Yanni Zhao

Link to Design Journal
Journal Entry For
Module 8 - Make Your Pitch
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For this assignment, I will be developing a configurator tool that create a parametric arch bridge based on a basic form as shown in the figure. The user will be able to change the form of the bridge based on user-defined inputs and create a revit model for their own furture works.

image

Intended users

The intended user for this tool will be structural engineers as well as architects who want to explore or compare various design options for an arch bridge.

Need you’re trying to provide a solution or support for

When designing a bridge, designers could have several different ideas. It will be hard to compare each design without visualizing it. This tool will help the users to quickly generate an arch bridge revit model with desired properties. Besides, with the outputs generated with each of design, users can compare all the options in other perspective including material usage, total weight, and member forcesand choose one that fits their need.

Inputs

Bridge Width

Bridge Span

Arch Height

Number of Arches

Number of Cables(hangers)

The following parameters will have defaults values to help visualized the model which can also be adjusted by the user:

Cable Size

Bridge Deck Thickness

Superimposed Load

Underlying logic of the model you’ll implement

The model will take the user defined inputs as parameters to generate a revit model and conduct structural analysis on it. Besides, the user can also define the dimensions of the structural elemnts to get estimations of total weight and cost of design.

Outputs

Member forces

Member moments

Member deflection

Total weight of the bridge

Estimated total cost of materials