The all-composite road bridge – a proposal for rapid urbanisation

<p>Technology and materials can help cities get smarter and cope with rapid urbanisation. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is one of the approaches applied in evaluation of material sustainability. Many significant LCA comparisons of innovative and traditional construction materials indicate that fibre- reinforced polymer (FRP) composites compare very favourably with other materials studied. As a proposal for rapid urbanisation, the FRP all-composite road bridge was developed and demonstrated in Poland. The paper describes the bridge system itself and presents the results of research on its development. The output of the R&amp;D project gives a very promising future for the FRP composite bridge application in Poland, especially for cleaner, resilient and more environmentally efficient infrastructure of fast-growing cities.</p>

Structural topology optimization of bridge girders in cable supported bridges

<p>This work applies a ultra large scale topology optimization method to study the optimal structure of bridge girders in cable supported bridges.</p><p>The current classic orthotropic box girder designs are limited in further development and optimiza­ tion, and suffer from substantial fatigue issues. A great disadvantage of the orthotropic girder is the loads being carried one direction at a time, thus creating stress hot spots and fatigue problems. Hence, a new design concept has the potential to solve many of the limitations in the current state­ of-the-art.</p><p>We present a design method based on ultra large scale topology optimization. The highly detailed structures and fine mesh-discretization permitted by ultra large scale topology optimization reveal new design features and previously unseen eff ects. The results demonstrate the potential of gener­ ating completely different design solutions for bridge girders in cable supported bridges, which dif­ fer significantly from the classic orthotropic box girders.</p><p>The overall goal of the presented work is to identify new and innovative, but at the same time con­ structible and economically reasonable, solutions tobe implemented into the design of future cable supported bridges.</p>

Utilization of Existing Metro Rail Viaduct for Emergency and Personal Rapid Transit

<p>In the present decade, urban transportation need to satify the requirement of the commuter to move faster and at the same time to achieve its affordability goal to the end user. In pursuit of this exploration, infrastructure built to cater the existing transportation modes &amp; network should be utilised to provide a sustainable solution. Accordingly, it has been discussed a new ideology of utilizing the emergency walkway of the existing metro rail elevated viaduct for providing services named Emergency Rapid Transit (ERT) and Personal Rapid transit (PRT). This paper describes about the requirements, pros and cons of implementing this ideology.</p>

Making the world’s longest subsea tunnel sustainable

<p>How can large-scale infrastructure projects be sustainable? The purpose of this paper is to discuss how engineering practices were changed in order to reduce the carbon footprint of the E39 Rogfast project, the world’s longest roadway sub-sea tunnel. The project will generate greenhouse gas (GHG)-emissions exceeding 1% of Norway’s total annual GHG-emissions. The paper covers the project process, including some of the challenges to be overcome.</p>

Innovative Upgrading of Heritage Buildings: Structural Case Studies

<p>The challenge of integrating old and new in the development of urban spaces is constrained by commercial realities and an ignorance of the value of maintaining historical relevance as society develops. Malaysia has had its fair share of such historical gems being destroyed without much consideration for heritage but there also exists significant projects where proper design and engineering have been applied for conservation and adaptive reuse.</p><p>In this paper innovative options for structural upgrading of masonry buildings is considered using techniques which provide a basis for achieving structural integrity without compromising the visual appearance and historical value. This includes examples of a shop house upgraded following significant settlement due to adjacent construction and an adaptive reuse of a school which was converted into a theatre.</p>

Experimental Study on the Dynamic Deformation of Simply Supported Beam in Chinese High-speed Railway

<p>At present, Chinese high-speed railway operating mileage has exceeded 20 thousand km, and the proportion of the bridge is nearly 50%. Moreover, high-speed railway design speed is constantly improving. Therefore, controlling the deformation of the bridge structure strictly is particularly important to train speed-up as well as to ensure the smoothness of the line. This paper, based on the field test, shows the vertical and transverse absolute displacements of bridge structure by field collection. What’s more, resonance speed and dynamic coefficient of bridge were studied. The results show that: the horizontal and vertical stiffness of the bridge can meet the requirements of <b>Chinese “high-speed railway design specification” (HRDS)</b>, and the structure design can be optimized. However, the dynamic coefficient may be greater than the specification suggested value. And the simply supported beam with CRTSII ballastless track has second-order vertical resonance velocity 306km/h and third-order transverse resonance velocity 312km/h by test results, which are all coincide with the theoretical resonance velocity.</p>