August 25, 1999

Andre Studenny, Hamilton Engineering

By SAM BENNETT
Journal Staff reporter

Andre Studenny

Andre Studenny

Firm: Hamilton Engineering, Inc.
Office: 2108 S.W. 152nd St.
Year founded: 1976
Staff size: 14
Recent project: Cedar River Bridge

Q: What is your firms specialty?

A: In general, our company specializes in machinery design. We have expertise in this and also in control system design. We develop and deliver the best products for our clients. The majority of our products are machinery for heavy movable structures, like bridges, or ferry ramps or work platforms for various industrial applications. We are also involved in design of electromagnetic test facilities and equipment. Our services involve different parts of the projects, starting from feasibility studies through concept development, detailed design and manufacturing and construction support. In addition to heavy movable structures, we design machinery for industrial applications, like stacker cranes or tooling for truck manufacturers.

Q: What recent projects would you like to highlight?

Hydraulic machinery lifts the two spans of the First Avenue Bridge in South Seattle.

A: Our recent outstanding project was the Boeing Cedar River Bridge. Construction was complete in the fall of 1998. That project was to convert the fixed bridge to make it movable. That was because at the Boeing Renton Plant there could be a flood of the Cedar River, which might happen infrequently but could disrupt the manufacturing process. To avoid that situation and to possibly save the bridge, we designed a hydraulic system to lift the bridge 10 feet to keep it intact during flood conditions. We approached this project by designing the hydraulic system base on four large hydraulic cylinders. If the flood situation developed, then the Boeing maintenance crew will approach the bridge, install four hydraulic cylinders, bring the hydraulic power pack, make all necessary connections and then lift the bridge like a table with telescopic legs.

The Kingston ferry loading ramp is supported by the supercolumn, and lifted with a hydraulic cylinder.

The other project about to be finished is a ferry overhead passenger loading ramp in Bremerton. This was originally designed and built at the ferry terminal in Kingston. That passenger loading ramp is an innovative system. The design is such that the ramp moves up and down by using a single 16-inch bore cylinder. That makes the design and construction simple and low-maintenance and highly reliable. Recently a similar ramp was opened to the public in Edmonds, and another one will be soon completed in Bremerton.

The other example would be machinery for the First Avenue South Bridge. We designed the hydraulic-type lifting machinery used to lift up the two spans of the bridge. The high capacity of the machinery allowed us to use the concrete roadway which improved the traffic safety - as opposed to steel grading, which is an inferior type of roadway compared to the concrete roadway. The First Avenue Bridge opens on average five to 10 times a day.

Q: What other kinds of bridge work do you do?

A: We do rehabilitation of bridges. An excellent example would be the rehabilitation of 14th Avenue South Bridge in Seattle, or the re-design of the 520 Bridge. The movable portion of the 520 Bridge was opened by an electro-mechanical system, which was difficult to maintain and used to frequently breakdown and we re-designed that using a hydraulic lift system. The challenge was to move a heavy movable deck straight up. It is moved very infrequently and they usually close traffic when they do it. The operation is quite complex - both sides of the bridge have two movable sections - one lifting and one floating section. This allows large vessels to go across and relieves water pressure during storm conditions.

Q: Why do you lean toward hydraulic solutions instead of electromechanical design systems on your projects?

The Boeing Cedar River Bridge in Renton is lifted like a coffee table with telescoping legs.

A: A majority of our heavy movable structure projects are based on hydraulic systems. The modern hydraulic system offers great advantages for the designer. The development of simple inexpensive hydraulic components makes it very appealing to utilize in the situation where heavy structures are moved in a precise manner with certain speed and distance.

Q: As a small firm, how do you remain competitive for big projects?

A: You might say that we compete against manufacturing companies who do engineering for themselves. It's no direct competition. Sometimes with those big organizations, if they need help, then we can offer them help. Our direct competitors are small consulting firms, either in the Puget Sound area or throughout the United States. We stay ahead of our competitors by trying to implement innovative ideas to simplify the project and make it such that the project is less costly for the end client. We're trying to innovate so the solutions will be simple from a technical point of view and at the same time will be cost-effective for the clients.

Previous columns:

• Peter S. Hockaday, MBT Architecture, 08-18-1999
• Brian Brand, Baylis Architects, 08-11-1999
• Bill Fuller, Fuller/Sears Architects, 08-04-1999
• John Boileau, John Boileau Architects, 07-28-1999
• Lorne McConachie, Bassetti Architects, 07-21-1999
• Kenichi Nakano, Nakano Associates L.L.C., 07-14-1999
• Kurt Nordquist, Skilling Ward Magnusson Barkshire, Inc., 07-07-1999
• Douglas Bailey, Integrus Architecture, P.S., 06-30-1999