Welcome to Your SUPER-powered WP Engine Multisite Install. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

The Gray’s Ferry Swing Bridge Redesign Project is a software redesign of the existing abandoned rail swing bridge over the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The current bridge, located next to the Gray’s Ferry Avenue Highway Bridge, is unusable because the railroad has been rerouted across another part of the river. The goal of this redesign is to create a pedestrian bridge, using the current foundation and center pier, that will be a continuation of the pedestrian trail connecting both sides of the river that is currently in progress on one side of the river. This bridge is eligible to be historic, so certain measures must be taken the mitigate the impact of this construction on the historic bridge. Some or all of the truss must be salvaged and used for the public and the new trusses must look similar to the old ones.

Our senior project team of two mechanical engineers and one civil engineer will research, design, model, and validate the most optimal redesign of this bridge to create a usable, efficient, and safe design. Using CAD software to model bridge parts, ANSYS to validate the loading and kinematics, Visual Analysis to design the members, and working prototypes of mechanisms to display the kinematics, the team will validate the geometry, loads, vibrations, materials, and movable aspects of the bridge, without creating a scale model of the bridge. Creating a scale model would deviate from how bridge design is done in industry, where designs are created and validated, then immediately turn over to the construction phase. The goal of our project is to design a bridge as it would be designed in industry. SRDC, Louis Berger, and Hardesty & Hanover are currently designing a replacement pedestrian swing bridge for this existing bridge and representatives from each company have agreed to advise us throughout our senior project.