Conceptual Diagram

YOKOGAWA BRIDGE - CABLE STAY DESIGN

BAYONNE BRIDGE - ARCH DESIGN

BRAGA BRIDGE - TRUSS DESIGN

Methodology

Images of Movement

The roadbed can split in to 2; 30:70. The smaller road section can then swing in either direction parallel to the bank of the river and let the traffic pass.

The same theory can be applied in this case with the exception being that the smaller part of the bridge can open up like a drawbridge.

The challenge in this scenario is incorporating both the rotational movement and the uplifting the section of the bridge.

The rotational movement can help the smaller road draw back but incorporating the jack's movement seems a bit challenging in this case.

The smaller section of the road draws back with the rotational movement and the jack can lift up the section of the bridge.

The placement of the jack is an issue in this case. Even after the jack is placed at one end to lift up a section of the road, I still need to figure out the truss movement.

A combination of gears can be used to lift the bridge up but the ideal placement/location appears difficult. The horizontal movement of the road needs to be figured out as well.

Placement of gears is not an issue, they can lift up the section of the bridge easily, and then second mechanism has to introduced to slide the roadbed.

The road can slide horizontally backwards on to the land and then vertical lift mechanism needs to be introduced to lift the truss section up.

Design Process

I decided to select the arch-bridge prototype and incorporate the jack movement into the design. In order for me to incorporate the jack function, the design of the bridge had to be substantially altered. It was critical that my approach for the bridge re-design was altered significantly to accommodate the jack function while staying within the defined parameters of the project.

Once the jack function was incorporated to draw up the bridge; I still needed to figure out how to manuver the bridge roadway back while sliding the draw bridge up. To overcome this challenge, I than introduced the rotational movement of gears and cork screws to slide the roadway back while the jack is drawing up the bridge.

Below is the final design that shows the integration of the required function of the jacks lifting and rotational movement and transformation which occurred in due process. One of the requirements of the project is that the final design has to depict the transformation of the original.

After critique, the design had to be revised one more time to show how the function transformed the shape of the design and how eventually everything came together to work flawlessly!

2D/3D Images

The animation below shows the enitre process, from start to finish.