Ethical issues in engineering design - 3TU.Centre for Ethics and ...

Ethical issues in engineering design
of the case-study is a large bridge connecting IJburg to local highways. 1 The
bridge will span the Amsterdam-Rijnkanaal, which at this point is about 130 m
wide. The span of the bridge will be 150 m and on one side (Reliant Energy side)
of the bridge 33 m of road leading to the bridge is included in the project; on the
other side (Diemen) 66 m is included. Large ships must be able to pass under the
bridge, therefore the bridge needs to be at least 9,30 m above water level.
The design process and construction of this large bridge will take years.
Therefore only one of the phases of the design process was studied. The phase of
the design process that I studied was the preliminary design phase. The IBA used
a standard contract made by a Dutch professional association for engineers that is
used mostly by engineering companies working within civil engineering in the
Netherlands. In this contract the design process is divided into the following
eight phases [KIvI, 2003]. The engineering company can be hired for one or more
of the phases of the design process.
Research: Research into the feasibility, environmental effects, societal acceptation
etc for making a go, no go decision for the project. This research is also used to
decide on design requirements.
Preliminary design: Based on the design requirements a sketch design and
descriptions on how the object will function are made and used to inform the
customer about the costs and the time necessary to build the design. The
customer has to approve the preliminary design before the next phase is started.
Definite design: The dimensions are fixed and the costs of materials and
apparatus indicated for use in the preliminary design are calculated (using codes
if necessary), drawn and specified. At the end of this phase there should be a
clear idea about what the costs to build and operate the object will be and the time
needed to build it.
Tender specification and construction documents: The location, the amount and
quality of materials and processes used to construct the object are described in
the tender specifications. The tender specifications also include administrative
and legal requirements. The tender specifications are necessary for tendering and
they will be used as part of the contract with the building contractor.
Price and contract: Building contractors bid to obtain the contract.
Detailing: The design is further detailed by the building contractor in cooperation
with the engineering company to ensure that it can be built according
to the tendering specifications.
Building: The engineering design company ensures that the design is built
according to the specifications in the tendering specifications.
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For people who are familiar in the area, the bridge will connect IJburg with the A1 and A9
highway near exit Diemen.
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