Sustainability Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Sustainability - Essay Example In addition, one should considering the durability of the selected materials. In bridge engineering, the constructors have opportunity to make their decisions and provide solutions that will give a balance between the environments, social impact, and economical guidelines of sustainability. The bridge to be constructed is a unique one in nature since it will be capable of opening from the middle to enable large ships and vessels to pass freely. This will require a lot of time to design, rating or assessment of materials to be used (Institution of Civil Engineers, 2001). The bridge professionals and transportation authorities should ensure that the right materials and construction techniques are used and presented in a consistent, systematic and credible way. This project will consider the development of bridge sustainability putting into consideration its three pillars, that is; social, environmental, and economical factors. The project will focus on the materials used in constructio n, but not limited to the following content: 1) What is the mentioned material? 2) Why it is a good material to be used in the construction of a bridge? 3) What are the advantages and disadvantages of it in constructing a bridge in this project? 4) How it could be good for the bridge in the long run, is it durable? 5) Comparison between the properties of the materials and how it could be improved Materials used in the bridge Materials and other resources to be used in sustainable bridge construction should be ensured to be the most appropriate materials for the site and the future maintenance in case of recycling of the structure. The constructor should include sustainable materials and should be in a position to answer several questions such as: are recycled materials used in bridge construction? What is the cost of the materials? Is the bridge designed with a complete life cycle analysis in place? The construction of the bridge in question will require the following materials (Ste ele, 2004): 1. Steel (frame, deck, and structure) 2. Timber 3. Concrete 4. Wire cables 5. Winches 6. Solar panels 7. Small Wind turbines The design and the innovation of this bridge project will be determined by the materials above. In addition, the materials selected will also address construction of lifelong maintained engineering motorway bridge. Individual materials Steel (frame, deck, and structure) Steel is iron materials made from iron ore. It is used in the construction of structures that require strong foundation and based. Steel will be used to strengthen the bridge. In order to make the bridge stronger still bar should be used to reinforce the concrete. Deck will be used to span the distance between the two ends of the bridge, since the bridge is suspended, deck will form the open truss structure to support the roadbed, preventing the bridge from collapsing. Rivets are used to join steel and the deck. Steel will form the Beams, plates, and rods shown in the proposed bridg e picture (Parag, 1999). Advantages of steel Steel makes a strong foundation of the bridge. This is because steel is one of the strongest materials used in bridge constructions. It is also used to span distances that are cannot be spanned using other construction materials such as wood. It is stronger than