Design of a Corten steel pedestrian bridge in Piedicavallo (Biella), with the use of the BIM Methodology

The aim of the following thesis is to design a Corten steel pedestrian bridge in Piedicavallo (Biella), with the use of the BIM Methodology. The case of study intends to respond to a necessity of the population of the area, since a large flood took place on October 2020 hitting the Valle Cervo and leading to the collapse of many structures, including the pedestrian bridge that served for the people around. The pedestrian bridge project involves the construction of a walkway on a remote area with difficult access, since the location of the case of study zone is placed about a kilometer away from the closest town Piedicavallo, being only possible to reach it on foot through a mountain road, by car through a road with precarious conditions (not available for trucks) or by air by helicopter. For the conception of the pedestrian bridge, were evaluated all conditions that lead into the collapse of the old structure and also the conditions that are presented in the area in order to account all important aspects in the following steps. Once the case of study was completely understood, the BIM methodology was developed for a real scenario. First, the architectural design was held, where it was intended to use the pedestrian bridge not only to accomplish the necessities of population but also to create an added value for the area, for this, Glulam wood was also used in order to beautify the structure. The structural analysis was completely done, checking the proposed sections on Corten steel, designing and performing local structural analysis of the structure connections and finally, the foundation was designed and verified for the different considerations. The principal focus of the present project corresponds to the construction management of the pedestrian bridge, then, following the BIM methodology, the time analysis and schedule of the construction phase was performed, including in detail every step that will be necessary to face with the corresponding conditions for the area. Additionally, the cost analysis was developed following data of unitary prices of the Piedmont region. The Piedicavallo pedestrian bridge it is being separately designed and will be built by a design studio, which has a specific budget determined by the territorial entities, reason why a comparison was made between the two different conceptions of the structure in terms of design and costs that were achieved for the project. Finally, it was proposed as future developments to continue with the BIM Methodology considering the 6D dimension that corresponds to sustainability and the 7D dimension that corresponds to the maintenance plans for the pedestrian bridge.