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Manual and Software Design and Detailing of a Reinforced Concrete Pedestrian Bridge

Introduction

Civil engineering is an aspect of engineering that handles the design, construction, and maintenance of the naturally and physically built environment. This environment contains elements known as structures some of which include roads, canals, dams, bridges, and residential, recreational, institutional, and commercial buildings (Shylaja et al., 2019). In civil engineering, the construction of bridges has always been a captivating challenge for civil engineers. Materials such as steel, timber, cables, concrete, and iron have been utilized in the construction of bridges. Bridges are structures that connect or provide a passage over a distance or gap without obstructing the space, traffic stream, and passage underneath it without interrupting any other traffic stream. Bridges can be above canals, rivers, and streams; valleys and creeks or roadways and railways passing underneath (Shylaja et al., 2019; Charles, 2016). The building of bridges is not a new science, due to urbanization and civilization, there has been an increased need for travelling which has triggered humans to source solutions to bridging gaps over streams, deep gorges as well as passing across from one end to another. A pedestrian bridge on the other end is a bridge designed mainly for pedestrians, i.e., people walking on the road for easy access from one side of the road to another (Mohammed and Gugulothu, 2016).

Pedestrian bridges are constructed in several structures using different materials to ensure the safety of people passing from one side to another in situations like vehicle traffic, animal traffic, and natural formations in and out of the cities. There are designs of bridges and passages which allow pedestrians and automobiles, trains and bicycles, also bridge strictly for pedestrians. They can be made from materials such as stones, steel, timber, cables, concrete, bricks, iron, or a combination of these materials. (Demirarslan, 2017). The construction of pedestrian bridges has been noticed in many eras of civilization and history. Notably, in the 19th century, alongside the industrial revolution and the invention of the steam engine train, pedestrian bridges were constructed over the railways. Also, after the invention of the automobile in the 20th century, the need for bridges around highways, railways, and sea transportation routes arose due to changes and developments in the sea, lake, and river vehicles for transportation (Demirarslan, 2017; Nelson et al., 2015; Itti and Madagouda, 2018). These bridges in some cases are transformed into spaces while being seen as monumental accessories of their situated cities as well as influencing the formation of cultural and historical identity in settlements. Also, pedestrian bridges can be used decoratively to visually connect two specific locations or to signify a transaction (Ryall, Parke, and Harding, 2003).

Presently, pedestrian bridges are increasingly important as they are not only for communication but also as a modernized way of living healthy. The construction of any engineering structure such as a pedestrian bridge, calls for its control. Every bridge irrespective of its length, width, and purpose, must be designed and tested. Bridge design is a complex and technical part of civil engineering that requires meeting many requirements and standards. The existence of a trustworthy load-bearing structure is a vital prerequisite for the existence of a bridge, but it is not sufficient for its use-value. Additionally, bridges like every other engineering structure should meet functionality, durability, safety, cost-efficiency, ecology (environmental impact), and aesthetics requirements. Significantly, the geometry of pedestrian bridges (slopes and level lines) and most importantly its axis curvature is much freer than the geometry of solid bridges. The widths of bridges are modified to meet the needs of pedestrians as well as cyclists. For longer bridges, the width is constant and end expansions are seldomly designed for shorter bridges. The materials to be used for construction are chosen based on the length of the bridge, and they are integrated using static systems such as beam, frame, arch, suspension, and cable-stayed to form the complete bridge. Thus, longer bridges are made of steel or as a composite steel-concrete structure while shorter bridges are built of laminated wood and concrete (Kustura, Šunjic, and Šunjic, 2020; Prasad, 2015; Prashanth, 2018).

Problem Statement

In many developing countries, reinforced concrete bridges are used. As a result of rapid urbanization and traffic on roads, the casualties of pedestrians recorded have tremendously escalated in the last two decades (Demirarslan, 2017). These events have therefore necessitated the provision of facilities for pedestrians like pedestrian bridges, walkways, and footpaths to mitigate most of this brunt. Pedestrian bridges are important as they ameliorate the safety of pedestrians in busy and high traffic areas. Since a pedestrian bridge is a structure that is erected to span physical obstacles such as roads and railway tracks, it will eradicate traffic congestion and delay on highways while mitigating the conflicts between pedestrians and motor vehicles (Demirarslan, 2017; Shylaja et al., 2019).

Aim and Objectives

This study aims to design a reinforced concrete pedestrian bridge on a highway both manually and using design and drafting software.

The objectives of the project work are;

  • Objective 1: To determine the loadings of the structure (live load and dead load).
  • Objective 2: To determine the number, sizes of structural members such as slabs, beams, staircase, columns, and footings.
  • Objective 3: To design and detail the pedestrian bridge across a highway manually with British Standard and Limit State design.
  • Objective 4: To design and detail a pedestrian bridge across a highway with Staad Pro and AutoCAD software.
  • Objective 5: To compare results obtained from software and manually.

Research Questions

The identified research questions for this project are provided below:

  • What are the design loads (live and dead load)?
  • What are the engineering properties of the highway such as length across the road, soil properties, traffic of highway, etc.?
  • What are the number, sizes of structural members such as slabs, beams, staircase, columns, and footings needed for the pedestrian bridge?
  • What is the manual design approach?
  • What is the software design approach?
  • What are the discrepancies between both designs and detailing?

Deliverables

The deliverables of this project are a project report, a complete manual design book of the pedestrian bridge showing reinforcements and structural members dimensions, StaadPro design worksheets, and AutoCAD drawings. The design was done using British Standard codes; BS 8110-1 1997, BS 8110-3 1985, BS6399-1197 code of practice code. Results and drawings from the software and those derived manually were also compared.

Relevance

This project focuses on designing and detailing and detailing a pedestrian bridge across a highway both manually and using design and drafting software. Pedestrians are one of the most vulnerable users on a roadway or Highway. They are not protected by a vehicle body in the same way car users are and are exposed to accidents in cases of crossing roads and highways. Therefore, the provision of pedestrian bridges is of utmost importance to ensure the protection and safety of lives of both pedestrian and other road users such as motorcyclists, horse riders, pedal cyclists, cars, buses, and trucks as well as prevention of accidents on highways.

Methodology

This project focuses on both secondary research as well as manual and software structural design and detailing. They are discussed below:

Secondary Research

The secondary research in this project will utilize a systematic approach (Johnson et al., 2016) to review the previous works of literature. The steps involved in the systematic review of the literature are provided below:

  • Step 1: Identify the research questions that can be used for the project.
  • Step 2: Identify the keywords that should be used to research the works of literature.
  • Step 3: Extract the journals and books that are appropriate for this project.
  • Step 4: Write the literature review chapter.

Manual Design

The manual design of the project is a major aspect of it. It will occur in the following stages:

  • Stage 1: Getting information on the engineering properties of the highway such as length across the road, soil properties, traffic of the highway.
  • Stage 2: Carrying out structural analysis.
  • Stage 3: Deriving loading conditions, number, and sizes of structural members of the bridge
  • Stage 4: Obtaining design moments for all members from the slabs, staircases, beams, columns, and footing.
  • Stage 5: Step by step design of individual members using Limit state design
  • Stage 6: Obtaining reinforcements and dimensions of structural members
  • Stage 7: Result testing, analysis, evaluation, and optimization.

Software Design

The manual design of the project is a major aspect of it. It will occur in the following stages:

  • Stage 1: Getting information on the engineering properties of the highway such as length across the road, soil properties, traffic of the highway.
  • Stage 2: Carrying out structural analysis
  • Stage 3: Deriving loading conditions, number, and sizes of structural members of the bridge
  • Stage 4: Drawing the structure on AutoCAD
  • Stage 5: Exporting drawings to StaadPro for the design of all structural members
  • Stage 6: Obtaining reinforcements and dimensions of structural members
  • Stage 7: Result testing, analysis, evaluation, and optimization.

Evaluation

The risk assessment conducted for this project is provided in the table below:

Table 1:  Risk assessment

Risk

Impact

Mitigation Plan

Inability to meet the deadline

Low

Get an extension from the supervisor in due time

Inability to get required process inputs

Low

Refer to research institutes and skilled professionals and the supervisor for help

Inability to properly develop the process setup

Low

Refer to supervisor and professionals for help

Insufficient data

Low

Refer to journals and textbooks for help

Schedule

Table 2: Project Plan

Task Name

Start Date

End Date

Duration (Days)

Initial Research

15/01/2022

29/01/2022

14

Proposal

29/01/2022

06/02/2022

21

Secondary Research

06/02/2022

26/02/2022

20

Introduction Chapter

26/02/2022

31/02/2022

5

Literature Review Chapter

31/02/2022

10/03/2022

10

Methodology Chapter

10/03/2022

22/03/2022

12

Manual and Computer drawing

22/03/2022

01/04/2022

10

Manual Design

01/04/2022

01/05/2022

30

Software Design

01/05/2022

11/05/2022

10

Presentation 1

11/05/2022

19/05/2022

8

Checking the design

19/05/2022

29/05/2022

10

Evaluation and comparison of Results

29/05/2022

05/06/2022

7

Discussion Chapter

05/06/2022

15/06/2022

10

Evaluation Chapter

15/06/2022

20/06/2022

5

Conclusion Chapter

20/06/2022

22/06/2022

2

Project Management Chapter

22/06/2022

24/06/2022

2

Abstract and Report compilation

24/06/2022

26/08/2022

2

Report Proofreading

26/06/2022

06/07/2022

2

References

Charles V. (2016). Bridges. Litres Publishing.

Demirarslan, D., 2017. Pedestrian Bridges and Passages in terms of Space Design. IJASOS- International E-journal of Advances in Social Sciences, pp.139-139.

Itti S.V., and Madagouda R M., (2018), “A Study on Cable-Stayed Footbridge”.

Johnson, D., Deterding, S., Kuhn, K.A., Staneva, A., Stoyanov, S., and Hides, L., 2016. Gamification for health and wellbeing: A systematic review of the literature. Internet interventions, 6, pp.89-106.

Kustura, M., Šunjic, G. and Šunjic, B., (2020). Pedestrian bridges and load testing. Electronic collection of papers of the Faculty of Civil Engineering.

Mohammed. Yakub Ali, and Gugulothu. Swarna, (2016), “Design and Analysis of Pedestrian Bridge”, Vol.4, Issue No 10, P.20-30.

Nelson T., Ponnudurai, Asha P., and Kumar R., (2015), “Design of Cable-Stayed Pedestrian Bridge”.

Prasad S.V.V., (2015) “Design and Estimate of Concrete Girder Bridge on Road Curve”.

Prashanth T., (2018), “Design and Analysis of Foot Over Bridge Using Staad Pro”, International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology, Vol. 9, No. 1, P. 13.

Ryall, M.J., Parke, G.A.R., Harding, J.E., (2003). Manual of Bridge Engineering. London: Thomas Telford Pub.

Shylaja, N., Mahesh, Rakesh, B. and Sagar, N., 2019. Design and Analysis of Pedestrian Bridge for REVA University. SAMRIDDHI-A Journal of Physical Sciences, Engineering, and Technology (S-JPSET), Vol. 10(Issue Supplementary). ISSN: 2229-7111 (Print) and ISSN: 2454-5767 (Online).

Last updated: Jan 14, 2022 03:20 PM

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