A Novel Rapidly Deployable Floating Causeway: Design and Optimization

The availability and effectiveness of rapidly deployable bridging systems are critical for the survival of military personnel and those affected by natural disasters. In response to the increasing demand for improved systems, the Engineer Research and Development Center has designed the Lightweight Modular Causeway System, which possesses great improvements over current systems. However, an existing challenge is the weight and complexity of steel hinges between the aluminum modules. To eliminate these, this design has been re-conceptualized so that a desired superstructure flexibility is achieved. Multi-objective optimization for a minimum self-weight and moment of inertia was implemented to design an efficient cross section that conforms to the desired curvature and other structural and geometric specifications using simulated annealing. This thesis will review existing deployable bridge and causeway systems, present this re-conceptualization, discuss the implementation of optimization to achieve this new design, and finally discuss conclusions and future work.