UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL School of Engineering

Design Brief 2019-20 v6 (after UoL

campus closure)

Course module (and code) Group Design Project (CIVE263)

Assignment title University Footbridge Design

Cohort Year 2 – All Civil Engineering programmes

Lecturers responsible M Bather, Dr Z Guan, Dr S Finnegan, Dr J Hackl

Date set Semester 2, Week 1

Required date of submission Weekly demonstration of progress.

Final date for Portfolio and Presentation
submissions is Monday 4 May 2020 (4.30pm).

Penalty scheme for late submission Standard University Scheme

Contents

Introduction 2
Project Details 2
University of Liverpool Bridge 2
XJTLU Bridge 3
Client Requirements 3
Aims (learning outcomes) 4
Module Notes 4
Assessment and marking of the module 4
Demonstration of Weekly Progress 4
Group Design Portfolio 5
Conceptual design 6
Preliminary analysis and design 6
Detailed design 6
Group Final Presentation 7
Other documents 7
Appendix A - Photographs of existing XJTLU Bridge 8
Appendix B - Plan showing layout of supports of existing XJTLU Bridge 10
Appendix C – Summaries of group meetings and progress 10
Appendix D – Prompts for structuring the Group Design Portfolio submission 13
Introduction

This Group Design Project gives Year 2 students the opportunity to design a complete civil
engineering scheme from concept to a workable design solution. Emphasis is placed upon
teamwork, reaching an iconic, sustainable, economical and functional solution that meets
the client’s requirements. The exercise will enhance awareness of the various activities
involved in the planning, design and construction of a small to medium-scale civil engineering
project including the constraints imposed by existing infrastructure and the need to integrate
a new scheme into an existing built environment.

Project Details

The University of Liverpool and XJTLU wish to build a pair of footbridges; one in the UK and
one in China.

University of Liverpool Bridge

In Liverpool, the bridge will link the Walker and Harrison Hughes Buildings as shown in
Figure 1. This bridge is to facilitate movement of students between the Active Learning Labs
of the Walker Building and the Computing Teaching Centre of the Harrison Hughes Building
and at the same time create a focal point for the regeneration of the potential public realm
area between the two buildings. In addition to a sufficient width for pedestrian flow, the bridge
needs to accommodate a presentation area for displaying student work such as project
posters, portfolios and physical models.

The University of Liverpool is keen to receive designs that meet its requirements as
described in this document, and that are compatible with the city’s history and culture and the
university’s main strategic themes. The designs need to be compatible with the fabric of the
surrounding buildings, i.e. the Active Learning Labs coloured and glazed façade and the
Harrison Hughes’ historic brick and stone masonry external walls, whilst remaining innovative
and aesthetically pleasing.

Figure 1 shows the location and a rough positioning of the bridge in Liverpool. Further
existing building layout information can be gathered from Google Earth. The bridge is to be
supported on the external columns and beams of the Walker Building, but it must not impose
any additional loads on the Harrison Hughes Buildings i.e. it cannot use the Harrison Hughes
Building for support. The bridge will cross at the first floor level. The structure of the Walker
Building has been checked by the University’s in-house structural engineers and found able
to withstand the additional forces created by the new bridge. The bridge is to span the entire
gap between the two buildings with no additional intermediate support apart from at the face
of the Harrison Hughes Building due to the inability of the ‘soft-top’ above the railway lines to
support the load imposed by the bridge.

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Figure 1 Proposed bridge location between Walker Building and Harrison Hughes Building
(dashed lines indicate rail lines below ground)

XJTLU Bridge

An existing three storey bridge links two buildings at XJTLU (at second, third and fourth floor
levels). This bridge is supported entirely by four pairs of columns (eight columns in total). It is
proposed to demolish this bridge and replace it with a single storey bridge (at second floor
level) which would be supported on just two pairs of columns (the outer pairs of columns)
(four columns in total). It is proposed to remove the two pairs of inner columns to create a
wider passageway between the two buildings.

Just as the Liverpool bridge designs must reflect the culture and history of its environment so
too must the designs for the XJTLU bridge. Additionally, both bridge designs must be clearly
linked to demonstrate the positive relationship between the two universities. Information on
the XJTLU bridge site is available in the Appendices.

Client Requirements

1. Each new bridge should be capable of withstanding the following loading:

a. a normal pedestrian loading of 5 kN/m2
b. a wind load of 0.9 kN/m2 blowing in from the River Mersey
c. a snow load of 0.6 kN/m2 on the roof of the bridge
2. The gradient of any ramps should not be greater than 1 in 20.
3. The minimum clear headroom inside the bridges shall be 2.3m.
4. The new bridges should have a minimum width of 2.5m.
5. The bridges should accommodate display areas for student work such as project
posters, portfolios, models and TV-display monitors.
6. The bridges should have an iconic design that reflects the history and culture of the two
universities and their main strategic themes.
7. The bridge in Liverpool should have no intermediate supports apart from at the face of
the Harrison Hughes Building.
8. The design should be an exemplar of sustainable design and construction.
9. An assessment of construction feasibility of the new bridge in Liverpool is required.
This should consider the construction sequence of the bridge with consideration to
the surrounding buildings and constraints imposed by the rail lines below ground.

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Aims (learning outcomes)

At the end of the project students should be able to:

1. Develop feasible structural design solutions to satisfy a general project brief
2. Appreciate and overcome the problems associated with group work, so that they can
work effectively as part of a design team
3. Effectively articulate and present work to clients

Module Notes

 The project commences on Monday 27 January 2020. It is timetabled for a weekly two-
hour lecture 3 – 5pm on Mondays in accordance with the Lecture and Work Plan and
Progress Sheet, and group meetings (with supervisors) 2 – 5pm on Thursdays. Work
will be completed progressively and brought along to the formal Thursday meetings.
Please see your timetables for location of lectures and group meetings.
 In industry, most teams are project specific and, as an engineer, although you are
unlikely to know all members of a team at its inception, you may know one or two of
the team members. To create a similar dynamic, students can choose two of their
team-mates, but the overall composition of their team will be outside their choice.
 Students will work in groups of six. Each group will comprise two trios of three
students. Students are required to choose their own trios, and one person from each
trio should email a list of the three trio members to Mike Bather during Week 1 of the
project. Trios will then be paired up to create groups of six.
 Each team should visit the site in Liverpool before commencing design work.
Remember to take notes and photographs of the site for your site appraisal.
 Each group will provide a response to the Client Brief in the form of a Group Design
Portfolio and each student is required to produce an individual set of manual
calculations related to a particular aspect of the design submission.
 Each student should carry out an equal amount of work within the group and this
should be clear in the Design Portfolio e.g. each sheet of calculations and each sheet
of the portfolio submitted must clearly show who carried out the work.
 A peer assessment survey will be used at the end of the project in order to indicate
how the group average mark should be adjusted to fairly reflect the input and effort of
the group members. In the past, students have been heavily penalised for non-
participation and highly rewarded for strong participation.
 Questions concerning the interpretation of this brief should be addressed to your
group’s staff supervisor at the weekly meetings.

Assessment and marking of the module

Demonstration of Weekly Progress 10%

Group Design Portfolio 70%
Group Final Presentation (PPT only) 20%
Total percentage for whole module 100%

Demonstration of Weekly Progress

The groups will meet with their allocated staff supervisor once a week during the Thursday
afternoon sessions, when they will discuss student progress. Please refer to the Cover Sheet
and Progress Sheet in Appendix C of this document. Each group must complete their
Progress Sheets on a weekly basis and agree them with their staff supervisor. These sheets
will be submitted as part of the Group Design Portfolio.

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The group staff supervisor will be acting as the client’s representative, monitoring progress,
which forms a part of the marking of the module.

In addition, the weekly meetings will address student questions as set out in agendas that
are to be pre-prepared (before the meeting) by the groups. Minutes of the meeting
discussions are to be recorded by the group and submitted as part of the Group Design
Portfolio.

Finally, as an integral part of the design development of this module, surgeries are arranged
to give students the opportunity to liaise with practising professionals. It is the responsibility
of each group to ensure that they are well prepared for these short meetings and to arrive in
good time. This is an important way of demonstrating well managed progress.

Group Design Portfolio

Portfolio
Group Design Portfolio
mark %
Conceptual design (2 bridges in
must be apparent

Analysis of client brief and design criteria

Liverpool and 2 in XJTLU)

8
Triple bottom line of

Site appraisals
at all stages

Precedent analyses
8
sustainability

Range of distinct and viable concept designs for each bridge

Justification (quantified where appropriate) of chosen concept

4
design schemes using design criteria
analysis and
Preliminary

Preliminary modelling of the structure (clearly showing structural

Detailed design (1 bridge in Liverpool) Liverpool)
bridges in
design (2

form and lateral stability), estimation of loads, approximate

20
calculation of forces and stresses in key structural elements and
foundations, approximate sizing of structural elements
Detailed structural analysis (including demonstration of
Sustainability must be apparent in all

structural form and lateral stability) - all members contribute to a 10

coherent group submission
Detailed structural element design - all members contribute to a
10
coherent group submission
elements

Detailed structural drawings - all members contribute to a

coherent group submission, producing at least one drawing 10
each
Construction site plans, construction method statement and
10
management of health, safety and risk

Sustainability statement quantifying and thoughtfully discussing

10
embodied and operational energy of the bridge design

Overall presentation of portfolio 10

Total 100

For more detailed information on marking criteria, see the CIVE263 Portfolio Marking Pro
Forma

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Reference should be made to the Portfolio Marking Pro Forma document uploaded to VITAL
which covers the detailed requirements of each part of the Group Design Portfolio.

The group design portfolio should be of a high standard of presentation with a ‘corporate’
identity (i.e. company name, logo and consistent style). The author(s) of individual pages
should highlight their name clearly on the pages produced by them. All documents submitted
need to include adequate summaries, introductions, etc. Each group must only submit one
version of their documents (so, agree and name one person from your group to take
responsibility for this).

The Group Design Portfolio must be made up of three pdf documents: Two A3 size
and one A4 size. It is recommended that the “CIVE263 Portfolio Marking Pro Forma” and
the “CIVE263 Suggested portfolio submission” documents are consulted before planning the
contents of the submission documents. This is a big job and each group should consider
nominating one person to compile and curate their work – this student should be identified in
the submission (and have a reduced workload in other aspects of this project).

Broadly, the first A3 document will contain your main portfolio document. This is your group’s
submission for the design challenge – this is intended to be similar to a professional
submission to a design competition. This must be curated to be a coherent and convincing
submission, without odds and ends added here and there. The second A3 document will
contain your appendix which will contain additional material that will allow the marking tutors
to see some of the detailed calculations and individual work from students (for instance (i)
unused concept designs and (ii) unused precedence studies, (iii) preliminary structural
models produced for other bridges). This appendix document is essential to allow marks to
be allocated fairly to individual students.

The single A4 document will contain calculations and sketches, documentation and
summaries of group meetings and progress sheets (and any other information that you feel is
essential to be submitted – however, please do not simply dump stuff into either this or the
A3 appendix – padding and irrelevant material will lose marks). Again, this document is
essential to allow marks to be given to all students fairly.

When submitting files, please follow a helpful file naming procedure (include the module
code, group name, date, version, etc.). Note that Blackboard and Turnitin have a file size
limit of 40MB. Please aim to keep you file size as small as possible. It is possible to reduce
pdf file sizes dramatically using online tools. Limitations on file sizes are commonly used in
professional life, it is good to learn how to adapt your file submissions now.

Conceptual design

This covers the early stages of the creative design process and will present a mix of the
results of information gathering, analysis, appraisals, discussion and finally, justification of
the chosen concept design schemes. Only the key precedent studies and concept designs
produced during this phase of the design will be presented in the main body of the Group
Design Portfolio; the remainder can be submitted in the appendices to demonstrate the
extent of work undertaken by the entire group.

Preliminary analysis and design

This covers the preliminary modelling of the structure and will be handwritten and hand-
drawn. Even though this will reflect a changing developmental phase of the design, it is
important that the submitted work is clearly presented in an understandable form. [As has

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been explained numerous times during the course of this module (and as shown in the
Lecture and Work Plan and Progress Sheet), each student must carry out their own
preliminary analysis and design of at least one bridge. Those preliminary models that are not
included in the main A3 portfolio document of a group must be included in the A3 appendix
document.]

Detailed design

Calculations

Each student must participate in the structural analysis and design and checking of a
significant proportion of the scheme. It is not acceptable for students to not participate in the
technical aspects of the project (i.e. detailed structural analysis and detailed structural
element design).

All calculations must be handwritten on standard university calculation sheets. Spreadsheets

and other software may be used but they must be validated by hand calculations. University
calculation sheets can be purchased from the student support office in the Harrison Hughes
Building. Alternatively, a word version of a calc sheet is available in VITAL / CIVE263 /
Learning Resources / Lecture Schedule and other information / Calculation planning and
content.

If a computer analysis is used (e.g. GSA), it should only be used for structural analysis and
not member design calculations. The validity of any structural analysis carried out using a
computer must be confirmed by hand. Member design calculations must also be carried out
by hand. Where appropriate, computer input and summary results (for the final and complete
run only) should be included in the portfolio. [Note that you do not need to carry out a
computer analysis. Please also read the Portfolio Marking Pro Forma, where it clearly
explains that if you do submit computer analysis, it must be accompanied by hand
calculations.]

The individual calculations should be indexed and it must be made clear who produced each
calculation and who checked the calculation. Every page of the calculations should have the
names of both the author and checker.

Drawings

Either hand drawn or AutoCAD/REVIT drawings are acceptable. All drawings should be
presented at an appropriate engineering scale (e.g. 1:25, 1:50, 1:100, 1:500, 1:1000 etc.).
The use of Google Sketch-up or equivalent is also permitted to present 3D visuals of the
design solution.

Group Final Presentation

In previous years, presentations have been assessed using the following criteria:
1. Quality of slides and quality of presentation
2. Quality of design
3. Response to questions (questions always focussed on design aspects, usually on
structural form and buildability)

This academic year, it will not be possible to stage a day of presentations. This year all
groups will produce a set of PowerPoint slides that is suitable for a six minute presentation.
This year the assessment criteria will be:

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Quality of slides and presentation material
1. Professional presentation and clarity of individual slides. Structure of presentation (is
there a clear introduction and conclusion, is the creative design process clearly
shown)
2. Coverage of presentation (are there unanswered questions left hanging). Appropriate
number of slides for a 6 minute presentation

Quality of design
1. Interpretation and compliance with the brief
2. Creative design and how the bridge functions
3. Structural form (including clear explanations of how the structure functions, lateral
stability, loading and load paths)
4. Buildability, maintainability and deconstructability (or safe demolition and recycling etc.)

When submitting PowerPoint files, please follow a helpful file naming procedure (include the
module code, group name, date, version, etc.).

Other documents

See the current versions of the following documents, available in VITAL:

i. CIVE263 Lecture and work plan and progress sheet

ii. CIVE263 Portfolio Marking Pro Forma
iii. CIVE263 Suggested portfolio submission

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Appendix A - Photographs of existing XJTLU Bridge

Photo 1

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Photo 2

Photo 3

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 Photo 4
Appendix B - Plan showing layout of supports of existing XJTLU Bridge

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Appendix C – Summaries of group meetings and progress

Print out a single copy of the cover sheet and several copies of the progress sheets. Make
use of the progress sheets at every one of your meetings; honestly recording progress.

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CIVE263 Group Design Project 2019-20 Cover Sheet

Group No Date

Name of group member Student ID

6
CIVE263 Group Design Project 2019-20 Progress Sheet

Group No Date of this meeting

Completion of
actions from
Name Actions for next meeting
previous
meeting (%)

Date of next meeting

Group No Date of this meeting

Completion of
actions from
Name Actions for next meeting
previous
meeting (%)

Date of next meeting

Appendix D – Prompts for structuring the Group Design Portfolio submission

The structure of each group’s submission is to be decided by each group. It is strongly

recommended that this end point of the module is borne in mind from the very start of the
module, as this can shape the work that is done and presented. Listed below are a few
pointers and suggestions to assist you in developing your portfolio documents.

i. All pages must be numbered and names of the students/authors clearly shown
ii. The cover sheet/title sheet should present the group number and group name and all of
the group members’ names and student IDs
iii. Each document should have a contents page
iv. The main portfolio document should have an executive summary and an introduction
v. Appendices can be used for material not necessary for the main document
vi. You should allow time to edit your portfolio (and your appendices), as superfluous
material will detract from submission
vii. Referencing should be the School of Engineering standard Harvard Referencing
viii. Remember to include minutes of meetings and the Cover Sheet and Progress Sheets
ix. Print out the ‘CIVE263 Portfolio Marking Pro Forma’ document at the very start of this
module and keep it close to hand throughout
x. Consider how you will apportion your written work between the A3 and A4 submissions