Task 1 And 3 Combined
Assignment 1 –
Construction in Civil Engineering
Alex Dale
Task 1 + 3 – Describe and compare fundamental techniques, processes, plant and materials used in groundworks, foundations and substructures.
Millau Viaduct
Millau Viaduct is the tallest bridge in the world, located in Southern France. The bridge reaches the height of 343 meters and weighs in a 36,000 tonnes. The bridge was designed by the French structural engineer Michel Virlogeux and British architect Norman Foster. The bridge opened in 2004 on 16th December after costing around €400 million.
The Construction of the Millau came in three parts: the concrete, the steel and then the final construction. The Viaduct used many different specialties in the field of civil engineering and innovations in their approach to construction of the bridge, which cut costs and increases speed of construction.
Materials
The most important step in any major project is ensuring that a solid foundation is laid for the structure to rest on. In the case of the Millau Viaduct, seven foundations had to be laid for each one of the piers. The foundations were made out of concrete. Engineers would have come up with a design to help ensure the foundations are solid. Then the construction would have taken place. Each foundation was made up of a base plate and four piles, which were 5 meters diameter and 14 meters long. These bases were made up of concrete and steel.
Why concrete? The main performance for this material is for the foundation to resist the load applied. This is very important as if it could not resist the load, the concrete foundation would break down and crumble and therefore would not be able to hold the materials above. The foundation must also be able to spread out the load over a bigger area as if it is not able to do this, the load will be applied to one area of the foundation only and that area will not be able to hold all of the load, which is why the load applied must be spread out over a bigger area.
Construction in Civil Engineering
Alex Dale
Task 1 + 3 – Describe and compare fundamental techniques, processes, plant and materials used in groundworks, foundations and substructures.
Millau Viaduct
Millau Viaduct is the tallest bridge in the world, located in Southern France. The bridge reaches the height of 343 meters and weighs in a 36,000 tonnes. The bridge was designed by the French structural engineer Michel Virlogeux and British architect Norman Foster. The bridge opened in 2004 on 16th December after costing around €400 million.
The Construction of the Millau came in three parts: the concrete, the steel and then the final construction. The Viaduct used many different specialties in the field of civil engineering and innovations in their approach to construction of the bridge, which cut costs and increases speed of construction.
Materials
The most important step in any major project is ensuring that a solid foundation is laid for the structure to rest on. In the case of the Millau Viaduct, seven foundations had to be laid for each one of the piers. The foundations were made out of concrete. Engineers would have come up with a design to help ensure the foundations are solid. Then the construction would have taken place. Each foundation was made up of a base plate and four piles, which were 5 meters diameter and 14 meters long. These bases were made up of concrete and steel.
Why concrete? The main performance for this material is for the foundation to resist the load applied. This is very important as if it could not resist the load, the concrete foundation would break down and crumble and therefore would not be able to hold the materials above. The foundation must also be able to spread out the load over a bigger area as if it is not able to do this, the load will be applied to one area of the foundation only and that area will not be able to hold all of the load, which is why the load applied must be spread out over a bigger area.