Reprinted for MAADI, ©2013 Light Metal Age Click to receive a discounted subscription. Engineering and Designing Aluminum Structural Solutions Interview with Alexandre de la Chevrotière, CEO of MAADI Group MAADI supplied this aluminum equestrian bridge for the city of Blainville, Québec, Canada that is 20 m (65 ft 6 in) long and 3 m (10 ft 0 in) wide. The bridge allows horses, pedestrians, and 3.5 ton vehicles. lexandre de la Chevrotière, P.E. is president and ceo of the MAADI Group Inc., based in Montréal, Québec, Canada, since 2005 (Figure 1). MAADI is involved in aluminum design and engineering of civil, architectural, and maritime structures and has grown to be a major international designer for bridges and floating structures such as barges, and commercial floating docks, Figure 1. Alexandre de la wave attenuators, and breakwa- Chevrotière ters. A professional engineer and graduate of the Université du Québec – Ecole de Technologie Supérieure (Mechanical Engineering), as well as from the Québec Maritime Insitute (Naval Architecture), he worked in several maritime design engineering capacities before becoming director of engineering at Norcan Aluminium and then forming MAADI. De la Chevrotière is a member of the International Aluminium Conference (INALCO) committee, and this year’s 12th INALCO will be included as part of the first Canadian International Aluminium Conference (CIAC) from October 21-25, 2013 to be held in Montréal, Québec. Describe MAADI’s overall business structure, mission, and its involvement in aluminum design of bridges and other maritime structures. MAADI Group is an independent legal entity (corporation). It has one shareholder (the founder) and share options to Centech (Centre de l’entrepreneurship technologique), a startup center at the engineering school École de Technologie Supérieure (ÉTS). Centech is an organization that fosters the startup of technological enterprises that contribute to job creation and the advancement of know-how in Canada. MAADI was created in 2005 at the demand of the CQRDA (Aluminium Research and Development Centre of Québec), an aluminum liaison and transfer center 50 in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region, while I was working since early 2004 on Make-A-Bridge™, an aluminum bridge kit that is IKEA-style, an off-the-shelf pedestrian bridge structure that is ready to ship anywhere in the world for indoor/outdoor commercial, industrial, and recreational applications (Figure 2). The CQRDA wanted to provide funds to develop the Make-A-Bridge system kit, but it could only do this through a corporation, not with consultants. The money raised from CQRDA allowed MAADI to finance development and testing of the concept. The Make-A-Bridge’s bridge joints (moment-resisting joints and system) have been granted two patents, while four other patents are still pending. These patents may apply to other types of aluminum lattice structures. As founder of the corporation, I started to offer exclusive aluminum engineering services as a consultant back in 2003 (design of welded aluminum structures). Later, when MAADI was formed in 2005, the company added design/build to the engineering services for the civil, architectural, and maritime industries. The company is composed of professional engineers, industrial design- Figure 2. The multi-purpose Make-A-Bridge system uses interlocking aluminum extrusion components to build a structurally strong pedestrian bridge. The patented no-weld design increases aluminum’s yield strength and eliminates thermally affected zones on the walkway structure.

Reprinted for MAADI, ©2013 Light Metal Age ers, and technologists that can manage projects from the preliminary design to final installation steps. The entire team is dedicated to working with our customers to create structures that are maintenance-free, durable, aesthetically pleasing, economical, and fully sustainable for generations to come. Last year you coauthored a report on aluminum vehicular bridge construction for the Aluminium Association of Canada (AAC) detailing the need for upgrading the bridge infrastructure in North America and aluminum’s advantages over conventional materials....

Reprinted for MAADI, ©2013 Light Metal Age Aluminum Design Manual. These seminars are also offered online with Randolph Kissell, a P.E. specializing exclusively in aluminum in the U.S. I attended an American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) seminar back in 2002 in Pittsburg and definitely recommend it. What about fusion welding of aluminum versus steel? Is friction stir welding (FSW), successfully used for solid state joining of aluminum extrusions in ship decking and other applications, an option for joining bridge decking and other bridge structures? A considerable local strength loss can...

Reprinted for MAADI, ©2013 Light Metal Age design code provisions for calculating the loads and load effects. One problem with this approach is that modern building and bridge codes contain load and resistance factors that are calibrated to ensure acceptably small probabilities of failure. The different factors are linked, so if you take load factors from one code and resistance factors from another, then there is a risk that the safety objectives of one code or the other will not be achieved. This approach should therefore be avoided. One reason for the limited use of aluminum in vehicular bridges...