M.H.A.R. P. Appuhamy

3. Student Member J.A.R. Wimukthi

4. Eng. N S Wettasinghe

Out of the above, Eng. Ranil Senaratne gave the most detailed mathematical analysis ofthe problem and hence is selected as the winning solution of this month. Student MemberJ. A. R. Wimukthi’s solution was a close second and deserves a special mention. Hissolution dealt with the inclined plane part of the solution. A non Member also sent in a very

good solution. However, rules prevent me from mentioning his name.

Eng. Ranil Senaratne’s winning solution is given below:

1. Let the diameters of the cavities and the densities of the metals be designated byxrand respectively.

∴ρrx 4π (a3 – x

r3) = 4110.26 (for iron x

r = 0, therefore there is no cavity in the iron ball)

3

xr = 3

This shows that the cavity radii increase with metal density.

1. The key to the solution is that different moments of inertia (Ir) of each ball about an

axis through the centre result in different dynamic behaviour.Ir = (2m/5)*(a5– x

r5)/(a3 – x

r3) where m is the mass of each ball (the moment of inertia value

is from “Intermediate Mechanics” by Humphrey).

Now, xrincreases monotonically from zero for the lowest density metal (iron) to 4.29 to the

highest; and by substitution of each ball cavity radius it can be easily shown that Irtooincreases with increasing density. (The latter is intuitively apparent as the same massgets more and more concentrated in the outer part of the ball with increasing cavity radius,thereby giving a higher mr2 value)

2. If each ball is released from rest to roll down an inclined plane (with an angle tothe vertical), the motion of the ball is governed by the following energy equation (rolling frictionand air friction being negligible). In rigid body dynamics, the motion of a body can be analysedthrough a consideration of the motion of its centre of mass relative to earth (with the mass ofthe body concentrated there) and the motion of the body relative to the centre of mass. The

former has a translational kinetic energy of 2 whilst the latter has a rotational kinetic

energy of Irù 2. The sum of these is the loss in potential energy.

mg x Cos = Irù 2 + 2 where ù is the angular velocity which equals V/a

= V2 (Ir/a2 +m)/2

(x is the fixed distance each sphere rolls down along the inclined plane.)

Thus, higher the value of Ir, lower the velocity and therefore longer the time needed to traversex. Now, as shown above, I

r of a ball increases with increasing metal density (see 2.), which

means that the balls with more dense metals will traverse x slower. Hence, with just astopwatch and an inclined plane the balls can be identified with respect to theirdensities.

Two Problems

Recently, there has been greatparticipation of readers when thePuzzles posed were easy. Perhaps

our readers do not have the time to spend on difficult problems.We (The Editor and Me) thought a change of tactics wouldbe a good thing for boosting participation and this month’sPuzzle is a result of that.

So, this time I am presenting 2 problems, one easy and theother not so easy. Selection will be based on the followingrules:

a) Correct solutions for both Puzzles: One FlashDrive

b) In the absence of (a), Correct solution for 45-B: OneFlash Drive

c) In the absence of both (a) & (b), Correct solution for45-A: One Flash Drive

45-A: The Easy OneThis puzzle was contributed by Physicist R. W. Madanayake,who has helped me a lot in managing the SLEN Puzzle.

8809 = 67111 = 02172 = 06666 = 41111 = 03213 = 07662 = 29312 = 10000 = 42222 = 03333 = 05555 = 08193 = 38096 = 57777 = 09999 = 47756 = 16855 = 39881 = 55531 = 0

2581 = ? (What is the logic behind your answer?)

Clue: Forget your Maths if you want to solve this problem.

45-B: The Not So Easy One – A Logic

Problem

3 teams, consisting of 16 members each, took part in alogic competition. In the evening before the day of competition,the rules were explained to the competitors by the panel ofjudges in this way:

“Each team will stand in a line and we will put either a red ora black hat (randomly selected) on the head of each of you.You will only be able to see the persons in front of you andwhat color their hats are, but not your own hat color or ofthose behind you. For example, the person at the end of theline will be able to see the color of the hats of the 15 othersin front of him, while the one right in front of the line will seenone.”

“Starting with the last person in the row (the one who cansee everybody in front of him) and progressively along theline, each one will be asked a simple question: WHAT ISTHE COLOR OF YOUR HAT? You should only answer“BLACK” or “RED”. If you say anything else, the team willbe disqualified. Furthermore, if anyone looks back orcommunicates with any one else by talking, touching etc.during the competition, the team will be disqualified.”

“The team, which gets the most right answers, will win. Now,since you all can communicate freely during the night, youmay be able to find a way to increase the chances of a winfor your team?”

Acknowledgements: This is based on a famous logicalpuzzle.

Puzzle Guru Sarath ChandrasiriPuzzle Guru Sarath ChandrasiriPuzzle Guru Sarath ChandrasiriPuzzle Guru Sarath ChandrasiriPuzzle Guru Sarath Chandrasiri

Correct answer must be sent by email to cebos@ceb.lk with copies topuzzleguru.lk@gmail.com. Please indicate your name, membership num-ber and date of birth along with the answer. Also indicate the puzzlenumber in the subject line of the email. The winner will be declared inthe January 2012 issue of the SLEN along with the correct answer.

ρr

(a=5, the outer diameter of each ball)

∴V =

Sri Lanka Engineering News - December 2011IESL NEWS6

THE INSTITUTION OF ENGINEERS,SRI LANKACompetition

on

“Eco Efficient Water Infrastructure for SustainableDevelopment – Experiences gained from IntegratedWater Resources Infrastructure Development in Sri

Lanka”Session 2011/2012

Sponsored by

St. Anthony’s Industries Group (Private) Ltd.(MANUFACTURES OF ANTON PVC PIPES AND FITTINGS)

Two competitions will be held this year for the award of certificates and cash prizes. Thecompetition soliciting original Technical Papers on research and case studies are acceptedfrom members of IESL who are above 35 years.

There will also be another competition for members who are 35 years and below on 01October 2012. This competition is open to members of IESL and final year students ofFaculties of Engineering of Universities in Sri Lanka who are student members of IESL orwho obtain such membership before submitting their technical papers.Closing ate

AWARDS & PRIZES 2007

ABOVE 35 YEARS ON 2012.10.01 35 YEARS AND BELOW ON 2012.10.01First Prize - Rs. 50,000/= First Prize - Rs. 25,000/=Second Prize - Rs. 25,000/= Second Prize - Rs. 15,000/=Third Prize - Rs. 10,000/= Third Prize - Rs. 5,000/=

The members (Fellows, Members, Associate Members, Associates, Companions and Students)who wish to participate must obtain the application forms from IESL and submit bio data &full Technical Papers to reach the Executive Secretary, Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka,No. 120/15, Wijerama Mawatha, Colombo 07 on or before 30 May 2012.

Further information could be obtained from the Chairman, Steering Committee on WaterResources Development of The Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka, on Tel: 072- 3421493or Publicity Officer-IESL 011-2685490, 011-2698426 or 011-2699210,ext- 232 , 207,E-mail: dir.pub@iesl.lk, ieslpub@gmail.com, Fax : 011-2699202

THE NSTITUTION OFENGINEERS,SRI LANKA

Competition

on“Water Resources Developmentand Future Challenges”- Role of

Engineering meeting FutureChallenges of Water Resources

Development in Sri Lanka”Session 2011 / 2012

Sponsored byInternational Water

Management Institute(IWMI)

We are pleased to announce that arrangements are beingmade for the forthcoming Competition on WaterResources Development sponsored by IWMI towardsthe Annual Sessions of IESL in October 2012. The prizeswill be given for the two best Technical Papers under theabove mentioned theme prepared for this competitionby Associate Members & Corporate Members of IESL.Jointly authored papers will be accepted, provided atleast one of the authors satisfies the above criteria.Papers must be original and demonstrate the author’sknowledge and experience of the subject. The awardwinning articles will be published in the journal,“Engineer” of the IESL.

Water is a vital input in industrial, energy, tourism,recreational, navigation, agriculture, forestry, livestockand fishery sectors. As water scarcity grows, competitionamong sectors and users, and between the human needsand the environment intensifies. Effective and efficientwater management is therefore a prerequisite forsustainable socio-economic development.

The paper can address extraction, storage, distribution,use and disposal issues in any economic sector. Itshould illustrate how engineering and technology isapplied in increasing productivity, in balancing supplyand demand of water and/or in reducing water pollutionand protecting freshwater ecosystems.

Preference will be given to papers of an empirical andanalytical nature based on primary and/or secondarydata although papers addressing topical issues throughconceptual development may also be forwarded.

AWARDS & PRIZES(A) Rs. 45,000.00 - For members ofIESL over 35 years of age on 01 October 2012

(B) Rs. 30,000.00 - Engineeringgraduates holding membership of IESL and35 years of age and below on 01 October2012007

Intention to participate in this competitionshould be intimated to us along with your bio-data & the full Technical Papers on or before30 May 2012. IESL form IWMI/1 should be usedfor this purpose.

Further information could be obtained from theChairman, Steering Committee on WaterResources Development of The Institution ofEngineers, Sri Lanka, on Tel: 072- 3421493 orPublicity Officer-IESL 011-2685490, 011-2698426 or 011-2699210, ext-232, 207,E-mail: dir.pub@iesl.lk, ieslpub@gmail.com,Fax : 011-2699202

Sri Lanka Engineering News - December 2011IESL NEWS 7

Fellow of IESL receives a doublehonour in Australia

Prof. Indraratna receiving Engineers Australia Transport Medal 2011

Modern Track building based on Prof. Indraratna’sResearch at a site near Sydney

Prof. BuddhimaIndraratna, Head ofSchool of Civil, Mining

and Environmental Engineeringat University of Wollongong,and the Director of Centre forGeomechanics and RailwayEngineering had received twoprestigious honours inAustralia in recent times. InOctober this year, at theInstitution of Engineers GalaDinner and Awards Ceremonyheld at Darling Harbour(Sydney), Prof. Indraratna washonoured with the EngineersAustralia Transport Medalwhich is awarded to anindividual who has made anoutstanding contribution to theAustralian transport industry. InNovember this year, Prof.Indraratna was honoured as aFellow of the AustralianAcademy of TechnologicalSciences and Engineering,considered to be the highestprofessional recognition forEngineers in Australia.

Mr Clive Mottram the Chairof the National TransportCommittee in hisintroduction at DarlingHarbour emphasised Prof.Indraratna as the modernday pioneer of Australianrail track innovations. In1991 Prof. BuddhimaIndraratna became the firstacademic to launch railtrack research in anAustralian University incollaboration with industry.

His strength in thedissemination of salientresearch outcomes hasresulted in considerableand tangible benefits toindustry, especially roadand rail transport inAustralia. The adoption ofnew ballast standards inNSW by RailCorp a fewyears ago was a directresult of his fundamentaland applied research.Since early 1990s, Prof.

Indraratna also pioneered theuse of synthetic drains in softestuarine and marine clays.Recently, his researchoutcomes became a salientcomponent of the newlyinitiated Australian Standardsfor improving soft foundationsfor civil infrastructure usingvertical drains.

His significant contributions toRoads and Rail are reflectedby two previous nationalawards in 2009, namely, EHDavis Memorial Lecture thehighest honour awarded by theAustralian GeomechanicsSociety for “DistinguishedContributions to Theory andPractice”, and the Business-Higher Education RoundTable (BHERT) Awardsponsored by the AustralianCommonwealth Governmentfor “Best Research andDevelopment Collaboration”.Prestigious internationalawards he had received todate include, Robert QuigleyAward from CanadianGeotechnical Society in 2007,International Association forComputer Methods andAdvances in Geomechanics(IACMAG) Medal for ExcellentContributions in 2008 andSwedish Geotechnical SocietyAward in 1999. His impactfulresearch outcomes haveresulted in 5 well knownBooks, over 350 peer-reviewed publications, andabout 30 invited Keynotepapers at internationalconferences. He hassuccessfully supervised over35 PhD graduates of whomabout a dozen are from SriLanka. Centre forGeomechanics and RailwayEngineering (GRE) founded byhim more than a decade agois now recognised as aleading transportationresearch unit in the world, withmore than a dozen full timeresearch academics andabout 40 PhD students.

Prof. Indraratna has been aFellow of Inst. of Engineers SriLanka for over 15 years andhas been a UNDP consultantin Sri Lanka on numerousoccasions. He was the firstgeotechnical expert invited bythe Govt. of Sri Lanka forconducting site investigationsafter the devastating tsunamiin 2004.

Contd. on page 15....

The Emotion Machine: Common Sense Thinking, ArtificialIntelligence, and the Future of the Human Kind MarvinMinsky (Professor of Electrical Engineering and ComputerScience at MIT)

Different ways ofthinking

Forwarded by Eng. (Dr.) Gamini Kulatunga

We all grow up with the popular view that we haveonly a single Way to Think – called “logical” or“rational” – but our thinking can be coloured, or

otherwise influenced by so-called emotional factors.

However, the concept of Rational Thinking is incomplete –because logic can only help us to draw conclusions from theassumptions that we happen to make – but logic, alone, saysnothing about which assumptions we ought to make. Thereare more than a dozen other Ways of Think, in which logicplays only minor roles, while more of our mental power comesfrom finding useful analogies.

Why are we so often satisfied with dividing things into onlytwo kinds? Perhaps this is, least partly, because a typicalchild’s environment contains so few significant “triplets” ofthings. A two-year old child has only two feet, and is taughtby a pair of parents to learn to put on a pair of shoes – andsoon, that typical two-year old will learn to understand and touse the word two. But it frequently takes another full year fora child to learn to use the word three – perhaps because ourenvironments contain so few instances of “three-nesses”. Weall excel at contrasting pairs of things and making lists oftheir differences, but our culture and language do not provideus with terms for talking about relationships among triplets ofthings. Why don’t we have words for trichotomies ortrifferences?

Some useful ways to think

Reasoning by analogy – adapt a known case to the presentsituation

Dividing and conquering – break the problem down into smallerparts

Reformulating – find a different representation that highlightsmore relevant information

Planning – consider the set of sub-goals you want to achieveSimplifying – first solve the simpler version that ignores somefeatures

Elevating - describe the situation in more general terms, ifbogged down in too many details

Changing the subject – simply switch to a different task

Wishful thinking – imagine having unlimited time andresources

Self-reflection – ask what makes the problem hard or whatyou may be doing wrong

Impersonation – try to do what someone better would doLogical contradiction – try to prove your problem can not besolved and look for flaw in the argument

Logical reasoning – we make chains of deduction but theymay lead to wrong conclusions if assumption are unsoundExternal representation – keep records and notes or drawingsuitable diagrams

Imagination – try to predict “What would happen if” bysimulating inside the mental models

Cry for help – behave in ways that may arouse yourcompanions’ sympathies

Ask for help – persuade or command someone else to helpResignation – if totally stuck, shut down the resources youare using now and relax, lie back, drop out, and stop. Thenthe “rest of your mind” may find an alternative – or concludethat you don’t have to do this at all.

List of two’s – Dumbbell ideas and dispositions

Two-part distinction of aspects of our personality:

Solitary vs. Sociable; Tranquil vs. Agitated; Forthright vs.Devious; Audacious vs. Cowardly,

Dominant vs. Submissive; Careless vs. Meticulous; Cheerfulvs. Cranky; Joyous vs. SorrowfulWe are all prone to divide many aspects of our minds intopairs with seemingly opposite qualities. An example of this

BENEVOLENT FUNDHELP A FELLOW MEMBER IN DISTRESSHELP A FELLOW MEMBER IN DISTRESSHELP A FELLOW MEMBER IN DISTRESSHELP A FELLOW MEMBER IN DISTRESSHELP A FELLOW MEMBER IN DISTRESS

This year, the IESL Benevolent Fund has so far assisted seven of our members who are facingfinancial hardships mostly due to ill health. Two members were assisted each with Rs 40,000.00,and five members with Rs 60,000.00 each, after the amount of assistance was increased recently.

The Benevolent Fund is maintained with your own voluntary contributions. We appeal to you thistime to give more generously when you pay subscriptions, by contributing more than the Rs200.00 standard contribution proposed in the Subscription Notice and make the fund richer toassist more of your own colleagues in need!

Yes, it is a small sum. Yet, when faced with financial hardship, even this small amount will help alot. For instance, a member suffering from a Brain Tumour who had undergone surgical treatmentat a cost of over Rs 5.0 Million, applied for assistance from the Benevolent Fund, because eventhis small sum was important to him in his time of serious need.

Be a Friend in Need and contribute generously to the Benevolent Fund! Thank You!

BOARD OF MANAGEMENT OF THE BENEVOLENT FUND

Sri Lanka Engineering News - December 2011IESL NEWS8

Sri Lanka Engineering News - December 2011IESL NEWS 9

Petrol and Diesel SpecificationsIntroduction

Ever increasingpopulation andgrowing economic

activities in the world, haveresulted in the demand forpetroleum based fuels fortransport sector to increasemany folds during the pastfew decades. The liquidpetroleum is the dominantsource of fuels, used in thetransport sector for movingpeople and goods by roads,air and water. It is recognizedas a fast depleting valuablecommodity and needsurgent attentions to findingways and means to use iteffectively and efficiently.Apart from the supply sideconstrains, its usage hasposed a major threat tohuman health andenvironment due to emissionof harmful substances duringhandling, storing andcombustion processes.Therefore, developedeconomies as well asdeveloping economies, havetaken many measures tominimize the impact of usingthis commodity by enactingrules and regulations overmanufacturers ofautomobiles to improve theirvehicle technologies andrefiners to supply fuels inconformity with the newvehicle technologies.

Automobiles are powered byinternal combustion engines,commonly known as ICengines, which fall into twomain categories, namely twostroke and four strokeengines. They are furtherclassified as GasolineEngines (Auto cycle), inwhich a spark plug is usedto ignite a premixed fuel-airmixture and Diesel Engines(Diesel cycle), in which highpressure compression raisesair temperature to ignitiontemperature of the injectedfuel. The fuels used in thefirst category of the enginesare mainly, Gasoline(Petrol), Natural Gas,Liquefied Petroleum Gas(LPG), and Hydrogen whichare Hydrocarbon derived fuelsand Bio-derived fuels suchas Ethanol and Butanol ora mixture of these two types.Similarly Diesel engines useDiesel which arehydrocarbon derived andFatty Acid Methyl Esters(FAME), a Bio Fuel derivedfrom agricultural crops oranimal fats.

Both types of engines arecharacterized byfundamental design featuressuch as (1) Compressionratio, an increase of whichusually increases engineefficiency but also results inhigher average cycle

temperature and thereforehotter cylinders, pistonheads and rings whichincreases difficulty of pistonlubrication, (2) Piston speedwhich is directly related tothe power rating of theengine, (3) Break MeanEffective Pressure which isan overall measure of theoutput of an engine, (4)Supercharging whichincreases the inlet manifoldair pressure above theambient to provide increasedpower output and higherefficiency.

Different regions of the world,particularly North America,Europe and Asia, have beenadopting their own approachand continue to explorestringent new requirement forlowering vehicle emissionsand the opportunity forreducing fuel consumption.To cope with these emergingneeds vehicle manufacturescontinuously improve theirengines technologies tomaximize fuel economy whileincorporating advancedtechnologies to curtailemission of hazardouscomponent from the exhaustsystem. Since it is obviousthat all existing and newvehicle fleet in the worldcannot be converted to thepresent and futurerequirements, the approachof gradual phasing outprogram is adopted in thedifferent regionsappropriately.

Gasoline qualityparameters and theirsignificance

Basically Gasoline(Petrol),marketed by petroleumcompanies, is composed ofa mixture of different

Properties Units Category 1 Category 2 Category 3 Category 4 US Tier 0 or 1 US Tier 2 US Tier 2 Euro 1 or 2 Euro 3 or 4 Euro 4 or 5

Research Octane No (RON) 91, 95, 98 91, 95, 98 91,95,98 91,95,98Motor Octane No (MON) 82, 85, 88 82, 85, 88 82, 85,88 81, 85, 88

Min Max Min Max Min Max Min MaxDensity Kg/m3 715 780 715 770 715 770 715 770Appearance Clear, bright Clear, bright Clear, bright Clear, brightSulfur mg/Kg 1000 200 30 0Metal (Fe, Al, Pb) g/l N/D N/D N/D N/DOxygen Content % wt 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7Olefins content % vol N/A 20 10 10Benzene % vol 5.0 2.5 1.0 1.0Aromatics % vol 50 40 35 35Washed Gum Mg/100ml 5 5 5 5Oxidation stability minutes 360 480 480 480Copper Corrosion 3hrs @ 100 C Class 1 Class 1 Class 1 Class 1Volatility Vapor pressure Kpa 40 60 45 60 45 60 45 60 10 % distillation C 70 65 65 65 50 % distillation C 77 110 77 100 77 100 77 110 90 % distillation C 130 190 130 175 130 175 130 175 Final Boiling Point (FBP) C 215 195 195 195Carburetor Cleanliness meritFuel Injector Cleanliness % fuel loss 10 5 5 5Intake Valve Cleanliness merit

petroleum hydrocarbons or amixture of petroleum and nonpetroleum hydrocarbonscommonly known asblending components. Thetype of blending componentsdiffers from refinery to refinerydepending on its processconfiguration available tomake gasoline. Nevertheless,the final composition of theblend made would satisfy allthe parameters specified fora particular grade of gasoline.Quality parameters ofgasoline determine thepercentage of eachcomponent to be added in theblending process.

The following components,either all of them or some ofthem, are blended togetherfor making gasoline in thepetroleum industry.

Reformate (Catalyticreformer Products)Light Naphtha (Lighttopping product)Alkylate (Products ofAlkylation Process)Isomerate (Product ofIsomerization Process)ButaneOxygenate (Ethers orAlcohols)

American Society for TestingMaterial (ASTM), in its ASTM–D 4814 covers theproperties of fuels, gasolineand its blend with oxygenate,to be used in Spark-Ignitionengines. This standardmainly focuses on theengine’s performance. Withthe application of modernvehicle technologies by automanufactures with greateremphasis on control ofemissions, they haverecommended an improvedversion of fuel propertiesspecified in ASTM- D 4814 for

modern vehicle fleet. Thereforethe final product that isprepared by blending of variouscomponent must satisfy thegasoline propertiesrecommended by automanufactures for Spark IgnitionEngines. Table 1 shows thelimits of properties of gasolinefor different level of emission -complied vehicle asrecommended by World WideFuel Charter, an association ofauto mobile manufactures ofthe world.

The vehicles emissioncategories are based on twoworld standards namelyAmerican Standards- US Tier0, Tier 1 and Tier 2, and EUROstandards –EURO 1,2,3,4 and5. Based on these standardsThe World Fuel Charterrecommends fuelspecifications for differentemission levels as applied intheir vehicle technologies. TheTable 1 shows the Gasolinespecification and Table 2shows the Dieselspecifications.

Category 1: Market with noemission control requirement

Category 2 : Market withstringent requirements foremission control . US Tier 0or Tier 1, EURO 1 and 2

Category 3 : Market withadvanced requirement foremission control. US Tier 2,EURO 3 and 4

Category 4 : Market withfurther advanced requirementfor emission control US Tier2, EURO 4, 5

Significance of individualproperties

In general Density, Antiknockrating (Octane Number) andVolatility (Vapor Pressure andDistil lation) define the

characteristics ofautomotive spark-ignitionengine fuel. Otherproperties of the fuel is tolimit the concentration ofundesirable componentsso that they will notadversely affect engineperformance, ensuringstability of fuel as well asits compatibility withmaterials used in theengine and fuel handlingsystems, and protect theemission control catalyticequipments fitted on to theexhaust system.

AppearanceThe finished fuel shall bevisually free of undissolvedwater, sediment andsuspended mater toensure trouble freeoperation of the engine anddistribution system and itshall be clear and bright atthe operating temperature.

DensityDensity governs the massflow rate of the fueladmitted to the engine ofwhich the rate of energyreleases by combustionprocess is decided upon.It also has a bearing on airto fuel ratio of thecombustion mixture whichdetermines the efficiencyof combustion that affectsboth engine performanceand emission release.Therefore the density of thefuel should be within theengine’s calibration range.

Octane Number

(Research and Motor)

Octane is a measure of agasoline’s ability to resistauto ignition which cancause engine knock.

Contd. on page 12....

by Eng. E.M. Piyasena- MA, B.Sc. Chem. Eng., C. Eng., MIESL, Project Manager – Supugaskande Oil Refinery Expansion and Modernization Project

Table 1

Sri Lanka Engineering News - December 2011IESL NEWS10

Do Green Supply Chains Lead to

Competitiveness and Economic Performance?

by Eng. S Sakisan

Green Supply Chain Management

Green Supply-Chain Management (GSCM) is an increasingly widely-diffused practiceamong companies that are pursuing environmental excellence. The motivation forthe introduction of GSCM may be ethical (e.g. reflecting the values of managers)

and/or commercial (e.g. gaining a possible competitive advantage by signallingenvironmental concern). Notwithstanding its growing diffusion and success, many factorsare still hindering the adoption of GSCM by companies.

Investigating the determinants of GSCM, one cannot dismiss the possibility that there aresome complementary factors which can strongly influence the attitude of a firm to developsuch practices. This is especially true when a firm pursues environmental excellence bymeans of different tools or solutions that are strongly synergetic with GSCM practices.The main findings of the relevant literature emphasize that, while in the early stages of anEnvironment Management System (EMS) application the ISO 14001-certified or EMAS-registered companies mainly focused on “housekeeping” (i.e.: responsibilities and tasksto correctly manage site-specific environmental aspects, including procedures andoperational instructions, monitoring systems and training activities), today these companiesare increasingly looking “beyond the boundaries” of their production process and organizationtowards the whole life-cycle of their products and services and, therefore and firstly, totheir supply-chain. GSCM promotes efficiency and synergy among business partners andtheir lead corporations, and helps to enhance environmental performance, minimize wasteand achieve cost savings. This synergy is expected to enhance the corporate image,competitive advantage and marketing exposure.

How it should be mixedThe concept of green supply chain management encompasses environmental initiativesin;

1. Inbound logisticsThe inbound function essentially comprises of green purchasing strategies adopted byorganizations in response to the global concerns of environmental sustainability. Greenpurchasing address issues such as reduction of waste/ hazardous waste produced andmaterials substitution. Therefore, companies have to manage their suppliers’ environmentalperformance, by evaluating suppliers EMS and conducting awareness seminars for vendors.

By focusing its EMS on supply-.chain management, some organizations in recent yearshave begun relying on their suppliers to improve their environmental performance and wereable to create value for themselves and for their customers For instance, IBM has designeda tool for monitoring and analyzing its products emissions throughout the life-cycle. Thisallows all the IBM business partners to adjust their operations and see how changes inpackaging, transportation and inventory policies can affect CO2 emissions. The aim of thistool is to quantify the trade-offs between carbon reductions and other factors affectingcompetitiveness (such as on-time delivery, packaging solutions, costs, etc.), share thisawareness with its suppliers / customers and identify, develop and apply in co-operationwith them the most sustainable and feasible solutions from both an environmental and aneconomic perspective.

But the problem associated with this green purchasing approach is some vendors (especiallyin monopolistic market) may not accept to adopt such an EMS.

2. Production or the internal supply chainEconomic benefits as “side-effects” of environmental improvement represent the mostmotivating driver for companies to initiate more sustainable production patterns. It hasbeen argued that success in addressing environmental issues may provide new opportunitiesfor competition and innovative ways to add value to core-business activities

3. Outbound logisticsOn the outbound side of the green supply chain, green marketing, environment friendlypacking, and environment friendly distribution, are all initiatives that might improve theenvironmental performance of an organization and its supply chain.

4. CompetitivenessFramework for attaining competitive advantages is, customer satisfaction, employeeempowerment, quality cost system, lean manufacturing, continues improvement, etc...But these do not reflect the impact of environmental management. Advantage that GSCM canproduce in terms of capability (which lead to competitiveness) to compete by the adopters is

Contd. on page 13....

THE INSTITUTION OF ENGINEERS,SRI LANKA

Certificate Course on Quantity Surveying Continuing

Professional Development Programme of the IESLTarget Group Senior and Middle level Engineers

Stage I - Pre-contract

Consultant Quantity Surveyor Overall view of Duties of Consultant Quantity Surveyor Pre- Contract Cost Control Preparation of preliminary estimates Cost Plan Tender methods/ Contract Types Preparation of Tender Documents Preparation of Bill of Quantities, Standard

Method of Measurement Conditions of Contract

Resource Persons Mrs. G.Jayasoma,Chartered Quantity Surveyor,MRICS(UK),AAIQS(AUS),AIQS(SL)

Date & Time From 0900 hrs to 1600 hrs(six consecutive Saturdays)commencing on January 14, 2012

Venue Seminar Room, The Institution of

Engineers, Sri Lanka

Course Fee Rs. 25,000/- for IESL members andRs. 27,000/- for non-members inclusiveof course materials, lunch

and refreshments)

Registration Admissions are limited and will be filledstrictly on first come,first served andpaid up in full basis. Applications canbe obtained from the Education andTraining Division

For registration and details, contact the Education &Training Division.DIRECTOR (EE&T)

Tel. 0112 698426 Ext. 209/210/211

E-Mail. deetiesl@sltnet.lk; Fax : 0112 699202

ADJUDICATORS& ARBITRATORS

The Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka has published a Directoryof Adjudicators/Arbitrators in March 2011 for the benefit and use ofthe Construction Industry as there have been many requestsseeking the services of such personnel. This Directory, which isvalid for 2 years, will be revised thereafter. However, a supplementto the Directory will be issued in 2012 March for the benefit of themembers who could not include their names in the Directorypublished in March 2011. As such, Corporate Members of theInstitution (Chartered Engineers) having more than 10 years ofexperience after obtaining the Corporate Membership are invitedto apply to have their names included in the Supplementary Directoryof Adjudicators/Arbitrators (Members whose names have been

registered in the March 2011 Directory need not apply).

Applicants have to qualify themselves for getting their namesincluded in the Directory; hence will be required to undergo a trainingcourse organized by the IESL. The cost of the training programwould be approximately Rs. 20,000/-. However, the IESL wouldconsider exempting from the training those who have alreadyundergone similar training courses or have suitable qualificationsand experience with respect to adjudication/arbitration. Those whoare currently engaged in work involved with Adjudication andArbitration are also requested to apply so that their names too maybe included in the Directory.

A fee of Rs. 2500/- will be charged for each entry subject to theexception that engineers listed both as an adjudicator and anarbitrator are reckoned as one entry.

Application forms available at the IESL could be obtained by

Completed forms addressed to the Deputy Executive Secretary,The Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka, 120/15, WijeramaMawatha, Colombo 7, should be submitted on or before January31, 2012 in order to ensure that the training programme couldbe arranged without any delay. The date and time for the trainingprogramme will be notified once eligible members are short-listed.

sending a request for same via email to des.edu@iesl.lk.

Sri Lanka Engineering News - December 2011IESL NEWS 11

Prof. Bartholomeusz passed away

Professor E. F.Bartholomeusz, FounderProfessor of EngineeringMathematics at theUniversity of Peradeniya(then University of Ceylon),passed away on October22 in Phoenix, Arizona, inthe US. He was one of themost respected academicsat the University and was agreat teacher, much lovedby all of his students. Hetouched the lives ofeveryone he encountered allover the world.

Everard FrederickBartholomeusz was bornon December 30 1920. Afterhis secondary education atSt. Joseph’s College,Colombo, he followed theLondon University Externaldegree courses andobtained a BSc(mathematics special)degree with First Class

Honours in 1942. Later heobtained an MSc(mathematics) degree from thesame university.

In 1950, he joined the newlyestablished Faculty ofEngineering, University ofCeylon, as an AssistantLecturer, and in 1952 heproceeded to the UK to doresearch at the University ofCambridge.

In Cambridge, he worked in thefamous Cavendish Laboratory,associating with topresearchers, such as G. I.Taylor. His research was onsurface waves, dealing withreflection of long waves at astep, the reflection of planewaves at a submerged barrier,and the general motion of a fluidin a damping medium undergravity.

He obtained his PhD in 1955.His seminal paper, “Reflectionof Long Waves at a Step”, whichwas published in 1958 in theProceedings of the CambridgePhilosophical Society andreferenced in theEncyclopaedia of Physics, wascited by many researchers.

In 1955, he married Edith inCambridge and returned to Sri

ROI through POI : Insights of a newInvestment

byEng (Dr) Ajantha Dharmasiri

Senior Faculty Member, Postgraduate Institute of Management

ajantha@pim.lk, www.ajanthadharmasiri.info

Sri Lanka has emerged as an investor friendly destination. Investments should ensureexpected returns. That’s why Return on Investment (ROI) becomes a critical factor. Asthe way we invest money, there is a growing awareness about another investment:

investing knowledge.

It was Peter Drucker who said that knowledge has become the capital rather than a capital inthe “post-capitalistic” era. This is an interesting way to look at how people contribute toorganizations. Knowledge is generally referred to what is known. The Oxford dictionarydescribes knowledge as ‘facts, information, and skills acquired through experience or education;the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject.” It has become a capital that is beinginvested, anticipating returns.

We commonly use terms such as knowledge worker and knowledge work. According toDrucker, knowledge work is about sensing, judging, creating ideas and expert opinions, buildingnetworks of relationships, and producing value using knowledge and information. It is all aboutknowledge in action. Then, who is a knowledge worker? He or she is an employee who issimultaneously an investor and owner of the enterprise he/she is working for.

We see an emergence of knowledge work in Sri Lanka, in line with the global trend. Knowledgeis acquired through learning. Learning is essentially an individual phenomenon. In other words,learning takes place within an individual. The individual becomes knowledgeable. That’s wherethe game starts. Knowledge is power. Michel Foucault vividly illuminates us on this. “Power isexercised by virtue of things being known and people being seen.” As he further states, “theexercise of power perpetually creates knowledge and, conversely, power is Knowledge”.

Since knowledge is power, then individuals have power. They unleash that power by way ofcontributing to their institutions. Such a phenomenon poses a key challenge for peoplemanagers, including HR professionals. That is how to harness the individual power. I wouldpropose the term, Power of Individual (POI) to represent this wide array of contributions anIndividual makes by way of investing his/her knowledge. When knowledge workers come upwith creative ideas converting them into concrete actions, the creation of consistent processesfor results has to happen. Therefore the key challenge can be further clarified as the need tochannel POI to obtain ROI.

POI is a demonstration of how an employee can contribute to creative ideas to the organization.In some western societies, it has taken another twist, which I call POW. One POW may leadto another POW. Power of women (POW) may make men, prisoners of war (POW). Theessence is the unleashing of creativity, with growing emphasis placed on softer dimensions of

Contd. on page 15....

Contd. on page 15....

Lanka to become a SeniorLecturer attached to theDepartment of CivilEngineering, University ofPeradeniya (then Universityof Ceylon) and was in-chargeof teaching EngineeringMathematics.

He was appointed Professorand Head of the newlycreated Department ofEngineering Mathematics in1965. He held these twoposts till 1974, when he leftthe University of Peradeniyato become Professor andHead of the Department ofMathematics at theUniversity of Zambia. Hespent 16 years in Zambiabefore moving to the US.

When the Department ofEngineering Mathematicswas created in 1965, it hadonly two cadre positions; aprofessorship and anassistant lectureship. So theonly tenured member in theDepartment was Prof.Bartholomeusz, and he hadto develop the newdepartment single-handed.This he did admirably withgreat care, foresight anddedication.

Why not obtainInternational Recognitionthrough the ProfessionalEngineer qualification?

What is InternationalProfessional Engineerqualification?

International Professional Engineer (IntPE) is aqualification awarded by the Engineers’ MobilityForum (EMF), coming under the InternationalEngineering Alliance (IEA).

EMF facilitates cross-border practice by experiencedprofessional engineers. In general, a ProfessionalEngineer of one EMF member jurisdiction will be ableto practice in another EMF member jurisdictionwithout being required to obtain any additionalqualifications or experience. The current EMFsignatory countries are Australia, Canada, HongKong, India, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand,Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka,Taiwan, United Kingdom and United States.

Who is eligible to apply?

The IESL, being a full member of the EMF isempowered to award the IntPE (Sri Lanka)qualification to Chartered Engineers who are SriLankan national and who meet the followingrequirements:

1. A four year recognizedengineering degree

2. Seven years experience aftergraduation with at least 2 yearsresponsible experience insignificant engineering work

3. A satisfactory level of ContinuingProfessional Development (CPD)

Chartered Engineers who do not possess a fouryear full time degree in engineering are presentlynot considered for the IntPE qualification.

What are the benefits?Those who become Professional Engineersthrough IESL will have the following benefits:

1.Use of the letters IntPE (Sri Lanka) after his/her name

2.Easier admission to National Registers of IntPE Registers of other member jurisdictions

How to apply?

Application forms and guidelines could bedownloaded by clicking ‘World Recognition’ on thehome page of IESL website at www.iesl.lk

Contd. from page 1...

that will benefit Sri Lanka across many social strata. RWCTaims to identify innovators, scientists, intellectuals and mutuallybeneficial partnerships with relevant academic and professionalbodies to build and nurture the next generation of innovators inSri Lanka through donations and corporate sponsorships tocover the cost of its activities in the public interest. The trustalso hopes to establish an award titled ‘The Ray’, which willrecognize and encourage on-going innovation and enterprisein an area of public interest and benefit related to theenvironment, renewable energy, sustainable agriculture andsustainable transport solutions. The trust is also in the processof preserving his personal archives, and seeking sponsorshipfor an illustrated biography, which ideally could also bepublished in softback in all 3 languages and made available tostudents at a subsidized rate.

The RWCT was formed to recognize and support innovation inthe fields of sustainable agriculture, renewable energy,engineering and aeronautics, all disciplines that were pursuedand encouraged by Ray Wijewardene.

The lecture was supported by Cinnamon Grand – HospitalityPartner, Sri Lankan Airlines – Travel Partner and WijeyaNewspapers – Media Partner. For more informationwww.raywijewardene.net

INDIA’S GENIUS ANIL...

sent by Prof. M. P. Ranaweera

Sri Lanka Engineering News - December 2011IESL NEWS12

Higher the compression ratioof the engine higher theOctane requirement of the fuelfed to prevent the engineknock. Modern engines aredesigned at highercompression ratio to obtainhigher power output. HighAromatic content in thegasoline blend enhances theOctane value. Similarlypresence of oxygenates suchas MTBE or Alcohols in thegasoline blend too help to raisethe Octane value. However theengines that are designed andcalibrated for gasoline neat,may not perform equallybecause some otherparameters of the blend withoxygenate could affect theperformance negatively. Whena customer uses gasolinewith an octane level lowerthan that required,knocking may result whichcould lead to severe enginedamage. However usinggasoline with an octanerating higher than thatrecommended may notimprove the vehicle’sperformance. ResearchOctane Number (RON)correlates low speed knockingcondition where as MotorOctane Number (MON)correlates the high speedknocking condition. Usuallythe difference between RONand MON should not begreater than 10 for optimumperformance of the engine.Usually the customer prefersmostly the Road OctaneNumber or the Antiknock Index(AKI) which is the arithmeticaverage of RON and MON((RON+MON)/2). Octane ismeasured in a petroleumlaboratory by comparing knockrating of gasoline with astandard sample using Iso-Octane and Normal Heptanesin a standard test enginewhich has provision to vary thecompression ratio and speed(RPM). The user must ensurethat he pumps in gasoline ofcorrect octane rating asrecommended by themanufacture for his vehicle.

SulfurSulfur naturally occurs in crudeoil. It is removed during therefining process to the extentspecified for the enginerequirement. Sulfur producesSO2 during the fuelcombustion in the engine andreleases to atmospherecausing health andenvironmental damage. Apartfrom this, Sulfur has a greaterimpact on vehicle exhaustsystem of which moderncatalyst technologies andcontrol systems are employedto reduce green house gasemissions from the tail pipe.Low sulfur fuel is not anecessary requirement forolder vehicles or vehicles thatare fitted with no emissioncontrol devices other than

controlling of SO2 emission.But Sulfur level of the fuelshould be reduced to verylow or zero for vehicles thatcome under the category ofLow Emission Vehicle(LEV) (EURO 2/3)or UltraLow Emission Vehicles(EURO 4/5) as thesevehicles are fitted withsensor elements which arehighly sensitive to sulfur.High Sulfur fuel may reducethe durability of thesecomponents or damagepermanently leading toengine problems.

OxygenateOxygenated organiccompounds, such asMethyl Tertiary Butyl Ether(MTBE) and Ethyl Alcohol,are often added to gasolineto increase the octanenumber or induce a leanmixture of fuel to air ratiodue to the presence ofOxygen in the fuel itself, toreduce CO emissions andincrease power out put. Theleaner the operationreduces CO emission,especially with carburetedvehicles without electronicfeed- back controlled fuelsystems. However it isimportant to understandthat over-leaning withethanol may cause toincrease emission andexperience poor drivabilityattributed to its high heat ofvaporization and lowcalorific value. Therefore theoxygen content of thegasoline mixture has beenlimited to a maximum of 2.7% for engines designedand calibrated to run onneat gasoline withoutmaking any modification tothe fuel system of suchengines. Importantly,

Ethanol is highly soluble inwater. Unless precautionsare taken to avoid mixing withwater the consequences areterrible. Denatured Ethanolmanufactured to thestandard specificationsgoverned by ASTM or othersmay be added according tothe procedure laid down byrespective regulatory bodies.Maximum tolerable limit ofwater for gasoline isrecommended as 0.5 % vol.The presence of water atanything above this levelleads to formation of twophases within the gasoline,– alcohol poor Hydrocarbonphase and alcohol rich waterphase. The latter is highlycorrosive to metals such asAL, Zn, Cu and Alloys ofthese metals and deteriorateRubber and plasticcomponents. UsuallyEthanol is mix with gasolineat the dispensing pump itselfto prevent contamination withwater. Methyl alcohol shouldnot be added to the gasolinemixture unless the fueldistribution system issuitably modified to tolerateits high corrosiveness for Zn,Cu and Al metal componentsand degradation of Rubberand Plastic components.

Olefins, Benzene andAromatics

Olefins are unsaturatedhydrocarbon and may lead togum formation and depositsin an engine’s intakesystem. Furthermore theirevaporation into theatmosphere as chemicallyreactive species that promoteozone formation, and itscombustion products formtoxic dienes. Benzene hasbeen identified as acarcinogenic substance and

the control of Benzene levelin the gasoline is the mostdirect way to l imitevaporative and exhaustsemissions of Benzene fromautomobiles. Althougharomatics are good octaneboosters and high energydensity fuels, higheraromatics content in fuel canlead to incompletecombustion wherebyincreased emission ofpollutants and depositsformation in combustionchamber and therefore itsconcentration has beenlimited in the gasoline fuel.

Volatility

Volatility of gasoline is criticalto the operation of sparkignition engines with respectto both performance andemissions. It is characterizedby two measurements, vaporpressure and distillation.The vapor pressure ofgasoline should be controlledseasonally to allow for thediffering volatility needs of thevehicles at differenttemperatures. At hightemperature, It should bereduced to avoid hot fuelhandling problems such asvapor lock or carbon canisteroverloading, and minimizeevaporative emissions. Atlower temperatures vaporpressure is needed toincrease for starting andgood warm up performance.The vapor lock is a functionof vapor to liquid (V/L) ratioof the fuel injected. Hencehigher V/L means it is moresusceptible to vapor lock. V/L ratio of 20 is considered asthe best performance level.

Volatil ity is alsocharacterized by itsdistillation range. Usually

distillation point of 10%, 50%, 90 % and final boilingpoint are controlled toachieve good cold start upand warm up performancesuch as engine pick up,acceleration etc. Measure ofthe customer satisfaction isrelated to the DrivabilityIndex (DI) which is calculatedby using the distil lationtemperatures. The followingformula is used to determinethe DI.

DI = 1.5*T10 +3*T50 + T90+(11*mass % of Oxygen)

T10 = 10 % Distil lationTemperature, T50 = 50 %Distillation Temperature,T90= 90 % Distil lationTemperature. Temperaturesare in Celsius

The DI value is limited tomaximum of 600 for betterdrivability performance.

Deposit control additives

Even with good qualitygasoline can lead to depositformation in combustionchamber, fuel injectors andintake valves which results inpoor performance andincrease exhaust emission.Therefore adding controlledamount of deposit controladditives to gasoline wouldhelp to reduce problemsassociated with depositformation and prolongoperation of fuel injectorelements. Additives areadded to control cleanlinessof carburetors, fuel injectorsand intake valves. Theparameters such as solventwashed gum content andoxidation stability give aproper guidance to controlfuel stability and depositcontrol tendencies.

Table 2

Contd. from page 9....

Petrol...

Contd. on page 13....

Properties Units Category 1 Category 2 Category 3 Category 4US Tier 0 or 1 US Tier 2 US Tier 2Euro 1 or 2 Euro 3 or 4 Euro 4 or 5

Min Max Min Max Min Max Min MaxAppearance Clear, bright Clear, bright Clear, bright Clear, brightCetane Number 48 53 55 55Cetane Index 45 50 52 52Density @ 15 C Kg/m3 820 860 820 850 820 840 820 840Viscosity @ 40 C cst 2.0 5.0 2.0 4.0 2.0 4.0 2.0 4.0Sulfur content Mg/Kg 3000 300 30 0Flash Point C 55 55 55 55Carbon Residue % mass 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.2Water content Mg/Kg 500 200 200 200Ash Content % mass 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01Particulate Mg/l 10 10 10 10FAME % vol 5 5 5 0Ethanol/Methanol % vol N/D N/D N/D N/DCopper corrosion merit Class 1 Class 1 Class 1 Class 1Oxidation stability g/m3 25 25 25 25Cloud Point CStrong Acid Mg/g KOH NIL NIL NIL NILTotal Acid No Mg/g KOH 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3Calorific Value Kcal/Kg 10500 10500 10500 10500Sediment % wt 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01Distillation IBP 10 % 50 % 95 % 370 355 340 340 Final Boiling Point FBP 365 350 350

Sri Lanka Engineering News - December 2011IESL NEWS 13

Contd. from page 12....

Petrol...

Diesel Fuel properties andtheir significance

As in the case of Gasolinethe properties of diesel fuelalso depend on the refiningpractices employed and thenature of the crude oils fromwhich they are produced. Themain combustionparameters and otherenvironmental emissioncontrol parameters fordifferent vehicle categoriesare listed in theTable 2.

Engines designed for Dieselcycle used distillate fuel,diesel, for high speed,variable loads and a blend ofdistillate and residual fuel forlow or medium speedconstant load engines. Thefollowing discussion islimited only to High SpeedDiesel fuels.

AppearanceThe diesel fuel shall bevisually clear, bright and freeof un-dissolved water,sediment and suspendedmatter to ensure that noproblems are encounted infuel handling systems of thevehicle.

Cetane Number andCetane IndexSimilar to Octane Number ofgasoline in Spark IgnitionEngine, Cetane Number ofDiesel is the measure ofignition behavior of theCompression ignition engine.It influences cold startability,exhaust emission andcombustion noise. Cetanenumber is measured on a testengine similar to Octanenumber using referencestandard fuel blends. Thesetwo different indexes Octaneand Cetane are acting inopposite direction with relatedto combustion. That is highoctane number ischaracterized by delaying theignition time of the SIEwhereas high cetane numberis characterized byadvancing the ignition timeof CIE. Unlike Octanenumber, cetane number isnot measured for each andevery batch of fuel producedinstead, Cetane index ,thenatural cetane of the fuelwhich is a calculatedparameter , based on themeasured certain propertiesof Diesel fuel to ensure thecetane quality of Diesel fuelis maintained. Cetanenumber can be improved byusing additives. The CetaneNumber requirementsdepend on engine design,size, nature of the speed andload variation etc. A minimumlevel of cetane should bemaintained in diesel fuel tocontrol exhaust emission ofCO, NOx and HC andcombustion noise of the

engine. Increase in CetaneNumber over values actuallyrequired does not improve theengine performance.

Density and Viscosity The diesel fuel injection iscontrolled volumetrically.Variation in density results invariation of mass flow of fuelto engine in turn affecting thepower, emissions and fuelconsumption. Therefore, inorder to optimize engineperformance and tailpipeemissions, both minimumand maximum density limitsis defined in a fairly narrowrange. Variation in viscosityof the fuel also has similareffect as variation in density.

SulfurThe main focus on reducingSulfur in diesel fuel is toprotect the exhaust emissioncontrol systems whereadvanced catalysttechnologies and oxygensensors are used in dieselengines. Excessive Sulfurlevel can shorten the catalystlife while control sensors ofthe exhaust system can berendered permanentlyineffective through Sulfurpoisoning. Sulfur alsocontributes to particulateemission in the form ofSulfate during thecombustion process andwith the effect of catalyticaction of the after treatmentsystems. Heavy trucks,busses, dual purposevehicles running on the SriLankan roads comes underthe vehicle category 1 andmost of them are not fittedwith exhaust controlsystems and could beoperated with 2500 -3000ppm sulfur diesel oil withoutpenalizing the engineperformance. However dieselcars and SUVs which havebeen designed with exhaustemission control devicesshould use low Sulfur Dieselfuel of 300 ppm or lesser toavoid engine trouble. Verylow level of Sulfur alsoinfluence negatively due toreduction of lubricity of thefuel system unless properadditives are used tocompensate the same.

Distillation CharacteristicsDistillation range determinesmost of the properties ofdiesel fuel. Density,Viscosity, Cetane number,Aromatics content, CloudPoint (cold flow properties)etc. are the majors. Middistillation temperature (T50)correlates the propertiessuch as density, viscosityand the extent of paraffinichydrocarbon presence andthe end boiling points (T90,End point) correlates heavymolecules and aromaticscontent of the fuel.

Both, light and heavy endsof the distillation range needto be controlled for better

performance and control ofemissions. Higher theparaffinic content (lowdistillation) of the fuel betterthe cetane properties butpenalizes the cold flowproperties such as flow pointand cloud point which couldlead to blocking filters. Highdistillation points (T95, EP)would result in high exhaustemissions and poorcombustion properties.

Oxygenates (Fatty AcidMethyl Esters, FAME)

Agricultural and animalwastes are increasingly usedto produce alternative fuelsas a substitute for petroleumhydrocarbon. This helps toreduce dependency onpetroleum hydrocarbon to acertain degree whilecontributing to reduceexhaust emission as anenvironmentally beneficialfuel.

The above paragraphsexplain the significant ofdifferent parameters of Petroland Diesel fuels used inmodern vehicles with respectto their engine performanceand exhaust emissions.European and most of theAsian countries follow thecompliances of Euroemission standard vehiclebased on the air qualityregulations adopted bylegislative bodies ofrespective countries. Thesestandards are categorized

according to the permissibleemission level of pollutantssuch as CO, HC, NOx andPM from the vehicle exhaustsystem. The Table 3 showsthese values for gasoline anddiesel vehicle according tothe Euro standards. Morestringent requirements areachieved by incorporatingadvanced catalytictechnologies and on boarddiagnosis systems to controland monitor the tail pipeemission. Hence for a vehicledesigned for particular levelof emission standard it ismandatory to use fuel of thatcategory in order to protectthe catalytic system andthereby ensure itsperformance as guarantied.On the contrary, if the vehicleis not designed to requiredemission standard there is nobenefit achieved by usinghigher quality fuel as in thecase of Sri Lanka where outof nearly three million petrolvehicles running on the roads,there are more than 2.5Million two wheelers andthree wheelers and themajority of Diesel vehicleshave no emission controlsystems fitted at all.Therefore it is the part andparcel of regulatory bodies toimplement gradual phasingout of such vehicle as wasthe practice of the othercountries, along with theimprovement of fuel quality toachieve the realenvironmental benefits..

ConclusionAdvancement of vehicletechnologies for betterperformance is a continuousprocess to address the everchanging regulatorycompliances. It is theresponsibility of the fuelsproducers and marketers tosupply correct quality of fuelin line with vehicletechnology demanded.Though the correct qualityfuel is produced there aremore chances tocontaminate with undesirablecomponents and adulterationof fuels in the supply chainup to the user point.Therefore proper care mustbe taken to monitor andcontrol fuel quality in allthese stages. Finally,supplier as well as usershould concern not only oflegal and regulatory aspectsbut also the overall economicimplications to the societyas a whole.

References:

Standard Specification forSpark Ignition Engine FuelsASTM D- 4814Standard Specifications forCompression Ignition EngineFuels- ASTM D 975World –Wide Fuel CharterReformulated Gasoline-Adam SeymourAPI research paper onOxygenated fuels

Table 3

Stage CO HC HC + NOx NOx PMg/km

Diesel vehicleEURO 1 2.7 0.97 0.14EURO 2 1.0 0.7 0.08EURO 3 0.64 0.56 0.5 0.05EURO 4 0.50 0.30 0.25 0.025EURO 5 0.50 0.23 0.18 0.005Petrol vehicleEURO 1 2.7 0.97EURO 2 2.2 0.5

EURO 3 2.0 0.2 0.15EURO 4 1.0 0.1 0.08 0.005EURO 5 1.0 0.1 0.06 0.005

the ability to continuously innovate products and processes, thanks to the tight co-operation withother actors of the supply-chain. This ability gives the GSCM adopter better chances of timelyresponding to market expectations concerning environmentally sound products, anticipating theevolution of consumer preferences towards sustainability, better satisfying intermediate customersinterested in the environmental performance of the supplied products and services, etc… but doesnot immediately yield profit. Also in this case, it is difficult to capture the competitive benefits interms of profitability especially in the short-medium run, when the company has to invest moneyand time (while the return on this investment is expected to emerge in the long run).

5. Economical performanceMany organizations still look upon green initiatives as involving trade offs between environmentalperformance and economic performance.Environmental management efforts aim to reduce cost, enhance corporate image, reduce risk ofnon compliance and improve marketing advantage. It is not necessarily true that greening all thephases of the supply chain should directly lead to financial performance.

Conclusion

The increasing diffusion of GSCM is driven mainly by the need for companies to face up to significantenvironmental challenges that cannot be tackled by relying on their own resources (technical,managerial or even economic ones), but call for the involvement of other actors that are co-responsible of their generation. The intensive use of raw materials and natural resources, theescalating production of waste caused by consumer goods and their packaging, the impactsconnected with the transportation of intermediate and consumer goods to their final markets areonly some examples of environmental aspects that cannot be improved without the activeparticipation of suppliers, retailers, clients and even final consumers. Therefore, the main objectiveof GSCM, as well as the main measure of its effectiveness, must be its capability of improving theenvironmental performance of those companies that adopt this approach and of their businesspartners.

Contd. from page 10.... Do Green Supply....

Sri Lanka Engineering News - December 2011IESL NEWS14

Contd. from page 1 ....

OUTGOING.....those we seek to provide ourexpertise.

With regard to the policy andadvisory activities, the IESLmet His Excellency thePresident and discussedmany issues includingengineers’ involvement innational policy making,implementation of nationalprojects, railwayelectrification, regulating theprofession, aboutComprehensive EconomicPartnership Agreement(CEPA) with India andothers. The IESL madeseveral other representationson national issues meetingthe High Commissioner ofIndia and Department ofCommerce on CEPA,Ministers of Power & Energyand Transport on RailwayElectrification, Minister ofConstruction, EngineeringServices, Housing andCommon Amenities onConstruction IndustryDevelopment Act (CIDA) andfor an improved constructionindustry, Director – NationalPlanning offering expertadvice of IESL for prioritizing,formulating and monitoring ofmega national infrastructureprojects and proposals forpreparation of 2012 NationalBudget.

The IESL industrycollaboration was furtherstrengthened with the launchof the first ever, IESL-IndustryForum initiating a veryimportant and effectivemechanism for regularindustry interaction. In orderto create a forum on nationalissues the IESL facilitatedpanel discussions on CEPA,on Science, Technology andInnovation Strategy and onColombo Floodingsometimes in associationwith other bodies.

With regard to outreaching togeneral public, the CivilEngineering SectionalCommittee dedicated itself toimplement its brainchild“Building Clinic” firstlaunched at Techno 2010 asa nation-wide project. Thefirst such activity was heldvery successfully recently inPanagoda to coincide withWorld Habitat Day incollaboration with theMinistry of Construction,Engineering Services,Housing and CommonAmenities and the NationalHousing DevelopmentAuthority. This wascontinued at Techno 2011exhibition. Arrangementshave already been made tohold the “Building Clinics” inMaharagama Youth Centre inNovember and Dayata KirulaExhibition in Anuradhapura inFebruary 2012 in associationwith NHDA and IESL North

Central Provincial Centre.This initiative has created avery good impression on theIESL and the engineeringprofession both with thegovernment authorities andthe general public. TheNational EngineeringHeritage Gallerypainstakingly put together byseveral dedicated engineersof the IESL is to be openedsoon in the NationalMuseum.

Following up with theimmense success of JIY,IESL introduced for the firsttime Undergraduate Inventorof the Year competitionamong all engineeringfaculties in the universities inorder to promote inventions,innovations andentrepreneurship amongbudding engineers.

In regulating the standards ofengineering practice, theIESL has been actively anddedicatedly pursuing the SriLanka Engineering CouncilAct and has madeconsiderable progress. It hasnow been approved by theCabinet and is with the LegalDraftsman.

A new category ofmembership ‘Affil iateMember’ was introduced forthree year recognizedengineering degree holders toaccommodate a new breedof engineers passing outfrom non-state HigherEducation Institutions withthe expansion of engineeringeducation in Sri Lanka.

Our second goal – to raisethe international standing ofthe IESL was mainly pursuedto raise the position of theIESL to be amongst thereputed internationalprofessional bodies withsimilar activities. Weidentified three bench marksin the direction. Firstly, thefull membership of theEngineers Mobility Forumwhich makes our engineerswith IESL IntPE qualificationto practice engineering at thehighest level in signatorycountries without anyadditional qualifications,experience or training. Thiswe achieved in 2007.

Secondly, to upgrade theprovisional membership ofthe Washington Accord (WA)to the full membership toensure that the graduatespassing out from accrediteddegree programmes in SriLanka are recognized asacademically fully qualifiedengineers in other signatorycountries. We worked hardon this. The IESLaccreditation process andtwo university programsunderwent a comprehensivereview by a panel of reviewersfrom InternationalEngineering Alliance and wewere told that both ourprocess and the process inthe universities need some

improvement to be in par withWA signatory countries. Wehave made significantprogress in this directionrevising the IESLaccreditation manual in linewith the WA exemplars,providing training toaccreditation panel membersand to university academics,developing more efficientsystems and strengtheningthe IESL AccreditationBoard. Further training onoutcome based approach tomodern engineeringeducation will be provided asa part of the Annual Sessionsactivities. Funds have beenrequested from the UGC andproposals made for 2012budget to procure modernequipment to laboratories.We are hopeful to get the fullmembership in 2013.

The third benchmark was toupgrade our “Engineer”Journal to a trulyinternational standard byobtaining the status of anindexed journal in theScience Citation IndexExtended enhancing itsquality and recognition. Wehave made our application forthis purpose at the beginningof the year, significantlyimproved our manuscriptreview process andpublication quality, ensuredtimely publication and are inthe waiting to see the results.

The third goal we werepursing was – enhancingmember services andmembership. We haveinitiated and implementedmany actions in thisdirection. Among theminclude, actions to obtain ISO9001:2008 qualityaccreditation for theSecretariat, Implementationof productivity enhancementtools, Staff training onpositive attitudes,professional conduct andaccountability for betterservice to members, actionsfor installing EnterpriseResource Planning systemin the Secretariat foraccuracy, completeness andenhanced productivity, andimplemented Councilapproved Guidelines for allcommittees and provincialcentres. A comprehensivenew website for the IESL willalso be in place soon.

With regard to physicalinfrastructure, the library wasmodernized and relocatedwith e-learning facilities, anumber of meeting roomswere refurbished, theirfacilities enhanced, classrooms were better equipped,staff and member workingenvironment was improved.Plans have been drawn up forcomplete modernization ofthe Kulasinghe buildingincluding the Canteen,Members Lounge, washrooms, KulasingheAuditorium in two phases.

Construction of the firstphase will start soon.

During the year, theInstitution awarded Charterstatus to first five BuildingServices Engineers - ourlatest addition to disciplines.A record number of 305Chartered Engineers – thehighest in the recent historywas inducted at the lastInduction and GraduationCeremony with over 35university academicsintegrating the education andindustry practice. Themembership of the IESLgrew significantly during thelast year now reaching over15,000 with over 1600 joiningnew during the last session.Member services wereincreased in partnershipswith Nations Trust Bank forfinancial solutions, and withNational Insurance TrustFund for an attractivemember health insurancecover.

IESL Provincial Centres andSectional Committeesperformed much better someoutstandingly well with closerinteraction, more systematicoperating procedures andguidelines and enhancedbudgetary allocations. IESLStudent Chapters wereestablished during thissession in the EngineeringFaculties of Moratuwa,Peradeniya and Ruhuna topromote IESL activities in theUniversities and to attractengineering students as IESLstudent members. TheseChapters are now functioningvery successfully with alarge number of studentsbecoming IESL members.

For the second time since2008, IESL held itsExcellence AwardsCeremony at the WatersEdge recently celebratingand recognizing theoutstanding achievements ofour members andengineering organizations.Award winners expressedthis as an inspiration for theother engineers, especiallyyoung engineers to attract toIESL and motivate for betterperformance.

The fourth goal we werepursuing was – to positionIESL as an importanteducation provider inengineering. We haveimplemented severalactivities in this direction.IESL engineering curriculumwas significantly revised toaccommodate lateral entryand multiple exits withqualifications of EngineeringCertificate, EngineeringDiploma and GraduateDiploma with the totalduration of the courseapproximately 5 years parttime. The new intake underthe revised curriculum wastaken in January 2011. Withthe Members’ approval andthe approval of the Company

Registrar, IESL has justestablished “IESL College ofEngineering” as a limitedliability company fully ownedby the IESL to provide anindependent, betterorganized coursedevelopment, delivery and forlong term sustainability andgrowth.

In addition, an internationalsymposium on SocialManagement Systems washeld in Galadari recently withover 200 engineers includingabout 80 foreign delegates.The Techno nationalengineering and technologyexhibition celebrated its 26th

anniversary this year with avery successful exhibition atthe BMICH recently withseveral novel features.

The IESL is also in theprocess of preparing its newCorporate Plan 2012-2016incorporating the newdevelopments, new goals,new opportunities andupcoming threats. It isexpected that the newCorporate Plan will provide amore refined roadmap toachieve the IESL goals.

All these achievements andinitiatives were possible dueto enormous supportreceived from the PastPresidents, CouncilMembers, Chairmen andmembers of SectionalCommittees, other specialcommittees, StandingCommittees, ProvincialCentres, the IESLSecretariat, the generalmembership and ourgenerous sponsors for manyof our activities. I take thisopportunity to express myprofound appreciation for alltheir support.

The tenure as the Presidentof the IESL was a strenuous,hardworking and a tough onebut it was a very pleasantexperience and extremelyvaluable exposure for me. Itenabled me to moreconfidently face to manychallenges, facilitatedinteractions with manystakeholders, invitations asthe Chief Guest, Keynotespeaker which immenselyimproved my maturity,composure andtemperament, sharpenedmy leadership skills,knowledge horizon allowingme to see a holistic bigpicture in decision making.I value so much the wisdomI received from the PastPresidents, cordialrelationship and cooperationI received from the Council,and all the other I interactedin discharging my duties. Itreasure the warmestcompliments I received frommany during the lastsession.

Having associated with theIESL over 16 years in manycapacities including its top

Contd. on page 15...

Sri Lanka Engineering News - December 2011IESL NEWS 15

The most vital secret behind the sustainable developmentmodel-life style of our ancestors was their ability to maintainthe sustainability of soil. This sustainability was practicedwithin the concept of “cyclicity”. The cyclicity of this planetis due to the high quality energy from sun. By using this highquality energy trees grow on soil and many microorganismsliving in soil carryout the process of cyclicity. Now if we livewithin this cyclicity by maintaining the soil fertility the systemwill be sustainable. Our ancient water systems weredeveloped to maintain the fertility of soil, it was not just simplyan irrigation project.

By studying our ancient cascade systems we can get anidea of how the concept of cyclicity has worked for theresustainable existence and most importantly how the fertilityof soil has supported it.

By using the high quality energy of sun the soil constructsall the food, medicine, shelter and other relevant materialsfor the lives on earth and also most importantly it recyclesthe waste that we create. If we can develop our life styles tobe in harmony with this natural cyclic system then it will besustainable.

We will try to elaborate on the facts said above in Sinhala infuture.

Soil in the...Soil in the...Soil in the...Soil in the...Soil in the...Contd. from page 4...

Professor Bartholomeuszwas one of the mostrespected and admiredteachers of the Faculty. He wasa master in the classroom andhe had the ability to retain theattention of all his students onany lecture topic, howevercomplex or abstract. It was apleasure to listen to his fluentand precise delivery style andthe students knew what noteto take down because theywere carefully dictated orneatly written on theblackboard, in the form ofChapter 1, Section 1, SubSection 1.1 etc.

He always relatedmathematics to engineering,and used examples fromengineering practice toillustrate the application ofmathematical methods. Hewould teach a very powerfulmethod of analysis and saythat applying it to solve a

Contd. from page 11 ...

Prof. Bartholomeusz...simple problem wheresimpler methods areavailable is “like using a battleaxe to crack an egg”.Disturbing him in class wasconsidered a cardinal sin.Many of his students, includingmyself, consider him the bestteacher they ever had.

While handling a very heavyundergraduate teaching loadin his department, hecontinuously updated thesyllabi with the most currenttopics, and also conductedpostgraduate courses for hisjunior staff. One of his favouritepostgraduate courses, whichI had the good fortune to follow,was on the MathematicalTheory of Elasticity.

In addition to his academiccontribution to the Faculty, healso contributed immensely toits welfare. One of his mostnoteworthy contributions wasthe setting up of the FacultyCanteen. He was the drivingforce behind it and he played

a pivotal role in formulating itsmanagement structure andextending its services toprovide quality food as well asstationery and drawinginstruments at low prices.Thanks to his efforts, theEngineering Faculty Canteenis the best run and maintainedcanteen in the PeradeniyaUniversity today.

Prof. Bartholomeusz had anexcellent rapport with studentsand he considered it veryimportant for a teacher. He hada well balanced view of thethings happening in theuniversity and in the world, andhis advice was often sought bystudents, staff andadministration, to tackle trickysituations.

He leaves behind Edith, hisloving wife of 56 years, and hissons; Brian, Geoffrey andMichael.

May He Rest In Peace!

is the popular myth that eachperson has two basic waysto think – they are embodiedin opposite sides of the brain.In earlier times, those twohalves of the brain werethought to be almostidentical. But in the mid-twentieth century, whensurgeons could cut theconnections between thosehalves, some significantdifferences were observed,and this revived many viewsof the mind as a place forconflicting pairs ofantagonists like these:

Left vs. Right; Thought vs.Feeling; Rational vs. Intuitive;Logical vs. Analogical

Intellectual vs. Emotional;Conscious vs. Unconscious;Quantitative vs. Qualitative

Deliberate vs. Spontaneous;Literal vs. Metaphorical;Reductionist vs. HolisticScientific vs. Artistic; Serialvs. Parallel

But how could so many suchdistinctions be embodied inthe same two halves of thevery same brain? The answeris that this is largely a myth,because each of thosemental activities involves theuse of machinery located inboth halves of the brain.However, there is also sometruth to that myth; our brainsbegin as highly symmetricalbut then, one side developsmore machinery for language-based activities, while theother side develops morevisual and spatial abilities.However, I suspect thesedifferences might partlyresult from some process inwhich the so-called“dominant” side developsmore reflective thinking,whereas the other sideremains more reactive andless deliberative. As evidenceof this, Battro 2000 appearsto have shown that a singlehalf brain can do both.

Nico is a remarkable eight-year-old boy who possessesa slight limp, an affinity forhis laptop computer and a“well-kept secret inside hisskull.” At the age of three,doctors treated Nico’sintractable epilepsy byexcising the entire righthemisphere of his brain, aprocedure conducted only onfairly young children(because of the greaterplasticity of their brains) whoexperience severe seizures.In a brief academic analysisof the brain’s compensatorycapacity, Battro, a cognitivepsychologist who hasworked with Nico, comparesthe boy’s rapid progressionto developmental theoriesoffered by Jean Piaget andother prominentpsychologists. Supportinghis own hypothesis that a halfbrain is a new brain, Battronotes that Nico’s musicalabilities, motor capabilities(when using a mouse and akeyboard) and attention spanhave all developed normallydespite the fact that manyresearchers have determinedthat these functions aremediated by the righthemisphere. Nico’s intact lefthemisphere, Battropostulates, has acquiredthese skills and is a wholebrain in itself. The only majordeficit that Nico has yet toovercome concerns his poordrawing and handwritingskills, a handicap that Battrosought to conquer by givinghim an “informationprosthesis”—a computer.Now Nico can draw and typeon the computer better thananyone in his class, and hehas recently discovered thevirtues of e-mail and computerprogramming. Although thistechnical and theoreticalexamination will not appeal tothe lay reader, Battro’scomputer-based approach torehabilitation should interestboth clinicians andbiopsychologists. (Feb. 1)

Editorial Review - CahnersBusiness Information (c)2001

Contd. from page 7...

Different ways ...

Contd. from page 11....

management. Imaginationwith idea generation is whatan individual does at theinception. Interactive teamwork should happen next intaking it into implementation.

Bartlett and Ghoshal offerinteresting insights on thepower of individual. Accordingto them, instead of forcing theindividual to conform to thecompany’s policies andpractices, the overall objectiveis to capture and leverage theknowledge and expertise thateach organizational memberbrings to the company. As theyfurther elaborate, “the notionof “organizational individual” isgiving way to a concept we call“the individualizedorganization” – one thatcapitalizes on theidiosyncrasies and even theeccentricities of exceptionalpeople by recognizing,developing and applying theirunique capabilities.”

The best way to understandthe difference between

ROI through....“organizational individual” and“individualized organization” isto take a few examples. Goneare the days where peoplelooked alike, dressed alike,spoke alike and behavedalike. Such a uniformitydemanded individuals toadjust and to adhere to theirorganization, to the fullest. Itreminds me of a regimentalorganization or even perhapsthe Peoples Republic ofChina, in its post-revolutionaryera. Now the scenario is muchdifferent. The reality is that theorganization has to adjustitself to accommodate diversetalent, by being an“individualized organization”.The key aspect is diversity.Flexibility is much needed toaccommodate diverseemployee requirements.Flexi-time, telecommuting,virtual teaming are some suchwork arrangements. The keyaspect here is the need oftalent by the organization, andthe sure way to get it is to reachout to the talent in the marketby being receptive to theirneeds. Software companiesand Advertising agencies are

ready examples in thisrespect.

Rising power of individual byway of unleashing creativityshould not be perceived as athreat to team work. In fact, itintensifies teaming. Interactiveteams are the only way tobridge the gap betweenindividuals and theirinstitution. When creativeindividuals invest their ideas,the returns come in the formof innovations in theorganization. Suchinnovations can create newvistas in broadening theproduct or service offerings.The team at Sony who workedon Walkman, the team atGoogle who strive for globalcustomer reach, a localinsurance team who kept theother insurers “out of the spot”are some such examples.

Hence, the equation isseemingly very simple: ROIthrough POI. Yet, the amountof thinking and doing neededfrom people managers isimmense in the true spirit ofachieving humane results.

Contd. from page 14...

position, I have now fully realized that the IESL can make a tremendous impact in the practiceof engineering by spreading its wings to uncovered areas and by refining our systems todelight the stakeholders.

With a pool of expertise in all disciplines of engineering at the highest level, and membersspread over all parts of SL and even in other countries, IESL together with its members canmake a significant impact for long term national development if we come out from our comfortzones and perform ethically and professionally.

We need to realize that the IESL is us. It is governed by us. We have many committed andtalented, visionary engineers in the audience and outside. Those need to take the controls. I invitethose to take up positions of the IESL and its governing Council.

The image of the engineer and engineering profession lies with us, nobody else. It is throughour own conduct that we raise the image of the engineer and our profession. When there isany shortcoming in the services we enjoy, whether it is seeing a pothole on the road, defectin any construction, breakdown of services we blame the organization responsible, whenthere is unsafe practices in our sites, accidents we blame the contractor, but for all these atthe root there is an engineer responsible, whether he is the leader, supervisor, a manger,organization head or even an educator. Therefore, we need to take the responsibility for allthese actions. It is a collective approach that we need to follow to achieve our goals.

On top of all these the IESL Secretariat should be trained, strengthened and empowered todeliver its services promptly, accurately and more professionally.

After long innings at the crease, with last year as the captain it is time now for me to move tosidelines and step out from the lime light. While looking forward to continuing my efforts forthe advancement of the IESL and the engineering profession, I take this opportunity to wishthe incoming President, Eng. (Dr.) Ananda Ranasinghe, the new Council, the new Committees,the IESL Secretariat and all the members every success.Thank you.

OUTGOING.....

Sri Lanka Engineering News - December 2011IESL NEWS16

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