University lecture outlines Lawrence Hargrave Drive bridge project

Mar 24, 2005

Academic and visiting staff of the School of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering recently were given an individual tour of the Lawrence Hargrave Drive (LHD) Link Alliance Project.

Now members of the school have organised with the LHD Alliance to begin a series of lectures to be held in conjunction with LHD Alliance members. The lectures will be held in various engineering courses throughout this year.

The first lecture, to be facilitated by Professor Tim McCarthy, took place this morning (Thursday March 24) at the Graduate School of Business and Professional Development as part of the Fundamentals of Engineering subject, ENGG101 that has been newly introduced into the Faculty of Engineering curriculum in 2005.

A further two lectures are planned for 2005 focussing on different stages of the LHD project. These have been organised by Associate Professor Muhammad Hadi, the Discipline Coordinator of Civil Engineering Subjects will include Engineering Management and Civil Engineering Design.

Professor of Structural Engineering and Head of the School of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering, Professor Brian Uy, said the guest lectures would help to heighten student interest in a very significant civil engineering project in the local community The guest lectures will focus on different aspects relevant to the Civil Engineering curricula.

For example in the Fundamentals of Engineering lecture, issues such as stability of the structure during construction and in the as-built condition were highlighted. The guest lecture in Engineering Management will focus on the alliance, how it was established and how it assists in the design and construction of such a large-scale project.

The Civil Engineering Design guest lecture will focus on the construction technology as well as the detailed geotechnical and structural design issues required to be overcome in building a bridge in this near coastal environment.

The bridge project, which is being built to reconnect the towns of Clifton and Coalcliff in the Northern Suburbs of the Illawarra, takes in some of the most spectacular coastline in Australia.

The bridge will be a total of 665 metres when complete and consists of a 455 metre curved incrementally launched bridge and a 105 metre balanced cantilever bridge. It is expected to be completed in early 2006.