Sydney Harbor Bridge Conceptual Design: A Comprehensive Report

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System conceptual design phase

Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................................................3
Stakeholders needs and requirements............................................................................................................4
Conceptual design process.............................................................................................................................6
Business needs and requirements...............................................................................................................6
System requirements......................................................................................................................................9
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................10
References....................................................................................................................................................11
List of figures
Figure 1: Stakeholders and their types...........................................................................................................5
Figure 2: Sydney harbor bridge.....................................................................................................................6
Figure 3: Paranomic view of bridge...............................................................................................................7

Introduction
In this report, the conceptual design phases of harbor bridge are being discussed. In which, there are some
needs and requirements of stakeholders which are used to analyze the transformation of design
alternatives. Further, the designing process of Sydney harbor bridge is being described followed by the
system requirements. The total length of bridge is 1149 m (3770 ft) with a width and height of 48.8 m
(160 ft) and 134 m (440 ft). The construction of this bridge has been started on 28 July 1923 and was
completed on 19 January 1932. It is maintained by roads and maritime services. It has two number of
tracks with a gauge of 1435 mm (4 ft 8.5 inch). It is located at the Dawes point (southern end) and at
Milsons point (northern end). It was added to the list of Australian national heritage list on 19 march
2007. The Sydney harbor bridge is being considered as sixth-longest steel arch bridge. This bridge is
being constructed with the help of steel materials which are further discussed in the research and the types
are also reflected for the selected materials. The conceptual design process is helpful in the specification
of system requirements.
So, in this research the designing process and applied materials are being discussed which are used to
construct the harbor bridge.

Stakeholders needs and requirements
Stakeholders in the production or construction of Sydney harbor bridge are the persons who are affected
by the policies taken by their organizations.
The needs and requirements of stakeholders can be addressed with multi-faceted community engagement
that will include:
 Elected members: Includes the number of elected members for the construction of bridge.
 NSW heritage office: Used to register the information of bridge into heritage records.
 Emergency services: It helps to provide the emergency services for the needful.
Stakeholders contains the information about the objectives of project i.e. harbor bridge along with its
benefits. Their major needs are to provide the deployment of quality function for the construction of
bridge so that a feedback over project can be taken from the people and accordingly the designing could
be more attractive. There is a particular document in which stakeholders specifies their requirements
called Stakeholder requirement document (SRD) (Chan, et. al., 2016). These requirements could be
processed or classified in the function flow of diagrams and models. Further, the needs of stakeholders
contain the site supervisor who can be responsible for the hazardous activities carried out at construction
site at harbor bridge. Furthermore, a project manager is also required to carry out all the planning
regarding the execution of project. After that, the contractor is required to take the responsibilities of
materials which are to be used in the construction of Sydney harbor bridge. The contractor has all the
rights to plan and construct the bridge. Further, a managing director is required by stakeholders in order to
execute the strategies of operations for the construction of harbor bridge. The director provides strategic
advice to the board and chairperson. Furthermore, a supply manager is required to obtain the exact value
of the construction items. It will be executed on the basis of laws so that the equal opportunity could be
provided to the retailers. The best quality products are required for the construction of bridge so, as the
major discount on large number of products will also be considered. There are different types of
stakeholders available who are getting affected by the decisions taken by the organizations. These
stakeholders provide different strategies which are helping in the enhancement of benefits for the
construction of bridge (Griffin, Mirza, Kwok, and Kaewunruen, 2015).
So, stakeholders needs are required to be fulfilled in order to design an effective bridge.

Figure 1: Stakeholders and their types
Source: (corporatefinanceinstitute.com, 2019)
The above figure explaining about the types of stakeholders used in the construction of bridge so that
their needs and requirements could be reflected. These types are customers, employees, investors,
suppliers, communities and governments etc. These are the different stakeholders owns a position in the
construction of this bridge.

Conceptual design process
Business needs and requirements
The idea to construct a suspension bridge came into 1912. In 1913, the harbor bridge design has been
finally chosen to the Bradfield’s design for cantilever bridge. The bridge was not originally of arch bridge
as its functions are quite different from an arch bridge. But this bridge transmits the support loads to
flatten the arch. The conceptual design processing needs the assessment of tenders at different times for
the approval of construction of this bridge. The stakeholders prepare different plans and strategies and
executed them in order to develop an effective product (Och, et. al., 2017). The efficient design would
lead to the prevention of construction damage in the north shore area. So, this is how different
stakeholders are providing proper solutions, materials and type of material so that the effective
construction can be done.
Figure 2: Sydney harbor bridge
Source: (New south wale government, 2014)
The planning to start designing this bridge is by John Bradfield in 1912. Further, the first round of tender
had been completed in 1921 for the construction of bridge and it was passed in 1922. But this tender was
recalled for the assessment in 1923 and then closed in 1924. After that, around 20 designs have been
submitted from the six countries. These varieties contain a large number of designs with a projected range
of costs.
The assessment of tenders
All the tenders passed in just four weeks for the complete assessment of Sydney harbor bridge. There are
some documents which outlined different engineering works and criteria to judge the tenders ( Mirza,
Kaewunruen, Kwok, and, Griffin, 2016). These assessments are based on the designing of harbor bridge.

There were around 5-6 tenders passed for the construction of harbor bridge so that for the involvement of
different materials, different tenders have to be passed.
Figure 3: Paranomic view of bridge
Source: (Sydney harbor bridge, 2018)
The above figure is reflecting a paranomic view of the bridge in which it can be seen at different angle to
take the different view.
Designing processes (what materials has been used)
Type Materials
Width Wide at 49m, 8 lanes traffic contains, involving 2
railway lines, a footpath and a bicycle track

Length Its length is about 1149 m
Spans Main span is around – 503 m
Approach span –
a) north – 72.5 m with 4 of 53.3 m
b) south – 5 spans of 51.8 m
ARCH TOP The top of arch is around 134m above the sea
level
MATERIALS The material used is high tensile steel, principal
lateral bracings and cross girder flanges
The above table contains the types and materials used in the designing and manufacturing of Sydney
harbor bridge. It contains its width, length, height, spans, top arch etc. So, this is how the materials are
decided to implement the bridge in conceptual design processing. This table detailing about the types of
material used during the construction of bridge (Dolan, and Hamilton, 2019). The steel used in the
construction is very hard and of high tensile strength. The north shore construction damage can be
reduced or prevented by the use of efficient designing techniques and system along with its parameters.
The design of bridge was accepted by the new south wale’s authorities but due to the change of
government, project slowed down and also was rejected by the parliament. But after some time, it again
started with the different tender and then the construction work has been started ( Mirza, Kaewunruen,
Dinh, and Pervanic, 2016).

System requirements
The system required to build Sydney harbor bridge contains a steel used in the construction of bridge of
52.800 tones. Further, the total length of bridge required to be 1.149 meters. The major system materials
required to build the tower are principal lateral bracings, high tensile steel, and cross girder flanges. The
system which are required for the construction of bridge are explained in this in order to extend the
analysis of system designing. The system requirements are fulfilled during the construction of bridge.
There are some of the materials which are further required and are implemented to gain an effective
design parametric system (Freestone, Davison, and Hu, 2019).
Some of the engineering materials used in the construction are follows:
 Steel- This bridge consists of a steel structure along with the steel arch. This steel is being
imported by Dorman, Long and Co. Ltd. And it was not a mild steel nor a plain-carbon steel. The
silicon steel has been used in this.
 Concrete- The bridge contains four large concrete ‘skewbacks’ where two are on south shore and
two are on north. This has been directly excavation into solid sandstone.
 Cable sockets- Throughout the construction of bridge, each and every half was built on the shore
supported by the main bearings of bridge. Because, the main bearings are designed in order to
give permission to rotate the objects (Glencross-Grant, and Berger, 2017).
 Rivets- It has been used to utilize the mild steel along with a tensile strength of 413-482 MPa.
The tensile strength must be sufficient for the construction of bridge in a proper manner. So, the
used steel used in the construction of bridge contains sufficient shear and tensile strength.
 Testing- The testing of bridge is done on each and every incremental layer of construction so that
the defects can be easily detected and impaired. The testing at each level ensures the quality of
material used and capable to withstand the weight (Chen, Zhou, Wang, Dong, and Qian, 2017).
So, these are some of the engineering materials used in the construction of bridge which also ensures the
quality of materials used.

Conclusion
This research concludes various type of materials used in the construction of Sydney harbor bridge. In
this, the stakeholders need and requirements are also highlighted that during the construction of this
bridge, what are the needs that stakeholders want to fulfill. Further, the designing process of bridge has
been reflected so that the used materials and their types can be shown. Furthermore, the system
requirements are being used which contains some of the engineering tools which ensures the quality of
materials used for the construction of bridge. Business needs and requirements and tender assessment are
passed under conceptual designing processes. The stakeholder’s needs are analyzed so that the project
could be boosted and transformed on the basis of design alternatives. After that, the conceptual design
process contains business needs and requirements so that the needs can be reflected and accordingly the
products are used for the construction of bridge. The products used in the construction must be of
excellent quality in order to provide a better resultant bridge.
So, this is how the research is majorly focusing on the description of materials used in the construction of
bridge.

References
Chan, B., Guan, H., Hou, L., Jo, J., Blumenstein, M. and Wang, J., 2016. Defining a conceptual
framework for the integration of modelling and advanced imaging for improving the reliability and
efficiency of bridge assessments. Journal of civil structural health monitoring, 6(4), pp.703-714.
Griffin, D.W.P., Mirza, O., Kwok, K. and Kaewunruen, S., 2015. Finite element modelling of modular
precast composites for railway track support structure: A battle to save Sydney Harbour
Bridge. Australian Journal of Structural Engineering, 16(2), pp.150-168.
Och, D.J., Thorin, S.A., Pan, J., Kuras, A., Cox, P. and Bateman, G., 2017. Sydney Metro–Site
Investigation and Ground Characterisation for the Sydney Harbour Crossing. Australia Tunnelling
Society Journal, pp.40-45.
Mirza, O., Kaewunruen, S., Kwok, K. and Griffin, D.W., 2016. Design and modelling of pre-cast steel-
concrete composites for resilient railway track slabs. Steel Compos. Struct. Int. J, 22, pp.537-565.
Dolan, C.W. and Hamilton, H.T., 2019. Prestressed Concrete Applications. In Prestressed Concrete (pp.
31-61). Springer, Cham.
Mirza, O., Kaewunruen, S., Dinh, C. and Pervanic, E., 2016. Numerical investigation into thermal load
responses of railway transom bridge. Engineering Failure Analysis, 60, pp.280-295.
Freestone, R., Davison, G. and Hu, R., 2019. A Pre-history of Design Excellence in Sydney. In Designing
the Global City(pp. 81-116). Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore.
Chen, Z., Zhou, X., Wang, X., Dong, L. and Qian, Y., 2017. Deployment of a smart structural health
monitoring system for long-span arch bridges: A review and a case study. Sensors, 17(9), p.2151.
Glencross-Grant, R. and Berger, I., 2017. The role of opening bridges for river traffic on the Murray-
Darling River system in New South Wales, 1878-1925. In 19th Australasian engineering heritage
conference: Putting water to work: Steam power, river navigation and water supply (p. 142). Engineers
Australia.