Bridge
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Wikipedia-Article "Bridge"
- This article is about the edifice (it is mostly an index to articles concerning specific bridge types). For other meanings, see bridge (disambiguation).
A bridge is a structure built to span a gorge, valley, road, railroad track, river, body of water, or any other physical obstacle. Designs may be built higher than otherwise needed in order to allow other traffic (particularly ship traffic) beneath.
The purpose of a bridge is to allow easier passage by providing a continuous more uniform more easily navigable route via what would otherwise be an uneven or impossible path for the particular kind of thing travelling or being transported, whether people, vehicles, trains, ships, liquids or whatever else.
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History
The first bridges were spans made of wooden logs or planks and eventually stones, using a simple support and crossbeam arrangement.
The arch was first used by the Roman Empire for bridges and aqueducts, some of which still stand today. The Romans also had cement, which reduced the variation of strength found in natural stone. Brick and mortar bridges were built after the Roman era, as the technology for cement was lost then later rediscovered.
Rope bridges, a simple type of suspension bridge, were used by the Inca civilization in the Andes mountains of South America, just prior to European colonization in the 1500s.
During the 18th century there were many innovations in the design of timber bridges by Hans Ulrich, Johannes Grubenmann, and others. The first engineering book on building bridges was written by Hubert Gautier in 1716.
With the rise of the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, truss systems of wrought iron were developed for larger bridges, but iron did not have the tensile strength to support large loads. With the advent of steel, which has a high tensile strength, much larger bridges were built, many using the ideas of Gustave Eiffel.
Etymology
The Oxford English Dictionary traces the origin of the word bridge to an Old Norse word bryggja, meaning "landing stage, gangway, or movable pier".
Types of bridges
Bridges may be classified by their use or by their structure.
By use
A bridge is usually designed for trains, pedestrian or road traffic, a pipeline or waterway for water transport or barge traffic. In some cases there may be restrictions in use. For example, it may be a bridge carrying a highway and forbidden for pedestrians and bicycles, or a pedestrian bridge, possibly also for bicycles.
An aqueduct is a bridge that carries water, resembling a viaduct.
Decorative and ceremonial bridges
To create a beautiful image, some bridges are built much taller than necessary. This type, often found in east-asian style gardens, is called a Moon bridge, evoking a rising full moon.
Other garden bridges may cross only a dry bed of stream washed pebbles, intended only to convey an impression of a stream.
Often in palaces a bridge will be built over an artificial waterway as symbolic of a passage to an important place or state of mind. A set of five bridges cross a sinuous waterway in an important courtyard of the Forbidden City in Beijing, China. The central bridge was reserved exclusively for the use of the Emperor, Empress, and their attendants.
Index to types of bridges and bridge related topics
 Retractable bridge
(Thrust bridge) |
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Bridge structural and evolutionary taxonomy
Bridges may be classified by how the four forces of tension, compression, bending and shear are distributed through their structure. Most bridges will employ all of the principle forces to some degree, but only a few will predominate. The separation of forces may be quite clear, as in a suspension or cable-stayed span; the elements in tension are distinct in shape and placement. In other cases the forces may be distributed among a large number of members, as in a truss, or not clearly discernible to a casual observer as in a box beam. Bridges can also be classified by their lineage, which is shown as the vertical axis on the diagram to the right.
Efficiency
A bridge's structural efficiency may be considered to be the ratio of load carried to bridge weight, given a specific set of material types. In one common challenge young students are to be divided into groups of two or three and then to be given a fixed quantity of wood sticks, a specific distance to span, and a given glue, and then to construct a bridge that will be tested to destruction by the progressive addition of load at the center of the span. The bridge taking the greatest load is by this test the most structurally efficient.
A bridge's economic efficiency will be site and traffic dependent, the ratio of savings by having a bridge (instead of, for example, a ferry, or a longer road route) compared to its cost. For a given site, kind of bridge employed and the materials used determine the total cost, a lifetime cost composed of materials, labor, machinery, engineering, cost of money, maintenance, refurbishment, risk potential, and ultimately, demolition and associated disposal, recycling, and reuse. Bridges employing only compression are relatively inefficient structurally, but may be highly cost efficient where suitable materials are available near the site. For medium spans, trusses or box beams are usually most economical, while in some cases, the appearance of the bridge may be more important than its cost efficiency. The longest spans usually require suspension bridges.
Notable bridges
- Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge - Japan, with the longest section span of 1.9 km.
- Forth Railway Bridge - Scotland, one of the most famous cantilever bridges in the world.
- Golden Gate Bridge - USA, arguably the most beautiful of its type.
- The Iron Bridge - England, the world's first iron bridge.
- Confederation Bridge - Canada, world's longest bridge over waters that freeze.
- Jamuna Bridge- Bangladesh, longest rail-road bridge in south asia , 2nd longest in world.
- Lake Pontchartrain Causeway - USA, spanning Lake Pontchartrain in south Louisiana, it is the longest bridge in the world at 23.87 miles (38.41 km).
- Lupu Bridge- China, longest single steel arch.
- Mackinac Bridge - USA, Opened to traffic in 1957, connecting the two peninsulas of Michigan; held the title of the world's longest two tower suspension bridge between anchorages until the 1990s.
- Mahatma Gandhi Setu - India, the longest river bridge in the world.
- Menai Suspension Bridge - Wales, first road suspension bridge in the world.
- Millau Viaduct - France, tallest bridge in the world.
- Overtoun Bridge, - Scotland, dogs have leaped to their deaths from this bridge, leading to urban legends.
- Palace Bridge - St Petersburg, Russia, one of iconic images of the city
- Penang Bridge - Malaysia, longest bridge in Southeast Asia.
- Québec Bridge - Canada, largest cantilever bridge in the world.
- San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge - USA, especially for seismic retrofit and eastern span replacement.
- Sundial Bridge - USA, a dramatic single cantilever spar cable stayed span for pedestrians.
- Sydney Harbour Bridge - Australia, arguably the best-known suspended-deck compression arch bridge.
- Tacoma Narrows Bridge - USA, famous for its collapse due to aerodynamic effects.
- Tatara Bridge - Japan, largest span cable-stayed bridge.
- Tower Bridge - London, England, and a symbol of this city.
- Tyne Bridge - England, one of Northern England's most iconic structures.
- Trajan's bridge - Romania, ancient Roman bridge over the river Danube, only fragments visible.
- Vasco da Gama Bridge - Portugal, the longest bridge in Europe at 17.2 km.
- Victoria Falls Bridge - linking Zimbabwe to Zambia, built in 1905 as part of the projected Cape-Cairo railway.
- Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge - USA, built during Boston's Big Dig, the widest cable-stayed bridge.
See also
- BASE jumping
- Bridges in art
- List of bridges
- List of bridges by length
- List of largest suspension bridges
- Moveable bridge
- Toll bridge
External links
- Structurae - International Database and Gallery of Structures.
- American Society of Civil Engineers History and Heritage of Civil Engineering - Bridges
- Historic Bridges of Michigan and Elsewhere Photos, information, and maps of historic bridges in and around Michigan. Also has a links page with links to bridge databases in other regions of the U.S.A.
- Bridge Building — Art and Science Comprehensive explanations about bridges.
- Model Bridge Building
- Bridge Basics A guide to bridge terminology and styles
- Shanghai lupu Chinese bridge site showing suspended deck arch construction and completion.
- BridgeBuilder - Great game where you design a bridge and see if a train will drive over it safely.
- RRbridge- Discussion group focused on railroad bridges, trestles, and viaducts. Hosted by Yahoo! Groups
- Bridge disasters
- A dictionary of bridge terms
- Digital Bridge Library at Lehigh University
- Bridge Photos
- Flickr: Photos tagged with bridge