At the Celebration of Student Achievement (COSA) at TCNJ, we had the opportunity to showcase our poster to industry professionals, professors, and students. We presented our design process, highlighting the key decisions and challenges we faced, and the solutions we implemented to address them. During the presentation, we explained how we used various design tools to design the structural, geotechnical, water, and transportation aspects. Specific steel members, foundation dimensions, water basin size, and transportation design was talked about on the poster. We also explained our approach to designing a mixed-use development that meets the needs of the community as there is Kean University, various schools, and NJ Transit nearby. Overall, our poster presentation at COSA was a great success.
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The structural design and analysis included creating a general floor plan for the athletic complex, generating load combinations, along with designing, analyzing, and optimizing members for each part of the building. The floor plan includes various amenities in our complex including a pool, basketball courts, and other smaller facilities. A full range of load combinations were tested in order to find the maximum loads the buildings would sustain. Once the critical load was found members were selected and optimized in order to find the smallest similar section. The main section consisted mainly of W14x53 columns and beams along with 22K4 joists. The gym was comprised of W14x53 columns and beams with mostly 16K2 Joists.
The geotechnical design for the project included developing a foundation that is able to support the loads applied by the gymnasium structure on top of the soil profile present on the site. To accomplish this, a drilled shaft deep foundation was modeled and analyzed to determine sufficient geotechnical and lateral capacity. A detention basin was designed for the site to capture runoff from the development’s impervious surfaces. The stormwater will be gradually released into the adjacent river system at a contained rate determined by the designed outlet structure. The outlet structure configuration was designed to accommodate the 2, 10, and 100 year storm events. Each stage of the outlet structure configuration was designed to output a flow less than the peak flow of the corresponding storm event for the pre-development condition of the site. The basin is strategically located at the lowest elevation on the site to ensure all runoff flows into the detention basin. The transportation design incorporated two new proposed roundabouts on the center of the site, expanding Vermella Way from the existing infrastructure. Pedestrian safety was heightened through the addition of physical barriers separating bike lanes and sidewalk from oncoming traffic. Roadway was reconfigured in accordance with the NJDOT Roadway Design Manual. Within HEC-RAS, the RAS Mapper feature was used to create a 2D model to represent the flooding potential of the construction site following a 100 year storm event. Along the northeast limit of the construction site runs the Elizabeth River. Prior to construction, our water resources engineer needed to confirm that the Elizabeth River did not overflow on to the new development. Due to the steep river bank and drastic change in elevation, the Elizabeth River does not overflow on to the construction site following a 100 year storm event. Roughly a one-quarter acre of the northern limit of the lot can experience flooding, however, the newly proposed development is not designed in that area of the lot.
The next step in the storm water management aspect of the project is to design the characteristics of the storm water basin that will be installed on the site to control the increase in runoff as a result of the additional impervious surfaces added to the area from the development. The team has created preliminary plans for the structural layout of the site's athletic complex. The figure below shows a plan of the structural beams that will support the roof of the building. Columns will be installed at each intersection of the beams. The intended use of the interior space of the building influenced the structural design of that space. The upper right section of the building with longer spans will house the indoor pool where columns are not applicable. Similarly, the lower right section of the building will be designed without columns to accommodate a basketball court. The standard spacing of the columns throughout the building is 30'.
In addition to the design of the building, the team is working on developing an efficient foundation system to support the loads applied by the structural columns onto the soil. Multiple types of foundations are being explored to determine which method of support will be the most effective. benefits of each type of foundation are being weighed including cost, ease of building, and installation time. The foundation design is being constrained by the settlement of the large compressible silt layer under the applied loads. Considerations are being made to consider differential settlement due to differently loaded columns. Early designs are being developed utilizing preliminary structural loads. Shallow foundations consisting of a square foundation approximately 6' below the ground surface under each of the building's columns. Calculations for shallow foundations utilizing the Meyerhof bearing capacity method. Drilled shafts under each column are also being explored utilizing Ensoft's software SHAFT. The site's proposed synchro was completed. After reviewing the ITE trip manual, 300 more cars were included in the model. In accordance with the suggested buildings, the cars were distributed at random. Traffic in the area was light after the model was run, but as was already reported, there is substantial backup in the left lane into Vermella Way from Morris Avenue. It will be investigated whether maintaining traffic on West Avenue would allow for a second access to the site. In addition, at the north end of our site, there is an exit only allowing for lower traffic counts, leading to pedestrian safety, as our site will have a large number of pedestrians walking due to the close proximity of NJ transit and Kean University just south of the site. Overall, after looking at the Synchro model, traffic on our site won’t be a major issue.
The figure below shows the schedule for the Fall Semester. The schedule includes a breakdown of both completed and projected tasks. The schedule displays the duration, start and end date, and critical path of the tasks. A progression bar is also shown to represent what percent of the project is completed. Thus Far, each task has been completed within the expected duration. The list of tasks seen in Figure 15 are on pace to be finished by the end of the fall semester.
The expenses of the development are accounted for in the figure below. The total number of hours for each Project Engineer and their specific tasks are listed. Sean Glynn, Evan Grzeskiewicz, Mann Patel, and Kevin Valente earned $33.00 per hour with an average range of 39-45 total hours. The team leader Marc Giordano earned $35.00 per hour along with 50 total hours. Engineering Directors Dr. Thomas Brennan, Dr. Vedrana Krstic, Dr. Michael Horst and Dr. Andrew Bechtel contributed with professional advice and research hours at a rate of $80.00 per hour. The total cost of the project thus far is $34,157.75.
In order to determine the final design for the mixed-use development, the team created a weighted design matrix consisting of the final three alternative designs selected. The team determined the two most important criteria to be design/realistic constraints and community engagement, therefore having the highest weight of 3/3. Constraints of the project and community engagement ultimately determine the type, size, location, and surrounding conditions of the structure. Cost and constructability were given a weight of 2/3 to ensure to the design selected is practical. Finally, aesthetics and longevity were assigned a weight of 1/3 to ensure the design selected is visually pleasing and maintainable for the community in which it is constructed.
A total score was calculated for each alternative design. Alternative Design 1: Indoor Athletic Complex and Venue Field scored the highest with a total score of 45/60. Alternative Design 2: Library and Venue Field scored a 38/60 and Alternative Design 3: Banquet Hall and Commercial Shops scored a 40/60. Therefore, Alternative Design 1 will be selected as the final design for the project. Further engineering analysis and design for the project will be begin shortly. As the group continues to work through the early stages of our project, we have begun creating early design options to figure out how our site is going to take shape. We have continued to analyze the site's conditions, and more importantly the surrounding areas, to determine what would be an effective use of the space. In doing so, we were able to determine what the surrounding communities were lacking in, and what would provide value. In order to solidify these ideas into realistic design options, constraints were formulated to guide the design proposals. These constraints included things design constraints such as lot size, Union Township zoning laws, hydrologic restrictions, and geotechnical restrictions, as well as realistic constraints such as having to work within an active community, tying into existing infrastructure, and general safety. The design alternatives, and what they are comprised of can be seen in the images below. A preliminary soil profile was developed using information from the geotechnical report from the site. The geotechnical study was performed by Melick-Tully & Associates. The study included 10 borings, 10 cone-penetrating tests, and 1 test pit, spread across the footprint of the site.
The report indicates that the site was formerly an industrial site, with multiple factory buildings. Currently, much of the debris from their operation, as well as demolition remains buried within the site, and will have to be considered in foundation design. The preliminary soil profile, and the locations of the respective borings are shown below. The strata of note is the clay layer approximately 15' below the ground. |
AuthorMixed Use Development Team |