Lachlan's Line Pedestrian Bridge - Welcome the Digital Design and Drawings for Sydneys' Helix Bridge

It gives us immense pleasure and a moment of pride on receiving such a prestigious award by the Australian Steel Institute for providing Structural Steel Detailing Services in building up the design and drawings for Lanchlan’s Line Pedestrian Bridge, Sydney.

The Award and Certification title “2020 NSW and Act Steel Excellence Awards” and winner of Engineering Projects.

Silicon Valley is a profound and renowned company serving in all types of engineering services, CAD services, drafting and designing services, BIM services for building and nonbuilding structures. With experience for over 14 years, we have been the first choice for our clients across the globe when it comes to outsourcing any project that needs assistance in CAD or engineering services. Our in-house team of well-trained engineers, designers, drafters, modelers, architects, and rest members are having good knowledge in providing end-to-end data-oriented and result-oriented services to our clients as per their expectations and needs.

Lachlan’s Line pedestrian and cycle bridge is a dream project that is constructed and is a first of its kind of bridge that is indeed also known as double helix bridge. The unique and interesting thing about this bridge is that it connects two locations and that itself saves a lot of traveling time and energy. This bridge here connects two different locations and that is the Landcom’s new residential development and the Macquarie Park precinct connecting to the North Ryde metro station in Sydney

Lachlan’s Line pedestrian and cycle bridge is a project worth $40 million, which used the raw material including,
  • 335 tonnes of Steel Used
  • 170m steel structure developed
  • The doubly-curved nodes are unique in their style and it has 164 nodes surface in it.
  • Mass Transit was easy for 5000 local residents.
  • For Structural work the diameter to have the helix shaped was 2.3 m
  • Width was 7.8m in diameter. Slimmest base was 5.5m

About the Project

The masterplan for initiating the project of Lachlan’s Line pedestrian and cycle bridge was prepared by the Landcom company. The initiative was to develop a building infrastructure that is innovative and is in support of the new community. The formation of Lachlan’s Line forms the end of the North Ryde Station Precinct post the announcement made by the NSW Government in September 2013. The location of this unique bridge is located between North Ryde and Macquarie Park stations.

Moving further, the site which is also an industrial site will demonstrate the work which is excellent in its own ways and is having a stable sustainable development with around 2700 homes having 5000 residents, along with open spaces, parks, play areas, retail and commercial facilities, and other important details. Taking it further, another benefit here that is attracting the localities is the traveling facility. The option available here is that the facility facilitates two railway stations, bus transport, and the M2 Motorway.

Process undertaken to develop effective, efficient, and sculptural design

Now let us proceed further and take an understanding on what was the process that was undertaken to develop such a beautiful sculptural design of double-deck helix bridge which itself is the best and unique in its own way.

The very first step that our structural designers, steel detailers, and designers undertook was to understand the entire Lachlan’s Line design process and its workflow digitally/virtually that is connected by computational code. Taking into consideration the designs that were having great opportunities and with that was clearly seen the creativity that the engineering team has shown up.

Moreover, the initial approach of the shared digital data was considered and determined using the shortest alignment for the pedestrian bridge. Not only this the team also made sure that that they would take the route for busy roads. This then turned out to be the work that continued to evolve around the design program and the models that are linked in all and together.

Challenges Faced and Solved during the Steel Detailing Process

When the project was undertaken by us, there were challenges and hurdles that were faced, and once these queries and concerns were clear the solutions were viewed clearly, and apparently with the work delivered by our team has given the result which made us receive a prestigious award.

  • The bridge constructed has a strong and wide base. Since we understand that Lachlan's Line Bridge needs to be unique globally, the steel detailers and fabricators made sure that they have a detailed and thorough check on the structural design that has been developed by the team of engineers.
  • The second challenge was to understand the flat plates to be used, which is better for the steel construction of twists and turns. Also, with this how will the welding process be considered. So, to resolve this challenge the team made use or integrated the software and that was "Tekla". This software again helped in resolving the challenge to get the entire design and drawing converted into a better steel detailing process.
  • How will the 3D design be developed and created so as to have a complete 360-degree view of the design? So, this is where the team undertakes software that gives access to convert the 2D designs into detailed 3D models for the complete project.
  • Another challenge was to upgrade as well as optimize the dimensional view of the bridge and also its geometrical area. This was because to check the shortest length between the landing points which were two in numbers. So, to have the view in a vertical instance the outcome was entirely dictated by the team along with its functional activities.
  • It was very clear to the team of engineers that each design, drawing, and drafted models need to be viewed in 3D models and thus it was mandatory to produce accurate and precise 3D models of each piece of steel.

Case Study of the Entire Project

Let us now share with you some more facts about the project. The details shared below is a small study of the project with regards to the time undertaken to finish the Steel Detailing Services in it.

  • Type of service – Steel detailing for the pedestrian bridge
  • Time of completion – 1.75 years
  • Software Used - Tekla
  • Total manpower used – Team of 15 Engineers
  • Project Start Date – Feb-2018
  • Project End Date - Nov-2019

Silicon Valley is the one-stop destination that serves its clients with all types of Structural Engineering Services and stands up to the mark on customer’s needs and expectations.

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