A complex headstock design has been brought to life with InfraBuild’s 3D modelling software. The result is a support structure enabling a sweeping rail extension connecting Adelaide’s Tonsley Precinct with the Flinders Medical Centre. 

A series of nine headstocks have been built to create the supporting structure for a 650m extension of the Flinders Link rail line, allowing a single track to be elevated over a series of roads and linking the passenger rail network to the new Flinders Station.

The original design of the headstock included bars that incorporated compound radii and straight ends with hooks all on the same bar. These bars could not be manufactured on machinery that currently exists, so each individual bar had to be analysed and amended to suit what was both achievable and still within the design parameters.

Furthermore, there was no room for error as the steel fixers had to assemble these headstocks onsite and the placement of each bar was dependent on the position of the bar placed before it.

InfraBuild’s precision 3D modelling software ensured tight tolerances were adhered to

Matt Bell from InfraBuild Construction Solutions, said, “We weren’t prefabricating it in a controlled environment – we were supplying the bars directly to site. There was no room for error.”

3D modelling allowed detailed analysis of each individual bar shape

InfraBuild Construction Solutions in Port Adelaide took the basic headstock model and then recreated it as a detailed 3D model. Remodelling the headstock allowed for clashes to be identified and all the bar shapes to be redesigned and then manufactured.

The state-of-the-art 3D modelling machine, the only one used in the InfraBuild group, also helped to facilitate complex compound angles. Its value to the project was that it maintained tight tolerances and maximised efficiencies by eliminating any secondary operation.

“A lot of work was done analysing each individual bar shape as they varied one to the next,” Mr Bell said.

“We ended up creating a full size template for each bar. Once they were made, we’d sit the bar in the template and see if it needed tweaking. That way we knew exactly what we were sending to the site was going to work.”

Flinders Link in a nutshell: Improving public transport and pedestrian access to medical hub

• Flinders Link will improve public transport, cycling and walking connectivity between  the Tonsley Precinct and the Flinders medical hub
• The completed project will allow connections to the broader Adelaide rail network
• An integrated shared pedestrian/cycle path will be added adjacent to the rail line from the new ramp located at the corner of Sturt Road and Birch Crescent to the new Flinders Station
• The expected completion date is the second half of 2020

This partner content was brought to you by Infrabuild. For more information, visit http://www.infrabuild.com.

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