Autodesk Roadway Design for InfraWorks 360 Essentials
Autodesk Roadway Design for InfraWorks 360 Essentials, 2nd Edition allows you to begin designing immediately as you learn the ins and outs of the roadway-specific InfraWorks module. Detailed explanations coupled with hands-on exercises help you get up to speed and quickly and become productive with the module’s core features and functions. Compelling screenshots illustrate step-by-step tutorials, and the companion website provides downloadable starting and ending files so you can jump in at any point and compare your work to the pros.
Master the Roadway tools that go beyond the base software
Create new designs and add detail with step-by-step tutorials
Use the powerful module-specific analysis and optimization functions
Import and work with real-world data to quickly become productive
If you are looking for a guide that will get you up and designing right away, Autodesk Roadway Design for InfraWorks 360 Essentials, 2nd Edition is the easy-to-follow roadmap to Roadway Design mastery.
Autodesk InfraWorks and InfraWorks 360 Essentials: Autodesk Official Press
Your guide to quickly learning InfraWorks Autodesk InfraWorks Essentials is a complete, hands–on tutorial for InfraWorks, the powerful design tool that lets you quickly generate 3D models to create infrastructure designs and proposals. This Autodesk Official Press book shows you the right way to take advantage of versatile InfraWorks features. From creating models in the context of the existing environment to crafting stunning proposals, you′ll become comfortable with every step of the design process. After working through this start–to–finish tutorial, you′ll be able to productively use InfraWorks for civil project design that′s fully integrated with existing real–world characteristics. In Autodesk InfraWorks Essentials , you′ll learn everything you need for everyday design projects. 360 full–color pages full of screenshots and illustrations Detailed step–by–steps on importing GIS and other data Create roadways, buildings, railways, and more Learn how to use the powerful Styles feature Download before and after files, so you can start anywhere This is the perfect tutorial for using InfraWorks to quickly create infrastructure designs, win project bids, speed up the approval process, and collaborate remotely across platforms.
Tekla BIM software is revolutionising the concrete detailing process, enabling users to produce fully reinforced 3D models with construction level of detail and all associated documentation. By modelling all details in the 3D model, all drawings and schedules are fully coordinated with this single source of truth and updated as changes are made. In this video, Paul Walker of Tekla UK demonstrates the benefits of Tekla for rebar detailing. Mirroring a typical workflow, he uses an IFC model from Autodesk Revit to establish the concrete geometry and converts the IFC objects to native Tekla elements. Paul then demonstrates how to detail the converted objects and produce the associated drawings and rebar schedules.
Great engineering projects begin with Civil 3D. Learn to get up and running with this powerful CAD program in these tutorials, with author Jon Michael Roberts. Discover how important it is to set up Civil 3D properly to streamline drafting tasks, plot styles, and establish design criteria for your particular organization. Jon then shows designers the differences they can expect to see between AutoCAD and Civil 3D, and the different design options Civil 3D offers. The final three chapters are dedicated to grading, laying a driveway, and creating a pipe network to an example single-family home.
Topics include:
– Understanding the Civil 3D interface
– Creating parcels and right-of-ways
– Importing site data
– Designing a 3D surface
– Creating alignments and profiles
– Grading surfaces
– Creating corridors
– Designing pipe networks
China finalises design of 135km Taiwan rail tunnel
Chinese engineers have finalised a method for building the world’s longest transport tunnel: a 135km link connecting Taiwan with the mainland.
Any live project would depend on a radical change in the international situation – relations between Beijing and Taipei are in the freezer following the election victory of Tsai Ing-wen and the pro-independence Democratic Progressive party in 2016. However, the People’s Republic is planning to have everything in place ready to begin the project when it becomes politically possible.
It would also depend on the two countries’ finding the cost of the scheme, which has been given a speculative cost estimate of $80bn.
According to the South China Morning Post, Chinese engineers are proposing a “warm-up” project to make sure China has the capabilities to tackle what would be one of the most ambitious civil engineering projects of the 21st century.
It is also possible that Beijing will make a symbolic start work on the project without any agreement from the other side of the Formosa Strait .
The idea of a tunnel has been under discussion throughout the 20th century, without any solution emerging for the formidable problems it would face as it cut through complex layers of rock, including granite, and crossed two seismic faults zones.
Possible routes for the tunnel. The Chinese are presently working on the northernmost option (Creative Commons)
The Chinese solution, completed last year with funding from the Chinese Academy of Engineering, would involve sinking the tunnel at least 200m below the surface.
The idea of a link achieved prominence in 2016, when Beijing included the “Beijing–Taipei expressway and rail link” in its 13th five-year plan.
The declaration triggered an emergency session of the Taiwanese legislature and a statement by the Taiwanese government rejecting the idea.
This was followed by a statement from Wang Mengshu, a prominent Chinese railway engineer, claiming that he had been holding secret discussions over the project with his Taiwanese counterparts for a decade, and that then Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou, approved of them.
Top image: In the 2016-20 national plan, China proposed extending its high-speed rail system to Taiwan (Alancrh/Creative Commons)
Virgin Hyperloop announces $500m testing centre in Andalucia
Virgin Hyperloop One has signed an agreement with Spain to build a $500m Advanced Technology Development and Testing Centre in the Andalusia.
The facility, which will be the company’s first in Europe, will be partly financed by $146m in public aid through loans and grants on the grounds that the development will stimulate regional economic growth and job creation.
Rob Lloyd, Virgin Hyperloop’s chief executive, said: “By investing in the development and testing of Virgin Hyperloop One, Spain is extending its long-tradition as an innovative, global transport leader. We are excited to partner with such a forward-thinking country in developing the next generation of transportation.”
The plant will be built in the village of Bobadilla in the province of Malaga, part of a cluster of aerospace cluster in Spain. Virgin Hyperloop estimates that it will hire 200-300 technicians.
The plan is to open the 19,000-sq-m in 2020, after which it will work on developing, testing and certifying components and subsystems.
Image: Virgin Hyperloop is part of a global race to bring vacuum maglev technology to market
Roads Paved with Plastic Bottles: Making Use of an Ecological Threat
Rotterdam in the Netherlands may become the first city to repurpose one of Earth’s biggest pollutants by paving its streets with plastic bottles. The Rotterdam City Council is working out a way to efficiently pilot a new type of plastic road surface since their initial declaration in 2015.
The concept raises some concerns. Heat on all-plastic surface may be a problem, as plastic, just like asphalt, can soften under higher temperatures. And the engineers behind the project are working to ensure that the roads are capable of withstanding both the heat and the abuse from constant traffic.
VolkerWessels, a European construction firm, addressed concerns by creating and testing a surface made entirely from plastic. Results suggest that the surface required less maintenance than typical road surfaces and could even withstand extreme temperatures of -40°C to 80°C (-40°F to 176°F).
A Plastic Road Hybrid with Roots in India
While the process is still ongoing in the Netherlands, a UK start-up called MacRebur is succeeding in persuading local councils to use plastic to pave new roads. Cumbria in northwest England has become the first county to turn its local waste into roads.
The project began in a small farmhouse in Lockerbie, Scotland, led by the plastic-road pioneer Toby McCartney.
“We use waste plastics to add into an asphalt mix to create a stronger, longer-lasting pothole free road,” Mr. McCartney says.
Mr. McCartney’s idea came about during his trip to India, where he witnessed the locals pouring plastic into the potholes. The plastic was then burnt into the potholes and smoothed over, fixing the holes and at the same time, making use of the plastic waste. Mr. McCartney left India inspired. But he didn’t act on the idea until until later, back home, when he heard the response his daughter gave when her school teacher asked what lived in our oceans. She said “plastics, miss.” And Mr. McCartney sought to make a change.
How is it done?
The secret lies in a mixture of plastic pellets, but the details are proprietary.
“I give the analogy of Irn Bru, we will never tell anyone what is actually in our mix,” Mr. McCartney says.
Normally, roads are comprised of about 90 percent rocks, limestone and sand, with roughly 10% bitumen used to bind it. Bitumen is extracted from crude oil. The plastic pellets replace a significant part of the bitumen, and can be made from household waste, and commercial waste.
Mr. McCartney regularly receives large bundles of waste, most of which is destined to end up in landfill, or is thrown into the incinerator. The waste plastic however, is processed into millions of pellets at an asphalt plant, where bags of pellets are mixed with quarried rock and bitumen. The result is a road that repurposes plastic waste and lasts longer and costs less than typical roads , Mr. McCartney says.
Can Plastic-Eating Caterpillars Cause Chaos?
The strangest dilemma the might roads face isn’t from the heat, or the weight of the cars. Instead, it may come in the form of hungry caterpillars.
The question arose while researching the possible hazards linked to this innovation in road materials. Plastic-eating caterpillars are a blessing, as their ability to eat through plastic could eventually solve some plastic waste issues. But could they also eat through plastic roads?
Experimenters at Cambridge have discovered that the caterpillars ‘can break down the chemical bonds of plastic in a similar way to digesting beeswax.’ Dr Paolo Bombelli – a scientist as Cambridge University believes that the caterpillars are just the starting point and that “we need to understand the details under which this process operates.”
Alan Read, owner of Ames Pest Control believes that the caterpillars aren’t strong enough to eat through the roads, however:
“The roads look as if they go through multiple safety tests and chemical transformations before being laid onto the roads. Even if thousands of these caterpillars were to focus on eating through one particular section, it would take months, if not years to make a dent. There really is no cause for concern.”
A Bright Future for the Use of Plastic
Either way, with plastic-eating caterpillars and plastic-infused roads slowly making their appearance in contemporary society, it only looks good for the future of our eco-system.
Segmental bridges are made from precast concrete units stressed together with strand or bars. They are generally box girders with a widened top flange, that will form the full width of the carriageway on completion of the bridge. Because of the size of the units they are usually cast on or very close to the construction site in purpose-built plant.
So that there is a good fit when they are joined together in their final position units are normally counter-cast (units are cast against the end of the previous unit, with a suitable bond breaker between the old and the new concrete) . The units are lifted into position and stressed back to the previously installed unit, with a thin layer of epoxy mortar between the two to form a water-tight joint.
Units are built out from the abutments of the bridge or from the piers; in the latter case the units are generally cantilevered in either direction so that the sections under construction balance each other.
This animation shows all major processes involved in construction of a concrete bridge made of concrete segments in a method called “balanced cantilever”. This medium was used as a learning material for contractor’s staff who were new to this technology. Many university teachers also have used this animation to teach their students about this kind of bridge.
Feu vert à un plan autoroutier de 700 millions d’euros
Le plan d’investissement autoroutier voulu par François Hollande est entériné, tout en étant ramené de 800 à 700 millions d’euros. 23 nouveaux échangeurs autoroutiers, entre autres, vont être créés.
Le plan d’investissement autoroutier annoncé par François Hollande en 2016 a émergé fin juillet de son examen par le Conseil d’Etat. Il est un peu rapetissé, mais entériné, après avoir reçu le feu vert du Conseil d’Etat pour 700 millions d’euros de travaux, au lieu des 800 millions escomptés. Car sur les 57 chantiers projetés, certains ont été retoqués. Ce plan visait à effectuer des travaux nécessaires mais que les collectivités locales demandeuses ne pouvaient financer seules et qu’elles co-financent avec les sept concessionnaires de réseaux autoroutiers. A la clé, il a été convenu d’une hausse des péages autoroutiers de +0,1 % à +0,4 % selon les réseaux.
Les chantiers abandonnés vont faire des déçus dans certains territoires mais au final, s’il n’y aura pas 32 nouveaux échangeurs autoroutiers, le plan en comptera tout de même 23, et environ 25 opérations de nature environnementales ou connexes (parkings, voies de co-voiturage, etc). Dans le détail, sur les sept concessionnaires ayant soumis une liste de travaux sur leurs réseaux, trois ont vu leur liste intégralement approuvée : il s’agit de Sanef, de SAPN (filiale de Sanef) et de Cofiroute. Ce dernier réseau (groupe Vinci) accueillera certaines des opérations les plus emblématiques, comme le réaménagement du périphérique de Nantes et la création d’un échangeur à Laval (Mayenne) ou encore celui de Connerré (près du Mans).
Hausses de péages
Les avenants aux contrats de concession, afin de permettre ces travaux et les hausses de péages afférentes, paraîtront en décrets en septembre, indique le ministère des Transports. Restent quatre autres réseaux pour lesquels la liste des travaux devant être revue à la baisse, suite à l’avis négatif du conseil d’Etat sur certains d’entre eux, la parution des décrets prendra un peu plus de temps. Pour ASF et Escota (groupe Vinci), comme pour APRR et Area (groupe Eiffage), le ministère des Transports va à nouveau soumettre à la rentrée au Conseil d’Etat un projet d’avenant à leurs contrats de concessions comportant une liste de chantiers amendés pour que, au final, les décrets puissent paraître d’ici à la fin de l’année.
Le ministère des Transports prend garde de ne pas présenter les choses de manière négative : quelle que soit la date de parution des décrets, septembre ou novembre, les sept concessionnaires autoroutiers auront des chantiers mis en oeuvre à compter de l’an prochain, et l’annonce que la voie se dégageait a donc été faite dans les territoires ce jeudi sous la forme d’un communiqué d’Elisabeth Borne. Après deux ans d’examen et de négociations, il fallait bien cela pour sortir le plan de l’oubli qui le menaçait.
