Designing the Lake Front Trail Pedestrian Bridge
Team Members: Mackenzie de Carle, David Chen, and Omar Khan
Process
The Toronto Valley Pedestrian Bridge is a design concept for a real location in Toronto. Our was given constraints such as the length of bridge and height which correlate to the real time location of the site. For this design, the design team initially did some research on the types of truss bridges that we, as first year engineering science students, could design. After much deliberation, the design team decided to design three linked Camelback Trusses. As part of the process, the design team also had design value preferences. Such were design for safety, design for aesthetics, design for construction, design for and design for maintainability. The truss was required that all the beams be built above deck with no over hang, for it guaranteed safety during construction, ease of construction and maintenance. Also, the linear segments forming the bridge give the impression of an arc due to the high length to height ratio of the truss. The aforementioned design decisions are justified further in the document below.
In the technical design of the bridge, we considered many instances for danger. We considered factors of safety, buckling stress, wind bracing, and frequency measurements. From these calculations we were able to support our design value for safety. Also, choosing between a one span bridge and a three span bridge was difficult since choosing a one span bridge reduced cost but lowered the safety standards. However, we went along with the three span bridge and after having selected the appropriate HSS members, we realized that had we decided to use one span for the bridge, the forces present on each member would be too high and consequently the bridge would not exist.
Problems
Although the project concluded successfully, the group faced some internal issues. Namely, one group member decided not to give the group any input until the final day before the project. This was in part due to the lack of leadership in the group. Two of the group members, I included, quickly realized that the project required a functioning three people group. But since we did not have a third member, we had to make improvisations: we did not spend much time planning. This experience shows me that even in a team as small as three a leader is needed in order to coordinate the group and keep them on task. The success of the group does not rely solely on technical expertise, but a harmony in the function of the group. Good collaboration and division of the work makes a team more successful.
The Toronto Valley Pedestrian Bridge is a design concept for a real location in Toronto. Our was given constraints such as the length of bridge and height which correlate to the real time location of the site. For this design, the design team initially did some research on the types of truss bridges that we, as first year engineering science students, could design. After much deliberation, the design team decided to design three linked Camelback Trusses. As part of the process, the design team also had design value preferences. Such were design for safety, design for aesthetics, design for construction, design for and design for maintainability. The truss was required that all the beams be built above deck with no over hang, for it guaranteed safety during construction, ease of construction and maintenance. Also, the linear segments forming the bridge give the impression of an arc due to the high length to height ratio of the truss. The aforementioned design decisions are justified further in the document below.
In the technical design of the bridge, we considered many instances for danger. We considered factors of safety, buckling stress, wind bracing, and frequency measurements. From these calculations we were able to support our design value for safety. Also, choosing between a one span bridge and a three span bridge was difficult since choosing a one span bridge reduced cost but lowered the safety standards. However, we went along with the three span bridge and after having selected the appropriate HSS members, we realized that had we decided to use one span for the bridge, the forces present on each member would be too high and consequently the bridge would not exist.
Problems
Although the project concluded successfully, the group faced some internal issues. Namely, one group member decided not to give the group any input until the final day before the project. This was in part due to the lack of leadership in the group. Two of the group members, I included, quickly realized that the project required a functioning three people group. But since we did not have a third member, we had to make improvisations: we did not spend much time planning. This experience shows me that even in a team as small as three a leader is needed in order to coordinate the group and keep them on task. The success of the group does not rely solely on technical expertise, but a harmony in the function of the group. Good collaboration and division of the work makes a team more successful.