Manukau Harbour Bridge Crossing - Auckland
Client: Fletcher Construction / MHX Alliance
PV: $180m
Involvement: BIM / Shop Drawings; Bridge & PT geometry proof of concept, Reinforcement shop drawings. LoD400+
Working closely with BECA, this award-winning project linking Mangere and Otahuhu over the Manukau harbour is a crucial piece of Auckland Infrastructure. It was also the first bridge to use post-tensioning technology on this scale. The project was originally documented in 2D by BECA; however, Nathan was tasked to prove the geometry could be achieved using 3D modelling. The importance of which was underscored by the fact that the performance of the PT strands could not be accurately predicted in 2D only. BECA was relying on accurate 3D modelling to prove the theoretical data. Each pier of the bridge has a completely unique shape that ‘twists’ in three axes as it proceeds, and thus had to be modelled in individual segments to match the real-world segments that would be fabricated to match.
At the conclusion of the proof model, Nathan and would join forces with CADPro Systems to provide shop drawings of the bridge segments reinforcement.
Since the software for 3D reinforcement was infantile at the time, significant effort was required to keep ahead of the delivery schedule. CADPro systems provided crucial software support and Nathan spent many hours in the CADPro offices in Avondale sitting alongside software engineers to fix bugs and create solutions where the technology had never been envisioned for this use.
