team photo

Figure 1
project photo

Civil Engineering
Team 1

Team Members

Faculty Advisor

Lauren Bledsoe
Garrett Doyle
Jeremy Friedman
Benjamin Gousse
Tanner Jackson
Zachary O'Toole

Shinae Jang, John Mchnicki, Yure Kuljis

Sponsor

Connecticut Department of Transportation: John Machnicki & Yure Kuljis

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The West Haven railroad station, located on the New Haven Main Line in West Haven, Connecticut, was constructed in 2013. The Connecticut Department of Transportation tasked Civil Engineering and Electrical Engineering students with the design and installation of a new solar photovoltaic (PV) system over the existing railroad station parking lot, along with eight electric car charging stations. Team CE 1 developed design plans for the new solar carport structures in the North parking lot and standard carports in the South parking lot, with room for future expansion. These carport structures were oriented in such a way to maximize solar electrical production, and did not reduce the number of existing parking spaces. Four electric car charging stations were added to each parking lot, located in close proximity to the existing railroad station building. The Civil Engineering tasks for this project included the site layout of the new carport structures, the soil and foundation design calculations for where the structures were installed, and the structural analysis and design for the new structures and electrical charging stations. Team CE 1 completed a full design and cost breakdown for the structural and civil aspects of the Solar PV system installation. All of the structures were designed per ASCE 7-10, AISC Steel Construction Manual 15th ed., and all state and local regulations.