He is the "Pioneering Officer" for the quality and safety of Wuhan Yangtze River Tunnel and Metro Line 12,


  "playing with mud" and winning the national first prize

  □ Changjiang Daily reporter Gong Ping correspondent Hu Fei

  The geotechnical test, namely the geotechnical engineering investigation test, is an indispensable and important part before the construction of roads, bridges, tunnels and other construction projects.

This work directly affects the quality of the project and the safety of use.

Therefore, the geotechnical testers, the group of people known as "playing with mud" in the laboratory, are particularly important.

  Xu Fan is responsible for or participates in a number of key urban projects such as the First Wanli Yangtze River Tunnel, Donghu Tunnel, Wuhan Garden Expo Park, GM Wuhan Project, Sino-French Ecological Demonstration City Integrated Pipe Gallery, Wuhan Metro Line 12, etc. He has carried out the project geotechnical test, and the test report issued by his hand has no deviation, and won the first prize of the National Skills Competition.

  ■ He is called the "artificial meter"

  Dreaming is "playing with mud" to experiment

  On March 15th, a reporter from Changjiang Daily came to the laboratory of the MCC Wuquan Analysis Center. In the open-earth room, which is the most direct contact with the soil, there was no messy soil and dust on the face. A sampling box with soil was placed on the shelf. It was neatly arranged, and the oversized sample table was clean.

  Yang Yongjing, a soil sample tester, told reporters that this was related to Xu Fan, a craftsman in Jingchu in the province, who was in charge of the laboratory technology, "loving cleanliness".

His job requirement is to "open the soil and not see the soil". He works with the soil when opening samples and tests. After each process is completed, first clean it before proceeding.

  "The environment is well-organized, and the test process is not disorderly, no matter how complicated it is, and the data produced is natural and accurate." Xu Fan said seriously.

  Xu Fan, who has worked with mud for 21 years, has perfected the technique of "playing with mud". In 2017, he won the first prize of the first national survey and design industry geotechnical test skills competition.

  Since signing up for the competition, Xu Fan has followed the masters in the laboratory to learn lessons every day and "improve" his craftsmanship.

The national competitions are all masters, saving dozens of seconds in each link, they can get a better ranking in the final result.

  During that time, apart from eating and sleeping, he spent the rest of the time practicing in the laboratory, pinching the watch to speed up, and striving to be as proficient in every link as eating.

After returning home, I also read the book "Code of Practice for Geotechnical Testing" repeatedly, and familiarized myself with all the processes and steps.

Once, his wife got up in the morning and laughed at him: "You dream about the process of the experiment at night."

  During the competition, two soil samples were required to be opened within 15 minutes. Xu Fan "was in bad luck" and the first soil sample drawn was a soft clay soil sample.

  Compared with hard soils, soft clays are sticky and often contain mud when opening and sampling. It takes time to keep the samples clean and tidy.

At that time, it took 13 minutes to complete the first soil sample. Seeing that the other players had already started the second sample, Xu Fan was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot.

Fortunately, the second one drew hard soil, and he was very familiar with the technique. It only took him 2 minutes to get it done, and he successfully completed the game within the time limit.

  The soil sampling process is similar to "making a cake". The soil sample box is cut open, the soil is taken out and placed on the workbench, and the soil surface is leveled with a cutter; then several round soil blocks are cut, and four or five ring knife samples are taken out.

The reporter saw that after each step was completed, Xu Fan would wipe off the excess soil with his hands or a cloth, meticulously.

  With many years of test experience and solid theoretical foundation, Xu Fan, as the geotechnical test person in charge of the technology center, passes each soil sample through his hands, and can basically accurately obtain physical and mechanical indicators based on appearance and texture, and can be compared with the soil samples. The test results were "very close" and were dubbed "artificial gauges" by colleagues.

  ■ "Competition" was serious, the first overseas project was successfully completed

  In his 21-year working career, Xu Fan encountered few situations where the preliminary description and test results were "bigly different", but the residual soil was one.

  For geotechnical testers, the most worrying thing is the residual soil test, because the test results will subvert your previous experience and make you doubt or even shake yourself.

  In 2014, Xu Fan was dispatched to the Mirador Copper Mine 20 million tons/year mining and dressing project in Ecuador for geotechnical testing, and he was full of confidence when he set off.

  As a result, after the first test was completed, it was hit hard.

"It looks like soil with common geology, but the indicators that can be made are not conventional."

  What exactly went wrong?

  After getting the test results, he immediately went to the laboratory to review the equipment, straight shearing instrument, consolidation instrument, etc. to review the equipment and test procedures one by one, all of which showed "normal".

  "At that time, I was just appraised as an engineer. I thought I had a lot of knowledge, but I didn't expect to do experiments abroad." Xu Fan's confidence was frustrated for a while, "If you are in China, you can go to ask the master for advice. If you are abroad, see the master. Without soil samples and test procedures, precise guidance cannot be given.”

  Xu Fan, who refused to admit defeat, "come better" with this batch of residual soil samples.

Since the result is wrong once, doing it several times can always explain the problem.

  In the following week, Xu Fan re-tested three times, and the results were basically similar, which fully demonstrated that the soil sample was determined to be residual soil, and the scale was very large, rare in the industry, covering almost all the construction sites of the project.

He confidently wrote down the actual test results and solemnly signed his name.

  Thanks to his "competition", many years later, during the construction of the project, there has been no construction deviation due to the results of the geotechnical test.

  ■ Practicing hard craftsmanship, the "mud sticks" rubbed out amaze colleagues

  Whenever he is free on weekends, Xu Fan will accompany his daughter.

Every time he travels through the Yangtze River Tunnel, he tells his daughter the story of the time when the tunnel soil samples were tested.

  For example, some sand samples must be measured on-site for density and permeability indicators; they have to stay on board for about 10 hours every day, and they feel that people are still shaking when they disembark at night.

  Around 2008, the equipment for geotechnical testing was not automated at that time, and many tests were done manually. Although it was hard and tiring, the experience of those years has made him use it to this day.

  Taking the rubbing method for measuring the plastic limit index of soil in the laboratory as an example, it is a relatively common basic test and tests the skills of geotechnical testers.

After the soil is mixed with water, force it in one direction and rub it into a strip with a diameter of 3 mm, with cracks, and can be directly broken, and then the next test can be carried out.

  Xu Fan's rubbing strips often amaze new colleagues. The size, specification and even appearance are in full agreement with the test standards.

"The rubbing method is similar to the manual drawing skills of designers. No matter how developed the drawing software is, the manual skills of designers cannot be lost."

  ■ Develop a piece of equipment to create hundreds of thousands of economic benefits for the laboratory

  With more experience, the "Geotechnical Test Specification" has been thoroughly understood.

Xu Fan began to turn his attention to the research on more efficient geotechnical test equipment.

  With many years of work experience, he found that some equipment manufacturers only understand equipment technology and have an inaccurate grasp of geotechnical test specifications. The instruments are a little "layman" in the actual use process. He and his colleagues actively communicate with equipment manufacturers to jointly develop new products to improve testing. effectiveness.

  He and the company jointly developed the first-generation rock multi-function direct shearing instrument, which greatly improved the work efficiency and accuracy compared with the old equipment, and created hundreds of thousands of additional economic benefits for the laboratory. Colleagues have also developed an indoor subgrade coefficient test and testing device to get rid of the method that the test can only be carried out through on-site testing, and fill the gap of the domestic standard method for indoor subgrade coefficient testing; in 2016, he led the development of an automatic scanning offset moisture content The box-heavy device shortens the operation time of weighing water content test by nearly two-thirds, and at the same time successfully reduces the error rate to zero...

  The innovative consciousness of him and his colleagues has attracted the attention of enterprises.

At the beginning of March this year, MCC Wukan Xufan Craftsman Innovation Studio was established, and Xu Fan has new responsibilities.

"The innovation I understand is based on the technology, personnel, equipment, etc. of the geotechnical test, and finds breakthroughs in each link to achieve the goal of making the test report more efficient and accurate, and better serve urban construction."