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BRIDGES

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 534 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

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BRIDGES . x. See also:

DEFINITIONS

Definitions and See also:

General Considerations.—Bridges (old forms, brig, brygge, See also:

BRIDGE

bridge; Dutch, brug; See also:

German, Briicke; a See also:

COMMON

common See also:

Teutonic word) are structures carrying roadways, waterways or See also:

RAILWAYS

railways across streams, valleys or other roads or railways, leaving a passage way below. See also:

Long bridges of several spans are often termed " viaducts," and bridges carrying canals are termed " aqueducts," though this See also:

TERM

term is sometimes used for waterways which have no bridge structure. A " culvert " is a bridge of small span giving passage to drainage. In railway See also:

WORK

work an " overbridge " is a bridge over the railway, and an " underbridge " is a bridge carrying the railway. In all countries there are legal regulations fixing the minimum span and height of such bridges and the width of road-way to be provided. Ordinarily bridges are fixed bridges, but there are also movable bridges with machinery for opening a clear and unobstructed passage way for See also:

NAVIGATION (from Lat. navis, ship, and agere, to move)

navigation. Most commonly these are " See also:

SWING, DAVID (1830-1894)

swing " or " turning " bridges. " Floating " bridges are roadways carried on pontoons moored in a stream. In classical and See also:

MEDIEVAL

medieval times bridges were constructed of See also:

TIMBER

timber or See also:

MASONRY

masonry, and later of See also:

BRICK (derived according to some etymologists from the Teutonic bricke, a disk or plate; but more authoritatively, through the French brique, originally a " broken piece," applied especially to bread, and so to clay, from the Teutonic brikan, to break)

brick or See also:

concrete. Then See also:

LATE

late in the 18th See also:

CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century wrought See also:

IRON [symbol Fe, atomic weight 55.85 (0=16)]

iron began to be used, at first in See also:

COMBINATION (Lat. combinare, to combine)

combination with timber or See also:

CAST (from the verb meaning " to throw "; the word is Scand. in origin, cf. Dan. kaste, and Swed. kasta; " cast " in Middle Eng. took the place of the A.S. weor pan, cf. Ger. werf en)

cast iron. Cast iron was about the same See also:

time used for See also:

ARCHES, COURT OF

arches, and some of the See also:

early railway bridges were built with cast iron girders.

Cast iron is now only used for arched bridges of moderate span. Wrought iron was used on a large See also:

scale in the suspension road bridges of the early See also:

PART

part of the i gth century. The See also:

GREAT

great girder bridges over the Menai Strait and at See also:

SALTASH

Saltash near See also:

Plymouth, erected in the See also:

MIDDLE

middle of the x gth century, were entirely of wrought iron, and subsequently wrought iron girder bridges were extensively used on railways. Since the introduction of mild See also:

STEEL, FLORA ANNIE (1847– )

steel of greater tenacity and toughness than wrought iron (i.e. from 188o onwards) it has wholly superseded the latter except for girders of less than too ft. span. The latest See also:

CHANGE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. cambium, cambiare, to barter; the ultimate derivation is probably from the root which appears in the Gr. «a urmu', to bend)

change in the material of bridges has been the introduction of ferro-concrete, armoured concrete, or concrete strengthened with steel bars for arched bridges. The See also:

PRESENT

present See also:

ARTICLE (from Lat. articulus, a joint)

article relates chiefly to metallic bridges. It is only since See also:

metal has been used that the great spans of 500 to x800 ft. now accomplished have been made possible. 2. In a bridge there may be distinguished the superstructure and the substructure. In the former the See also:

main supporting member or members may be an See also:

arch See also:

RING (O.E. hring; a word common to Teutonic languages; and probably cognate with the Lat. circus, Gr. KtpKOS or KpLKOS, Skt'. chakra, wheel, circle, cf. also " harangue "); in art, a band of circular shape of varying sizes, made of any material and used f

ring or arched ribs, suspension chains or See also:

ROPES, JOHN CODMAN (1836–1899)

ropes, or a pair of girders, beams or trusses. The bridge flooring rests on the supporting members, and is of very various types according to the purpose of the bridge. There is also in large bridges See also:

wind-bracing to stiffen the structure against See also:

HORIZONTAL

horizontal forces.

The substructure consists of (a) the piers and end piers or abutments, the former sustaining a See also:

VERTICAL (from Lat. vertex, highest point)

vertical load, and the latter having to resist, in addition, the oblique thrust of an arch, the pull of a suspension See also:

CHAIN (through the O. Fr. citable, chcene, &c., from Lat. catena)

chain, or the thrust of an See also:

EMBANKMENT

embankment; and (b) the See also:

FOUNDATIONS

foundations below the ground level, which are often difficult and costly parts of the structure, because the position of a bridge may be fixed by considerations which preclude the selection of a site naturally adapted for carrying a heavy structure. 3. Types of Bridges.—Bridges may be classed as arched bridges, in which the See also:

PRINCIPAL

principal members are in See also:

COMPRESSION

compression; suspension bridges, in which the principal members are in tension; and girder bridges, in which See also:

HALF

half the components of the principal members are in compression and half in tension. But there are cases of bridges of mixed type. The choice of the type to be adopted depends on many and complex considerations: (t) The cost, having regard to the materials available. For moderate spans brick, masonry or concrete can be used without excessive cost, but for longer spans steel is more economical, and for very long spans its use is imperative. (2) The importance of securing permanence and small cost of See also:

MAINTENANCE (Fr. maintenance, from maintenir, to maintain, support, Lat. manu tenere, to hold in the hand)

maintenance and See also:

REPAIRS (from Lat. reparare, to make ready again)

repairs has to be considered. Masonry and concrete are more durable than metal, and metal than timber. (3) Aesthetic considerations sometimes have great See also:

WEIGHT

weight, especially in towns. Masonry bridges are preferable in See also:

APPEARANCE (from Lat. apparere, to appear)

appearance to any others, andmetal arch bridges are less objectionable than most forms of girder. Most commonly the engineer has to attach great importance to the question of cost, and to See also:

DESIGN (Fr. desiin, drawing; Lat. designare, to mark out)

design his structure to secure the greatest See also:

ECONOMY

economy consistent with the See also:

PROVISION (Lat. provisio)

provision of adequate strength. So long as bridge See also:

BUILDING

building was an empirical See also:

art, great See also:

WASTE (O. Fr. wast, guast, gast, gaste; Lat. vastus, vast, desolate)

waste of material was unavoidable.

The development of the theory of structures has been largely directed to determining the arrangements of material which are most economical, especially in the superstructure. In the See also:

case of bridges of large span the cost and difficulty of erection are serious, and in such cases facility of erection becomes a governing See also:

CONSIDERATION (from Lat. considerare, to look at closely, examine, generally taken to be from con-, and the base seen in sidus, sideris, a star, the word being supposed to be originally an astrological or astronomical term)

consideration in the choice of the type to be adopted. In many cases the span is fixed by See also:

LOCAL

local conditions, such as the convenient sites for piers, or the requirements of waterway or navigation. But here also the question of economy must be taken into the reckoning. The cost of the superstructure increases very much as the span increases, but the greater the cost of the substructure, the larger the span which is economical. Broadly, the least costly arrangement is that in which the cost of the superstructure of a span is equal to that of a See also:

PIER (older forms per or Pere, from Med. Lat. pera; the word for piers out of water. For river piers, where a firm, watertight is of obscure origin, and the connexion with Fr. Pierre, Lat. stratum is found at a moderate depth below the river-bed, the pctr

pier and See also:

FOUNDATION (Lat. fundatio, from fundare, to found)

foundation. For masonry, brick or concrete the arch subjected throughout to compression is the most natural See also:

FORM (Lat. forma)

form. The arch ring can be treated as a blockwork structure composed of rigid voussoirs. The stability of such structures depends on the position of the See also:

LINE

line of pressure in relation to the See also:

EXTRADOS (extra, outside, Fr. dos, back)

extrados and See also:

INTRADOS (a French term, Lat. infra, within, Fr. dos, back)

intrados of the arch ring. Generally the line of pressure lies within the middle half of the See also:

DEPTH

depth of the arch ring. In finding the line of pressure some principle such as the principle of least See also:

ACTION

action must be used in determining the reactions at the See also:

CROWN

crown and springings, and some assumptions must be made of not certain validity. Hence to give a margin of safety to See also:

COVER (from the Fr. convert, from couvrir, to cover, Lat. cooperire)

cover contingencies not calculable, an excess of material must be provided.

By the introduction of hinges the position of the line of resistance can be fixed and the stress in the arch ring determined with less uncertainty. In some See also:

RECENT

recent masonry arched bridges of spans up to 150 ft. built with hinges considerable economy has been obtained. For an elastic arch of metal there is a more See also:

COMPLETE

complete theory, but it is difficult of application, and there remains some uncertainty unless (as is now commonly done) hinges are introduced at the crown and springings. In suspension bridges the principal members are in tension, and the introduction of iron See also:

LINK

link chains about the end of the 18th century, and later of See also:

WIRE (A.S. wir, a wire; cf. Swed. vire, to twist, M.H.G. wiere, a gold ornament, Lat. viriae, armlets, ultimately from the root wi, to twist, bind)

wire ropes of still greater tenacity, permitted the construction of road bridges of this type with spans at that time impossible with any other See also:

SYSTEM

system of construction. The suspension bridge dispenses with the compression member required in girders and with a See also:

GOOD, JOHN MASON (1764-1827)

good See also:

DEAL

deal of the stiffening required in metal arches. On the other See also:

hand, suspension bridges require lofty towers and massive anchorages. The defect of the suspension bridge is its flexibility. It can be stiffened by girders and bracing and is then of mixed type, when it loses much of its See also:

ADVANTAGE

advantage in economy. Nevertheless, the stiffened suspension bridge will probably be the type adopted in future for very great spans. A bridge on this system has been projected at New See also:

York of 3200 ft. span. The immense See also:

EXTENSION (Lat. ex, out ; tendere, to stretch)

extension of railways since 1830 has involved the construction of an enormous number of bridges, and most of these are girder bridges, in which about half the superstructure is in tension and half in compression. The use of wrought iron and later of mild steel has made the construction of such bridges very convenient and economical.

So far as superstructure is concerned, more material must be used than for an arch or chain, for the girder is in a sense a combination of arch and chain On the other hand, a girder imposes only a vertical load on its piers and abutments, and not a horizontal thrust, as in the case of an arch or suspension chain. It is also easier to erect. A fundamental difference in girder bridges arises from the mode of support. In the simplest case the main girders are supported at the ends only, and if there are several spans they are discontinuous or See also:

INDEPENDENT

independent. But a main girder may be supported at two or more points so as to be continuous over two or more spans. The continuity permits economy of weight. In a three-span bridge the theoretical advantage of continuity is about 49% for a dead load and 16% for a live load. The objection to continuity is that very small alterations of level of the supports due to See also:

settlement of the piers may very greatly alter the See also:

DISTRIBUTION (Lat. distribuere, to deal out)

distribution of stress, and render the bridge unsafe. Hence many multiple-span bridges such as the Hawkesbury, See also:

BENARES

Benares and Chittravatti bridges have been built with independent spans. Lastly, some bridges are composed of cantilevers and suspended girders. The main girder is then virtually a continuous girder hinged at the points of contrary flexure, so that no See also:

AMBIGUITY (Fr. ambiguite, med. Lat. ambiguitas, from Lat. ambiguus, doubtful; ambi, both ways, agere, to drive)

ambiguity can arise as to the stresses. Whatever type of bridge is adopted, the engineer has to ascertain the loads to be carried, and to proportion the parts so that the stresses due to the loads do not exceed limits found by experience to be safe.

In many countries the limits of working stress in public and railway bridges are prescribed by See also:

law. The development of theory has advanced pari passu with the demand for bridges of greater strength and span and of more complex design, and there is now little uncertainty in calculating the stresses in any of the types of structure now adopted. In the See also:

MODERN

modern metal bridge every member has a definite See also:

FUNCTION

function and is subjected to a calculated straining action. Theory has been the See also:

GUIDE (in Mid. Eng. gyde, from the Fr. guide; the earlier French form was guie, English " guy," the d was due to the Italian form guida; the ultimate origin is probably Teutonic, the word being connected with the base seen in O. Eng. witan, to know)

guide in the development of bridge design, and its See also:

TRUST

trust-worthiness is completely recognized. The margin of uncertainty which must be met by empirical allowances on the See also:

side of safety has been steadily diminished. The larger the bridge, the more important is economy of material, not only because the See also:

TOTAL

total See also:

EXPENDITURE

expenditure is more serious, but because as the span increases the dead weight of the structure becomes a greater fraction of the whole load to be supported. In fact, as the span increases a point is reached at which the dead weight of the superstructure becomes so large that a limit is imposed to any further increase of span.

End of Article: BRIDGES

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