TPG3700 (Project)_S2_/2023

TPG3700 Design Project

Department of Civil Engineering

This document contains guidelines for your TPG3700 design project.

Assessments #2
Semester 2
 CONTENTS
Page

1 INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
2 PURPOSE ....................................................................................................................................3
3 PROJECT BRIEF .........................................................................................................................3
3.1 Deliverables........................................................................................................................................4
3.2 Assessment ........................................................................................................................................4
3.3 Due date and time ..............................................................................................................................5
3.4 Mark allocation ...................................................................................................................................5
3.5 Project report instructions ...................................................................................................................6
4 RESOURCES ...............................................................................................................................7
4.1 Design software(s) ........................................................................................................................7
4.2 Design standards and guidelines .................................................................................................. 7
5 ANNEXURE..................................................................................................................................7

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 TPG3700 (Project)-S2-/2023

1 INTRODUCTION

The project component of the TPG3700 module is intended to give the students a practical insight
into some of the aspects of undertaking road designs. This project is dedicated to the solving the
problems of road alignment and pavement structure. Beside the manual methods, considerable
portion of this project is dedicated to computer-assisted analysis and design. TPG3700 project is
dedicated to assessing ECSA Graduate Attribute 5 and involves the use of engineering
knowledge and techniques to find and optimize road alignment (i.e., horizontal, vertical, and
transverse). The project is meant for a broadly defined problem as per ECSA requirements for
NQFL 7.

2 PURPOSE

The main purpose of this project is to guide you to develop a comprehensive road design, using
available design standards and tools. You are required to consult with local road authorities,
consultant, or contractors to define a road design problem, collect required data, carry out all the
necessary analyses and provide a complete design of an actual road. Your design must consider
aspects of safety, efficiency, environment, and economy.

3 PROJECT BRIEF

This project is intended to give the student a practical insight into some of the aspects of
undertaking design of a major road. You are required to upgrade section 13 of R33 from km 60.8
to km 63.0 in Vaalwater town: Limpopo Province, to 4-lane, divided road with sidewalks. The
designer (you) is required to generate the final alignment of by utilizing a commercially available
geometric design software. Design data, including topography, traffic, etc, are given in a separate
document.

Make the following assumptions:

 The pavement structure is given as a 40 A wearing course, 150 mm G2 base layer, and
200 mm C4 subbase layer.
 The subgrade design, the road section can be assumed to be uniform with an average
CBR of 11.5% and standard deviation of 1.06. The road category is TRH4 class B.

Your final design should cover the following aspects:

• Software-aided alignment design for the given road section.
• Detailed manual calculation of one horizontal curve and one vertical curve. Indication
should be made on the drawings for the selected curves. In addition, you are required to
generate an EXCEL® sheet that can be used to replicate the manual calculations and can
also be used in future to do the analysis of horizontal and vertical curves.
• Complete earthworks design and Mass-Haul Diagram.

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 • Conceptual design of the stormwater drainage system. You may provide hypothetical sizes
for the purpose of mass-haul diagram (e.g., side drain or curbed inlet) and vertical profile
(e.g., culvert). However, actual chainage locations or co-ordinates should be provided for
the various drainage facilities. Please note that discharge calculations are NOT required,
since only “conceptual design” is required.

3.1 Deliverables

The deliverables of this design project include the following:

• Design report.
• Detailed, software-generated drawings. Student’s name and number, student signature
and project titles should be clearly stipulated in each drawing sheet.
• Generate a not more than15 minute PowerPoint presentation on YouTube® or any other
video-making platform. And copy the web link to your design report. Do not attach a copy of
the slides to your design report.

The project document (i.e., design report plus set of drawings) of 40 pages, should be submitted
on Moodle, as a single PD file, not later than the date line specified.
This project is meant to be an individual assessment. Each student should write and submit her/
his own report. Please note that similarity to any other students’ report will result in a disciplinary
action. The marker will check similarity both manually and by TURNITIN report.

3.2 Assessment

The assessment of all project elements will be conducted using a special rubric which combines
the GA5 assessment and other project requirements. You are advised to go through the rubric
and ensure that all requirements are fulfilled before making the submission on Moodle platform,
under assessment #6. Successful completion of this project requires a student to meet the
minimum pass mark (i.e., 50%) and clearly show competency in terms of ECSA GA 5. This project
contributes 30% of the module final mark.

What is GA5 competency? The student MUST achieve the minimum score for each of the three
(3) indicators that make the GA5. Details of the three indicators are found in the rubric and stated
as follows:
• Discipline-specific tools, processes, or procedures: ability to use engineering tools to solve
engineering problems. Tools include software, design standards and guidelines, and
statistical methods.
• Computer packages: ability to use computer packages for computation, modelling,
simulation, and information handling in road alignment projects.
• Computers and networks and information infrastructure: ability to use computers, network,
and information infrastructure for accessing, managing, and storing information to
enhance personal productivity.

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To be deemed GA 5 competent you will need to achieve total GA5 score ≥ 8 AND a minimum
score ≥ 7 on no more than two (2) indicators.
What happen if I do not meet the GA5 requirements under assessment #2?

You will be given a second opportunity (assessment #6), which involve a different project but
requires similar type of work as per assessment 2. The details of assessment #6 will only be
available after the closing date of assessment #2. It should bear in mind that the mark for
assessment #6 will be capped to 60%.

What if I do not meet the GA5 requirements in both assessments #2 and #6?
A student who exhausts the first (assessment #2) and the second (assessment #6) opportunities
without showing GA 5 competency will have to re-register the module for the future semester.

3.3 Due date and time

Submission should be made under assessment #2 on Moodle. The due date for this assessment
is 10/09/2023, however, the submission is set to close on Tuesday at 11/09/2023 at 23:00. The
24-hour grace period is given to cater for any challenges students may face in terms of
submission.

3.4 Mark allocation

The table below shows the mark allocation:

Item no. Description Maximum mark

1 Report format 4
2 Project details 8
3 Software-aided geometric design 34
Manual calculations of vertical and horizontal
4 11
curves
5 Development of EXCEL® sheet calculation tool 6
6 subgrade design 5
7 Drainage design (conceptual design) 6
8 Design drawings 16
9 Oral presentation (≤15-minute YouTube® video) 10
Project total mark 100

Important: The rubric, attached to this letter, shows the breakdown of the marks.

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3.5 Project report instructions

 Student MUST sign the honour pledge form attached to this project letter. Any other form
of honour pledge will not be accepted. Students suspected of dishonest conduct will be
subjected to disciplinary processes. UNISA has a zero tolerance for plagiarism and/or any
other forms of academic dishonesty.

 Ensure the video link is active and accessible to the marker for a duration of four (4
months). The link must be presented in a separate page just after the table of contents.
Also, student should be prepared to provide an oral presentation via Ms Teams, if asked
to do so.

 The design report including the drawings MUST not exceed 45 pages. The rubric or the
power point presentation slides should not be attached to the project.

 You are required to provide a set of drawings that is generated by the geometric design
software. The drawings should at least show the plan view(s), long section(s), cross
sections at 40 m intervals but lower interval can be used to capture features at some
sections of the road, location of the drainage facilities, and details of marking and signs.
The drawings must be presented in a landscape orientation and is clear to read/ zoom in.

 It is critical to provide screenshots showing your work on the geometric design software.
Screenshots should be clear, landscape oriented, show the entire screen, including the
bars on top and bottom with date and time.

 Take note that blurry drawings, screenshots, tables, or any picture will be marked zero.

 Students are advised to preview submissions (project script) to ensure legibility and that
the correct script file has been uploaded. Incorrect script or file format and uncollated
scripts will not be considered.

 Mark awarded for incomplete submission will be the student’s mark for assessment #2.
NO emailed scripts or any materials to supplement the main scripts will be accepted.

 Your single PDF project must be saved with file named as student no, subject code,
semester, assessment no, and year (For Example: 72111985_TPG3700_S2_#2_2023) &
uploaded on Moodle under assessment #2.

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 TPG3700 (Project)-S2-/2023

4 RESOURCES

4.1 Design software(s)

The latest student version of OpenRoads Designer® can be utilised. However, we have no
commercial commitment to Bentley® software or any other design software provider. The students
can use the software of their choice subject to availability and fulfilment of access/ licence
requirements.

4.2 Design standards and guidelines

Geometric Design Projects for Highways: An introduction, John G. Schoon (Free access at
Knovel®).

Geometric Design of Rural Roads - TRH 17, Department of Transport, RSA

https://www.nra.co.za/live/content.php?Item_ID=246

Geometric Design Manual, SANRAL, RSA.

https://www.nra.co.za/live/content.php?Category_ID=148

Structural Design of Flexible Pavements for Interurban and Rural Roads - TRH4 (1996)
https://www.nra.co.za/live/content.php?

Drainage Manual (6th edition), SANRAL, RSA.

https://www.nra.co.za/content/Drainage_Manual_6th_Edition_(Sept_2013).pdf

5 ANNEXURE

• Affidavit form;
• Mentor form;
• Project data;
• GA5 Marking rubric.

TOTAL PROJECT MARK [100]

UNISA 2023