Brudges

Brudges

  • Submitted By: sashaf
  • Date Submitted: 02/24/2009 5:14 AM
  • Category: Technology
  • Words: 1038
  • Page: 5
  • Views: 373

Which Would You Choose?
Sasha Faruque

Introduction:

What do cable stay, suspension, and truss have in common? They are three of the six main types of bridges. A bridge is a structure built over a river, railroad, or other obstacle that allows people to travel across. Bridges can be as simple as a log across a creek, or as complicated as several heavyweight cables suspended over great lengths. They are usually built over large bodies of water to allow vehicles to pass from one side to the other. They are beautiful and magnificent structures that help us move from one place to another.

Types of Bridges:

There are six main types of bridges. They are:

➢ Beam Girder - A girder bridge is perhaps the most common and a very basic bridge. A log across a creek is an example of a girder bridge in its simplest form.

➢ Steel Arch - Unlike simple girder bridges, arches are well suited to the use of stone. Arches are good choices for crossing valleys and rivers since the arch doesn't require piers in the centre. There is a bridge of this type on the way to San Simeon, California USA along the famous Pacific Coast Highway.
➢ Cantilever - Rigid frame bridges are sometimes also known as Rahmen bridges. In a standard Rahmen bridge, the girder and the piers are separate structures.

➢ Truss - The truss is a simple skeletal structure. In design theory, the individual members of a simple truss are only subject to tension and compression forces and not bending forces. Thus, for the most part, all beams in a truss bridge are straight. There is an interesting example of a truss located at Universal Studios in Universal City, California. It actually breaks and repairs itself on cue for thousands of tourists who ride across it daily!

➢ Suspension - Of all the bridge types in use today, the suspension bridge allows for the longest spans. At first glance the suspension and cable-stayed bridges may look similar, but...