Frequently Asked Questions
Geo-Wall
Q. According to the section “Summary”, the wall facing is made of poster board. However, according to the section “Wall Materials”, the wall facing is prepared from 60 lb. Kraft paper. We wonder which material will be prepared for wall facing construction.
A. As specified in Appendix B, it will be using Kraft paper.
Q. According to the section “Design Report Submission”, “any changes or corrections made to the design report after this time will incur a penalty.” Our questions are; Imagine that we find a mistake in our design report after submission, but there is still time remaining before the deadline. If we apply for correction before the deadline, will there also be a penalty waiting for us? We also have the same question about our design poster.
A. If you submit before the deadline and then find an error you can resubmit without penalty. There will only be a penalty if there is corrections made after the deadline. This applies to both the Poster and the Report.
Q. At the captains’ meeting, our sandbox will be checked and we can also check samples of backfill and wall material according to the Section 7, 8, 9 and 14. Our question is, if we need to modify our design at this time due to the compliance issues of our sandbox, and/or the unsatisfactory specifications of backfill and/or wall materials, will there be penalties for doing this? Because according to our understanding, captains’ meeting will be held after submission of our design report and poster, so the relevant penalty which is mentioned in 1) may apply for this circumstance.
A. No there will be no penalty if you need to make changes due to compliance issues of your sandbox, and/or the unsatisfactory specifications of backfill and/or wall materials as long as they’re done before 7:00 a.m. local time the day of the competition which will be on Saturday April 22nd. The time for the sections above will be corrected in Mailer II.
Q. According to the section “Design Changes”, “Teams may change their design between the time the design report is submitted and the wall is tested.” Our questions follow as: Isn’t this rule against the one in the section “Design Report Submission”, “any changes or corrections made to the design report after this time will incur a penalty”? We wonder if we change our design between the submission of our design report and the test of our wall, whether there will be a penalty or not. Does the time “the wall is tested” refer to the competition day (Saturday, April 22nd, 2017)?
A. This ties in with the above, there will not be a penalty only is the changes made are due to compliances issues after the captains meeting. More specifically it is referring to before 7:00 am prior to the competition on April 22nd.
Q. According to the section “Eligibility”, “The team Captain shall remove the wall facing.” We don’t understand what “the wall facing” means here, because we think it is the removable front panel rather than the wall facing that should be removed.
A. It would be the Front Panel as shown in section c.
Q. According to the section “Sandbox”, “Panels must be flush with the base of the box”. We are not sure what “flush” means here. Does it mean that all of the four panels should be perpendicular to the base of the box? Could you please give us an example in which panels are not flush with the base of the box?
A. It means directly on or completely level or even with another surface. It just means no gaps or other material in between the panels and the base of the box.
Q. In the section “Sandbox”, we know that the thickness of plywood cannot exceed 3/4 inch (19mm) from item a) and the sandbox should “have a full-size base such that it extends no more than 3/4 inch (19mm) beyond the base of the wall once the front panel has been removed” from item d). However, in our view, item a) actually covers item d). We wonder if there is something wrong or missing with our understanding.
A. Yes you are correct, item d was not necessary and will be removed.
Q. In the section “Construction Tools”, we have some questions about the tools listed. (1) Will levels be used to examine whether the backfill is level? And what is the standard for “level backfill”? (2) Could you please give us more details about “material handling tools”? Because we notice that the competition organizers will provide us with buckets and shovels.
A. (1) Yes, the level will be used to check whether or not the sand backfill in level as specified in b) Construction phase under section 1- Execution. As shown in the Appendices E3 there is no standard level backfill, it will be up to the judges’ discretion. (2) You can request to bring other tools, however if no additional tools are needed then disregard.
Q. According to “Loading Stage” in the section “Execution”, “any portion of the wall extending outside imaginary planes extending vertically from base of sandbox” will be judged as excessive deformation. Unfortunately we have no idea what “imaginary planes” means. Could you please give us some detailed explanations about it? Maybe a figure is more helpful for our understanding.
A. It is up to the judge’s discretion as in the scoring it either passes or fails. This means that the judge decides whether there was deformation or not, the scoring is shown in Mailer I.
Q. According to the section “Pre-Competition Team Captains’ Meeting”, “Sandboxes will be assembled and checked for compliance at the meeting.” And in the section “Sandbox”, there is a note, “For convenience, sandboxes may be designed so they can be transported as flat pieces and reassembled at the competition site.” Our question is, after assembling our sandbox at the captains’ meeting, can we just keep it assembled or should we reassemble it at the competition site? If we should reassemble our sandbox at the competition site, will there be a time limit?
A. Yes they may be kept constructed, however the meeting will take place on Friday and the completion is not until Saturday so that is something to keep in mind. Yes, there is a 30 minute time period allotted before the completion on Saturday April 22nd from 7:00 am to 7:30 am for arrival and setup.
Q. ‘The teams must specify in their report the length of the 24’ wide Kraft paper required for their design during the competition.’ (see page 25 of Mailer I) I would like to know if there is any limit of the maximum length of the paper.
A. As it states, "The teams must specify in their report the length of the 24” wide Kraft paper required for their design during the competition." no there is no limit as long as you specify in your report.
Q. The tie rod may be remove from the box at the start of this stage, but it must be in place before any sand is placed in the box.’ (see page 26 of Mailer I) I would like to know if it means we can choose to keep the tie rod in place in whole the construction and loading stage.
A. Yes it is optional to be removed.
Q. In the example of scoring given, ‘Nmin=2’ is given in page 29, but when calculating score, ‘Nmin=1’ is substituted into the formula.
A. Nmin means number of minor rule violations, so it is different for every team as it depends how many minor violations your specific team acquired.
Q. There are some inconformity of scoring rules. The adjusted mass ‘M’ is evaluated as (100-M) in the formula (see Page 40), but in the form following, it is listed as (60-M). Please tell us which one should be adopted.
A. (100-M) is within an equation and the (60-M) is used to calculate reinforcement mass score.
Q. In page 27, it is mentioned the report accounts for 50 points, but in appendix C(page 33&34), the total score is 40. Besides, when we add the all items in the scoring form, we find the total score is 34. So we want to know about the exact score points and if there are any items forgotten in the form.
A. It is 50 points, we apologize for the inconsistency it will be clarified in Mailer II.
Q. We need to use the ‘5 gallon vertical surcharge bucket’ to load, but the rule does not give the specific size of the bucket. We would like to know about the diameter of the bucket.
A. It is a U.S. standard 5 gallon bucket.
A. As specified in Appendix B, it will be using Kraft paper.
Q. According to the section “Design Report Submission”, “any changes or corrections made to the design report after this time will incur a penalty.” Our questions are; Imagine that we find a mistake in our design report after submission, but there is still time remaining before the deadline. If we apply for correction before the deadline, will there also be a penalty waiting for us? We also have the same question about our design poster.
A. If you submit before the deadline and then find an error you can resubmit without penalty. There will only be a penalty if there is corrections made after the deadline. This applies to both the Poster and the Report.
Q. At the captains’ meeting, our sandbox will be checked and we can also check samples of backfill and wall material according to the Section 7, 8, 9 and 14. Our question is, if we need to modify our design at this time due to the compliance issues of our sandbox, and/or the unsatisfactory specifications of backfill and/or wall materials, will there be penalties for doing this? Because according to our understanding, captains’ meeting will be held after submission of our design report and poster, so the relevant penalty which is mentioned in 1) may apply for this circumstance.
A. No there will be no penalty if you need to make changes due to compliance issues of your sandbox, and/or the unsatisfactory specifications of backfill and/or wall materials as long as they’re done before 7:00 a.m. local time the day of the competition which will be on Saturday April 22nd. The time for the sections above will be corrected in Mailer II.
Q. According to the section “Design Changes”, “Teams may change their design between the time the design report is submitted and the wall is tested.” Our questions follow as: Isn’t this rule against the one in the section “Design Report Submission”, “any changes or corrections made to the design report after this time will incur a penalty”? We wonder if we change our design between the submission of our design report and the test of our wall, whether there will be a penalty or not. Does the time “the wall is tested” refer to the competition day (Saturday, April 22nd, 2017)?
A. This ties in with the above, there will not be a penalty only is the changes made are due to compliances issues after the captains meeting. More specifically it is referring to before 7:00 am prior to the competition on April 22nd.
Q. According to the section “Eligibility”, “The team Captain shall remove the wall facing.” We don’t understand what “the wall facing” means here, because we think it is the removable front panel rather than the wall facing that should be removed.
A. It would be the Front Panel as shown in section c.
Q. According to the section “Sandbox”, “Panels must be flush with the base of the box”. We are not sure what “flush” means here. Does it mean that all of the four panels should be perpendicular to the base of the box? Could you please give us an example in which panels are not flush with the base of the box?
A. It means directly on or completely level or even with another surface. It just means no gaps or other material in between the panels and the base of the box.
Q. In the section “Sandbox”, we know that the thickness of plywood cannot exceed 3/4 inch (19mm) from item a) and the sandbox should “have a full-size base such that it extends no more than 3/4 inch (19mm) beyond the base of the wall once the front panel has been removed” from item d). However, in our view, item a) actually covers item d). We wonder if there is something wrong or missing with our understanding.
A. Yes you are correct, item d was not necessary and will be removed.
Q. In the section “Construction Tools”, we have some questions about the tools listed. (1) Will levels be used to examine whether the backfill is level? And what is the standard for “level backfill”? (2) Could you please give us more details about “material handling tools”? Because we notice that the competition organizers will provide us with buckets and shovels.
A. (1) Yes, the level will be used to check whether or not the sand backfill in level as specified in b) Construction phase under section 1- Execution. As shown in the Appendices E3 there is no standard level backfill, it will be up to the judges’ discretion. (2) You can request to bring other tools, however if no additional tools are needed then disregard.
Q. According to “Loading Stage” in the section “Execution”, “any portion of the wall extending outside imaginary planes extending vertically from base of sandbox” will be judged as excessive deformation. Unfortunately we have no idea what “imaginary planes” means. Could you please give us some detailed explanations about it? Maybe a figure is more helpful for our understanding.
A. It is up to the judge’s discretion as in the scoring it either passes or fails. This means that the judge decides whether there was deformation or not, the scoring is shown in Mailer I.
Q. According to the section “Pre-Competition Team Captains’ Meeting”, “Sandboxes will be assembled and checked for compliance at the meeting.” And in the section “Sandbox”, there is a note, “For convenience, sandboxes may be designed so they can be transported as flat pieces and reassembled at the competition site.” Our question is, after assembling our sandbox at the captains’ meeting, can we just keep it assembled or should we reassemble it at the competition site? If we should reassemble our sandbox at the competition site, will there be a time limit?
A. Yes they may be kept constructed, however the meeting will take place on Friday and the completion is not until Saturday so that is something to keep in mind. Yes, there is a 30 minute time period allotted before the completion on Saturday April 22nd from 7:00 am to 7:30 am for arrival and setup.
Q. ‘The teams must specify in their report the length of the 24’ wide Kraft paper required for their design during the competition.’ (see page 25 of Mailer I) I would like to know if there is any limit of the maximum length of the paper.
A. As it states, "The teams must specify in their report the length of the 24” wide Kraft paper required for their design during the competition." no there is no limit as long as you specify in your report.
Q. The tie rod may be remove from the box at the start of this stage, but it must be in place before any sand is placed in the box.’ (see page 26 of Mailer I) I would like to know if it means we can choose to keep the tie rod in place in whole the construction and loading stage.
A. Yes it is optional to be removed.
Q. In the example of scoring given, ‘Nmin=2’ is given in page 29, but when calculating score, ‘Nmin=1’ is substituted into the formula.
A. Nmin means number of minor rule violations, so it is different for every team as it depends how many minor violations your specific team acquired.
Q. There are some inconformity of scoring rules. The adjusted mass ‘M’ is evaluated as (100-M) in the formula (see Page 40), but in the form following, it is listed as (60-M). Please tell us which one should be adopted.
A. (100-M) is within an equation and the (60-M) is used to calculate reinforcement mass score.
Q. In page 27, it is mentioned the report accounts for 50 points, but in appendix C(page 33&34), the total score is 40. Besides, when we add the all items in the scoring form, we find the total score is 34. So we want to know about the exact score points and if there are any items forgotten in the form.
A. It is 50 points, we apologize for the inconsistency it will be clarified in Mailer II.
Q. We need to use the ‘5 gallon vertical surcharge bucket’ to load, but the rule does not give the specific size of the bucket. We would like to know about the diameter of the bucket.
A. It is a U.S. standard 5 gallon bucket.
Transportation
Q. Do you have existing phase diagrams?
A. Yes! They have been added to 20TH_ST _TOPO.dwg in the MidPac 2017 Transportation folder on Google Drive that was shared with each team previously.
Q. Is there more detailed information about traffic volumes/cost estimates/pedestrian traffic volumes/past projects/past budgets/current signal timing/etc. available?
A. No. Apart from the existing Phase diagrams mentioned above, there is not additional information available. An explanation of how this limitation is overcome should be included in the written summary and the lack of concrete data will be considered in the judging. The length of the paper was expanded to 12 pages in consideration of this problem.
Q. Is redesign of the larger intersection (E 20th St and Mall Entrance) allowed?
A. Yes. This is a requirement of the competition because the intersection is required for access between westbound E 20th St and Business Lane. Both intersections may be redesigned separately or combined into one intersection. See Mailer I for Expected Design Level-of-Service requirements.
Q. Is there more information available about City of Chico transportation ordinances?
A. This information is all available on the City of Chico website http://www.chico.ca.us/.
Q. Is there underground parking available at the locations?
A. No. All the available parking is shown on Google Earth.
Q. Please elaborate on the suggestions of “removal of one building”
A. To widen the road or expand the intersection you may find that there is not enough room available. There are several small commercial buildings adjacent to the Mall Entrance/ E 20th St intersection. You may include removal of up to one of the buildings to make room for your design. This is not a requirement or suggestion, merely an option. Any costs associated with removing the building should be included in your Opinion of Probable Cost.
Q. What should be included in the Opinion of Probable Cost?
A. This is up to your team to decide. Methods of cost analysis vary widely. There is not a strict budget for this project, but total construction cost will be considered in the scoring, as well as completeness and accuracy.
Q. Should our design further the stated goal of converting Business Lane to a public road? A. Yes
A. Yes! They have been added to 20TH_ST _TOPO.dwg in the MidPac 2017 Transportation folder on Google Drive that was shared with each team previously.
Q. Is there more detailed information about traffic volumes/cost estimates/pedestrian traffic volumes/past projects/past budgets/current signal timing/etc. available?
A. No. Apart from the existing Phase diagrams mentioned above, there is not additional information available. An explanation of how this limitation is overcome should be included in the written summary and the lack of concrete data will be considered in the judging. The length of the paper was expanded to 12 pages in consideration of this problem.
Q. Is redesign of the larger intersection (E 20th St and Mall Entrance) allowed?
A. Yes. This is a requirement of the competition because the intersection is required for access between westbound E 20th St and Business Lane. Both intersections may be redesigned separately or combined into one intersection. See Mailer I for Expected Design Level-of-Service requirements.
Q. Is there more information available about City of Chico transportation ordinances?
A. This information is all available on the City of Chico website http://www.chico.ca.us/.
Q. Is there underground parking available at the locations?
A. No. All the available parking is shown on Google Earth.
Q. Please elaborate on the suggestions of “removal of one building”
A. To widen the road or expand the intersection you may find that there is not enough room available. There are several small commercial buildings adjacent to the Mall Entrance/ E 20th St intersection. You may include removal of up to one of the buildings to make room for your design. This is not a requirement or suggestion, merely an option. Any costs associated with removing the building should be included in your Opinion of Probable Cost.
Q. What should be included in the Opinion of Probable Cost?
A. This is up to your team to decide. Methods of cost analysis vary widely. There is not a strict budget for this project, but total construction cost will be considered in the scoring, as well as completeness and accuracy.
Q. Should our design further the stated goal of converting Business Lane to a public road? A. Yes