April 14, 2022
Construction cost was calculated by taking a look at the NJDOT prices for the items required. A few of the things taken into account were clearing the site cost, concrete cost, and steel cost. The total construction cost came out to be $813,000. The table to the left shows a more detailed calculation.
April 10, 2022
Designed and calculated reinforcement for the parapet system and shear studs. The main parapet system reinforcement was calculated to be #5 @ 10" spacing. The longitudinal reinforcement was calculated to be #4 @ 12" spacing. The number of shear studs used for the design was calculated to be 274 studs at 3 inches spacing and 4 inches traverse spacing.
March 25, 2022
Determined the non composite and composite Deflection in order to see if the allowable deflection is greater than both. The non composite deflection came out to be 0.397 inches and composite deflection came out to be 0.503 inches. Those numbers are both smaller than allowable deflection which is 1.266. This member will not fail in deflection since the span length is shorter.
March 15, 2022
Completed the one-way slab design for the deck in order to figure out what rebar to use and the spacing of it. After doing the calculations for it by using the input shown in the table the use of #8 rebar was required @ 6" c/c.
February 23, 2022
Used AutoCAD to come up with a cross-section of the bridge. Determined the total span length after adding up the length for sidewalk, lanes, curb, and shoulder. Figured out the spacing for the beams and the number of beams required to support the bridge.
February 14, 2022
After the best alternative design was selected preliminary configuration of the bridge was designed in order to come up with calculation such as dead load and live load for the deck, parapet, and wearing surface. The total dead load came out to be 1363 lb/ft.
November 21, 2021
The total engineering service cost for both semesters came out to be $31,000. The overhead was taken into account as 150% for the expenses of the firm. These expenses include rent, insurance, utilities, taxes, etc. A fixed 10% was taken for the profit that the firm would earn on the project and the direct cost was included for site visits and supplies.
November 10, 2021
In order to figure out the engineering service cost schedule was made for both semesters considering the hours spent on each task and average salary earned in the united states with similar job titles. There were two positions engineering level 2 and Engineering director level both with different salaries per hour.
October 26, 2021
In order to determine which alternative is the most effective and the most optimal solution, matrix criteria will be used. Matrix criteria is a table listing out different criteria and specifications to keep in mind. The scale will go from 0-3 0 being the lowest and 3 being the highest. The alternative design with the highest score will be chosen and worked on further. After doing research alternative 1 is the best option.
October 19, 2021
The three alternatives to increase the loading capacity is to span the bridge over the culvert and not touch the culvert at all. The second alternative is to completely redesign the bridge and the culvert which will cost more but is more durable. The last alternative is to add a sheet pile which will add more support leading to increasing the loading capacity.
September 30, 2021
During my advisor meeting after Dr. Bechtel and Dr. Krstic saw the pictures taken at the site a major breakthrough was discovered about the project. As you can see in the picture to the right, there is a dam on the right side and a culvert on the left. The thing that was discovered is that this bridge is not only used as a path to get across but it's used as a retention wall in order to stop the flooding. Another problem that was discovered is that culverts like this aren't allowed or constructed in the modern world. This made this project very different and difficult in order to come up with alternative designs.
September 19, 2021
I visited the project site to assess all of the problems and conditions with the culvert. Some of the things I noted were wide cracks and damages not only on the culvert but the side railings as well as you can see in the images. One of the pillars is heavily cracked on the culvert which could impact the rest of the bridge and lead to water leakage. Many pictures were taken in order to come up with potential solutions and reference them as I continue to work on this project.
