Bet101 Professional Engineering | The Assessment Answer

The overall and essential aim of this project mainly focused at improving the environment, increasing the revenue as well as the number of visitors in the area. Furthermore, the project also focused on ensuring that there decisive mechanism for handing the issues related to the overheating of the building. Notably, both the external and the internal work specifications mainly performed by the contractors on the designated site. On the other hand, refurbishment of the boat mainly conducted at the boat yard (Meehan et al. 2016).p>

Project Objective

The objective of the project was to regenerate the decisive canals of the Scotland as well as hasten the reconnection of Edinburg and Glasgow. The process mainly facilitated by the British waterways and at least seven local authorities sourced and funded the process of renovation. The key stakeholders in line with the funding mainly included the European Regional Development Fund, Millennium Commission as well as Scottish Enterprise Network. The resolution of creating a landmark structure for reconnecting the parametric canals mainly arrived at after the engagement and interaction between the planners and the stakeholder. This was done to ensure that there is full renovation instead of just developing a simple lock fight (Vallerani and Visentin 2017).

Background and History of Falkirk wheel

The Falkirk wheel refers to the makeable rotating boat which originates from the central Scotland. It has the Clyde and forth as the key connections as well as parametric union Canal. The name of the lift was derived from the Falkirk town and the first reconnection between the two parametric canals mainly done in 1930s. However, the first link project mainly conducted in 2002 as the millennium milestone. The emergence of the network canal opened new revolution in the Great Britain. The Falkirk wheel facilitated the movement of people, goods as well as services. It is evidential that the canal was used and served a number of the locals for at least 200 years (McKean and Lennon 2017 p.84). This happened when the system was replaced by the tracks and the railroad cars. Moreover, the canals utilization and the application mainly recorded to have declined just few years before the emergence of the Second World War II. In the recent days, the river and the canal network have gained moments in the larger United Kingdom. The driving forces in line with the current emergences mainly included tourism, recreational boating, and nostalgia as well as historic preservation sense. Typical example of the Falkirk wheel revolution is the Clyde Canal and the Forth which has the parametric union canal. The canal exists between the Edinburgh and the Glasgow. In essence, this is termed as Scotland Millennium link Project. In the area at which the canals meet, there is a differential level in the water of about 115 ft. moreover, it was evidential that there was 11 series of locks which linked the various canals in the working days and this were often in 1930s (McKean, Harris and Lennon  2017 p.736).

Design and Construction Methodology

This section mainly discussed in two sub-sections as follows

Design

The designing document adopted for the process was submitted by the Morrison-Bachy Soletanche Joint Venture Group. This documented incorporated the resembling of the Ferris wheel with parametric four gondolas and this was done in 1999. Evaluation of the design was carried and established that the design was good but did not accommodate all the requirements and specifications which the BWB team needed. Recommendation was then made in line with the reconsideration of the design and the British Waterways appointed a lead team of 20-strong experts. This team included both the engineers and the architects. The team led by Tony Kettle (architect RMJM), developed the concepts and produced the images using the mechanical concept. The designs were mainly proposed by Butterley alongside M G Bennetts team. The designing lasted for a period of three weeks after which the documents were submitted during the summer in 1999. The final detailed design mainly conducted via the cooperation between the engineering consultants Arup Butterley Engineering, RMJM, and the British waterways. Some of the design components considered and examined in the process included ship propeller, double-headed Celtic axe and the whale ribcage (Sommer, Moncayo and Pont 2014 p.215).

Construction

Both the assembling and the construction of the wheel were carried out in Derbyshire, at the plant of Ripley Butterley Engineering. This structure essentially dismantled and then transported in at least 35 lorry loads from the site the Falkirk site. In the site, the resembling of different five sections was done and then the system lifted into the makeable place. The canal construction was established to require at least 250,000 m³ as far as the excavation is concerned. It also required a 160m canal tunnel with a parametric value of 8m as the diameter (Stankovic et al. 2015).

The aqueducts for the system mainly established at 20m. Moreover, three lock sets as well as a significant bridges numbers were also included in the construction. This process also incorporated the construction of the access road of about 600m. Notably, the Rough Castle Tunnel mainly conducted in three distinct stages and this had a length of 180m. The upper section of about two quarters mainly dug using the excavation machine whereas the last half portions was done via the utilization of the modified road planner at a depth of about 100m. The technique mainly employed as it lowered the project schedule and the overall working days by at least two weeks. In essence, the process estimated to be at least 15% cost effective. Preferably, it is important to note that some sections of the wheel will tend to experience decisive reversal in line with the total stresses. This tends to happen as result of the alterations in the loads excited as the wheel rotates in various directions (Lennon 2016 p.97).

Duration

The project mainly conducted with an aim of ensuring that it last for not less than 120 years. This was done in line with the engineering considerations and through the involvement of team of experts. Designing on the other hand lasted for three weeks (Isard and Abadi 2015).

Structural Engineers

The key structural engineers employed in the project include British Waterways, Butterley alongside M G Bennetts team and RMJM.

Technical Considerations

Design considerations for the fatigue avoidance were also incorporated and were meant to curb the cracks in various sections. Additionally, the sections mainly bolted and not welded using both 45000 bolt holes and 14000 bolts. Although, it was hard to realize the aqueduct since  they were described as imminent unbuildable, they were later on built via the utilization of 40mm rebar.

References

Isard, M. and Abadi, M., 2015. Falkirk wheel: Rollback recovery for dataflow systems. arXiv preprint arXiv:1503.08877.

Lennon, J.J., 2016. Transforming Waterways: The Tourism-Based Regeneration of Canals in Scotland. In Heritage and Tourism in Britain and Ireland (pp. 85-97). Palgrave Macmillan, London.

McKean, A. and Lennon, J., 2017. 12 Tourism and Scotland’s canals. Waterways and the Cultural Landscape, p.84.

McKean, A., Harris, J. and Lennon, J., 2017. The Kelpies, the Falkirk Wheel, and the tourism?based regeneration of Scottish Canals. International Journal of Tourism Research, 19(6), pp.736-745.

Meehan, K., Phillips, A., Bremner, D. and Phillips, K., 2016. Overseas Immersion Program: Solid-State Lighting in Two Weeks.

Sommer, B., Moncayo, G. and Pont, U., 2014. Ecological ballet–a design research towards environmental-reactive, adaptive architectural design. eWork and eBusiness in Architecture, Engineering and Construction: ECPPM 2014, p.215.

Stankovic, L., Elafoudi, G., Tachtatzis, C., Andonovic, I., Cassels, G. and Fickling, A., 2015, May. Decision support system for proactive maintenance of earthworks assets. In World Water Congress XV.

Vallerani, F. and Visentin, F. eds., 2017. Waterways and the Cultural Landscape. Routledge.