Bridges

Since opening in 1969, the 313m Victoria Bridge has been a critical Brisbane River crossing for public transport, private vehicles and pedestrians/cyclists. As part of the Brisbane Metro project, the bridge is refurbished becoming a dedicated active and public transport route carrying increased loading.

The refurbishment includes new traffic barriers, drainage scuppers and allowance for future shading above deck, and the significant strengthening works of the superstructure below deck. Due to the complexity of the existing structure, multiple digital engineering processes were implemented to aid design and documentation.

To improve efficiency and minimise the risk of damage to the Victoria Bridge, a parametric model was developed using Grasshopper, containing all existing concrete and pre-stressed tendon geometry as well as new works. The parametric script was developed to become the single source of truth for the project, used through analysis, design, space proofing, documentation and construction.

The Grasshopper model was the foundation for the global collaborative 'Model Sharing' Tekla Structures BIM model. Tekla Modellers generated existing reinforcement and connections for required precast boxes sourced from original 1966 'New Victoria Bridge' drawings, 1998 strengthening drawings, traditional string-based survey and point cloud data.

All new bridge modifications were modelled to a 350 level of development (LOD) Tekla model, including project and TMR level of information (LOI) attribute fields. Metadata fields applicable to design, construction and future asset management were included. Along with IFC model exports, PDF documents were populated in Tekla as native drawings, to project standards.

This paper provides an overview of the digital engineering processes which contributed to the success of the Victoria Bridge refurbishment. Given the growing demand for extending the life of existing assets, it also reflects on the potential for such tools to play a key role in future bridge remediations.