Engineering Structures 101

Bridges
Compiled by
Professor Martin Fahey
School of Civil and Resource Engineering
The University of Western Australia

Pons Augustus, Rimini, Italy, AD 14.

Typical Roman circular arch bridge

Arch Bridges:
Types of Arches

Pont Neuf (New Bridge), Paris, 1578 / 1604. Circular Arch Bridge.

Pont dAvignon, France, River Rhone, 1188 Frre Benot (St Bnzet), leader of
Brothers of the Bridge [revival of the Roman Guild of Bridge Builders Fratres
Pontifices (Ponti-fices = bridge-builders) or Frres Pontifes]. Destroyed deliberately
by one of the Avignon Popes for defence reasons. Arches made up of three arcs of a
circle

Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge),

Florence, 1345. Taddeo Gaddi.
Only bridge over the River Arno
not destroyed by retreating
German Army in WW2. A
segmental arch bridge (arches are
segments of circles).

Pont de la Concorde, Paris, built by Perronet, 1791. Segmental arches

(rubble from La Bastille used to construct the piers)

Construction of Pont de la
Concorde, Paris

Common Bridge Types

Note that in all cases, the
main elements can be
solid or trusses.

Beam bridge:
bridge deck in bending
deck could be
solid beam (eg concrete), or
box section (steel or concrete box section), or
truss

Simple beam bridge: stone slabs on stone supports (Dorset, England)

Britannia Bridge, Menai Straits, Wales, 1850.

First railway bridge designed as deep box girder (two side-by-side rectangular tubes each
containing a single rail line). The designer (Robert Stephenson) included towers for adding
suspension chains if necessary. Main spans 460 t. wrought iron, total span 461 m consisting of
two continuous wrought iron tubes side-by-side. Destroyed by fire in 1970 by two boys!

14th Street Bridge over the Potomac River. Continuous riveted steel girders. Note the
absence of internal hinges, and the roller supports at the piers

Continuous steel plate girder bridge. This 3-span bridge has a composite section consisting of
the steel girder and the concrete roadway on top. (Near Lausanne, Switzerland)

Continuous steel box girder bridge over the Rhine, Bonn, Germany, 1967. Note
varying depth of the box sections

Steel box girder bridge in Koblenz, Germany, collapsed during construction due to buckling.
Similar collapses occurred at Millford Haven, Wales, 1970 (4 deaths), and the Westgate
Freeway Bridge, Melbourne, 1970 (35 deaths), both designed by Freeman Fox .

Concrete box section beam bridges:

one of the Florida Keys bridges, USA
(above), and the Linn Cove Viaduct,
North Carolina, USA (right).
(The Windan Bridge over the Swan
River on the Graham Farmer Freeway
is a concrete box section bridge, but
constructed by incremental
launching).

Mt Henry Bridge Widening

Hinge

Simply-supported box-section
prestressed concrete bridge,
BART system, San Francisco.

Bollman Truss
Warren Truss
(without verticals)

Fink Truss

Pratt or Howe Truss

One way of strengthening a simple

beam is to use a truss.
Railway engineers in the US adopted
wooden truss methods for bridge
construction for the development of the
railway system in the US. Pictures
show some of the (many) types of
trusses that were developed.

Fink through truss. 1868, Ohio, US. Compression columns

are hollow wrought iron tubes

Bollman Truss Bridge, Laurel, Maryland, USA. The existing bridge was built
in 1869 along the B&O Main Line , and moved to the current location in 1888.

Crumlin Viaduct, Ebbw Vale,

Wales. Designed by Brunel
(1806-59), this early railway
viaduct is interesting in that it
is constructed entirely from
pin-connected iron members.
Deck support is by Warren
truss elements, simply
supported.

Lift bridge, Sacramento River Delta.. A Warren truss with verticals is used
throughout. Lift span is simply supported. The double spans on each side are
determinate due to internal pins. (Near Rio Vista, California)

Simply-supported steel truss railway bridge, UK

Trusses are common

elements in many types of
buildings
Steel Pratt truss spanning between
columns

Merchant Exchange Building.

The outside trusses of this
building consist of X-braced
50-ft square panels. The clear
span
between supporting columns
is 100 ft, and the end of the
building (foreground) has a
50-ft overhang. (Chicago,
Illinois)

Circular Arch Bridge: Pons Fabricus (Ponte Fabrico), Rome, Tiber. Built
in 62 B.C. by L.Fabricius. Oldest surviving bridge in Rome. Still used
by pedestrians. Note the hole through the centre - relieved water
pressure in flood conditions

Earliest existing cast iron bridge: Ironbridge, River Severn,

England, built by Abraham Darby, 1779.

Ironbridge, River Severn, England, built by Abraham Darby,

1779. Members in compression; connections using dowels etc.

Buildwise Bridge, River Severn, Thomas Telford (1796): cast-iron

bridge half the weight of the Ironbridge

Craigellachie Bridge over the River Spey. An historic bridge, being the
first such wrought iron truss arch bridge to be built by Telford in 1815.

St Louis Rail Bridge, St Louis USA, Mississippi River. James Eades, 1874. First true
steel bridge. Three spans, each 152 m. Foundations were a major technical challenge
(see next slide)

Caisson used to construct piers

of St Louis Bridge. Deepest
point had 23 m water depth and
30 m below riverbed. (50 m, or
5 atmospheres, of water
pressure). Men worked in
pressurised chamber at
pressures up to 240 kPa (2.4
atmospheres). Because of this,
there were 91 cases of the
bends, 2 crippled for life, 13
deaths. Would have been much
worse except they realised slow
decompression and short shifts
were necessary.

40 m

20 m

Gateway Arch, St Louis,

USA.
This free-standing arch is
630 ft. high and the world's
tallest. Built of triangular
section of double-walled
stainless steel, the space
between the skins being
filled with concrete after
each section was placed.
Shape is almost perfect
inverted catenary

Base of the Gateway Arch. The size of cross-section of the arch rib
can be seen by comparison with the figures on the ground. The
section of the arch at the base is an equilateral triangle with 90 ft.
sides. The arch is taken 45 ft. into bedrock. (St. Louis, Missouri)

Construction of the Gateway Arch (St. Louis, Missouri). Arch is

not stable on its own until complete.

Interior of Carmel
Mission. Built in 1793
it is an interesting
design in that the walls
curve inward towards
the top, and the roof
consists of a series of
inverted catenary
arches built of native
sandstone quarried
from the nearby Santa
Lucia Mountains.
(Carmel, California)

Garabit Viaduct, River Truyre, St Flour, France. (Viaduc du Garabit).

Built by Gustav Eiffel, 1884. Last (and best) of his many wrought iron bridges. Twohinged arch design became standard for many to follow. Note shape of the arch.

Garabit Viaduct, River Truyre, St Flour, France. (Viaduc du Garabit).

Built by Gustav Eiffel, 1884. Last (and best) of his many wrought iron bridges. Two-hinged
arch design became standard for many to follow. This photograph taken September 2002.

Garabit Viaduct, Gustav Eiffel, 1884. The hinge at one end

of the arch.

Garabit Viaduct, Gustav Eiffel,

1884. The bridge has been
repainted recently to a colour that
matches the original colour
selected by Eiffel.
(photograph taken 2002)

Garabit Viaduct.The arches are broad at the base

(for stability) and are narrow, but deep, at the top.

Garabit Viaduct, Gustav Eiffel, 1884.

Construction of the Garabit Viaduct. Hinged arch segments were tied back to
the towers using cables until they joined together. Compare with Sydney
Harbour Bridge construction (see later)

Pia Maria Bridge, Porto, Portugal

Gustav Eiffel

Eiffel Tower, Champs du

Mars, Paris. 1889. Grew
from Eiffels bridge-building
expertise. Was worlds tallest
structure for 40 years. 300 m
tower built of puddled iron.
The arch shape at the
bottom is purely decorative.

Graceful ironwork arches in the Muse dOrsey, Paris, which is now the most
beautiful museum in Paris (more manageable in short visit than the Louvre), having
being converted from a disused railway station.

Different types of arch

bridge configurations.

Pont Alexandre III, Paris, 1896 / 1898

(Widely regarded as the most beautiful of all of the bridges of Paris. This photograph predates the painting of the bridge for the 1989 bi-centenary of the French Revolution - much
gold leaf added then)

Steel arch of Pont Alexandre is a 107 m span ellipse with a rise/span

ratio of 1/17. Note the central hinge.

Pont Alexandre III. Detail of

bridge structure. Note the the
casting over the gap in the
parapet and deck expansion joint
at the top of the slide, and the
gilt ornamentation covering the
support pin at the end of the
arch rib. Without
appropriate deck discontinuities,
the bridge would not behave as a
simple 3-hinged structure.

Pont Alexandre III. Detail of bridge structure. Note the gilt

ornamentation covering the support pin at the centre of the arch.

Pont Alexandre III. Re-gilding carried out for the bi-centenary of

the French Revolution (1788 1988). Dome in the background is
Les Invalides, the site of the tomb of Napoleon I

Sydney Harbour Bridge, completed 1932.

Almost longest arch bridge in the world. (Longest is Bayonne Bridge, New York,
completed a few months earlier, which is 1.5 m longer). Two-hinge arch. The span
between abutments is 503 m to allow unobstructed passage for ships in Sydney
Harbour. It contains 50,300 tons of steel (37,000 in the arch). It is the widest (49 m)
bridge in the world.

Sydney Harbour Bridge, completed 1932.

Sydney Harbour Bridge, completed 1932.

Stages of construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Plougastel Bridge, River Elorn (Brest), France, 1929. Built by great French
engineer Eugne Freyssinet, pioneer of reinforced concrete construction.

For construction of the arches of the Plougastel Bridge, Freyssinet built a single
timber form, mounted on floating concrete caissons, which was floated into
position, and the caissons sunk onto the bottom

Plougastel Bridge: Picture shows one arch completed, and the timber form in
place for construction of the second arch.

Salginatobel (Salgina Gorge) Bridge (1930) in the Davos Alps, Switzerland. This 3-hinged
concrete arch bridge designed by Robert Maillart has a span of 90 meters and a rise of 13
meters. The arch rib increases in depth from the supports to the quarter-span points where it
becomes integral with the deck, and tapers to the mid-span hinge. This bridge was designated
as an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1991.

Schwandbach Bridge, 1933, Switzerland. Concrete arch bridge designed by Robert Maillart.
Note the sloping walls supporting the deck off the arch

Two slender fixed arch concrete highway bridges, crossing the Moesa Torrent, on the San
Bernardino Pass road, Switzerland. Designed by Professor Christian Menn, they are fine
examples of modern concrete bridge design. Arch span: 112 meters, column spacing on both
approaches: 17 meters. Scale of the structure can be seen from the figure, bottom left.

Bixby Creek Bridge, Carmel, California, 1932. This fixed reinforced concrete
arch bridge spans 218 m across a deep river valley.

Fursteuland Bridge, River Sitter, Switzerland. A fixed reinforced concrete arch

bridge, crossing the valley in a single 135 m span

Gladesville Bridge, Sydney, Australia, 1964. Concrete arch bridge

Krk Bridge, Croatia (1964). Worlds longest span concrete arch bridge (390 m)

Wenner Bridge, Austria

Timber arch bridge

Menai Straits Bridge. Linking Wales and Isle of Anglesea. Designed by Telford
and completed in 1826. First major suspension bridge. Span of 176 m was
unheard of for any bridge and the chains were made of a new material: wrought
iron links, all individually tested. Span and 33 m headroom were required for
shipping. Following this example, many chain bridges were built.

Menai Straits Bridge, 1826

Menai Straits Bridge.

Linking Wales and Isle of
Anglesea. This bridge,
designed by Telford and
completed in 1826 could
be described as the first
major suspension bridge.
The span of 176 m was
unheard of for any bridge
and the chains were made
of a new material: wrought
iron links, all individually
tested. Span and 33 m
headroom were required
for shipping. Following
this example, many chain
bridges were built.

Clifton Bridge, River Avon near Bristol, England. Designed by I.K. Brunel in 1830,
but not completed until 1864, five years after his death. Main span 214 m; road 73 m
above the river. Telford advised Brunel against this design on account of its windy
location, and the wind problems he (Telford) had with the Menai Straits Bridge.

The chain (really 3 chains each side) used for the Clifton Bridge came from an
earlier bridge Brunel had designed, the Hungerford Bridge in London (1845).

Clifton Bridge, River

Avon near Bristol,
England. Designed
by I.K. Brunel in
1830, but not
completed until 1864,
five years after his
death. Main span 214
m; road 73 m above
the river. Telford
advised Brunel
against this design on
account of its windy
location, and the
wind problems he
(Telford) had with the
Menai Straits Bridge.

Hammersmith Suspension Bridge, 1887, London, England. Main span of 122 m

Double chains used in the Hammersmith Suspension Bridge, 1887, London,

England.

Brooklyn Bridge over the East River, New York. 487 m span. Designed by John
Roebling, completed by his son (Washington Roebling) in 1883: First bridge to use
steel wire suspension cables. Much of the difficulty of construction was associated
with the caissons required to form the tower foundations.

Brooklyn Bridge, New York

George Washington Bridge, New York. 1931. Span (1067 m) was 518 m longer
than the record at the time

George Washington Bridge, New York. 1931. Towers originally meant to be clad, but
people grew to like the look of the lattice structure, and so it was left as is.

George Washington Bridge, 1067 m span

Towers are 305 m high, the tallest of

their time.

Golden Gate Bridge, 1937. Main span of 1280 m was the longest single span at that
time and for 29 years afterwards. Principal designer Joseph Strauss had previously
collaborated with Ammann on the George Washington Bridge in New York City.

Golden Gate Bridge, 1937. View from

the top of one of the towers, showing the
main cables and suspender cables.
Section of the cable, showing it to be
made up of a bundle of small cables.

Golden Gate Bridge, 1937. Cable saddle on top of one of the towers

Forth Road Bridge, over Firth of Forth, Scotland. Opened on

September 4,1964.
Following sequence of slides illustrates some stages of construction

Forth Road Bridge. Top of south tower showing the first wires of the cable being laid over the
saddle. The wires are 5 mm diameter with an ultimate strength of 1500 MPa. Each strand
contains 314 wires , and there are 37 stands in each cable: 11,618 wires and 600 mm diameter.

Forth Road Bridge. View from the top of the south main tower. The so-called 'cable-spinning'
operation, originally devised by Roebling, consists of unreeling a continuous length of wire back
and forth across the bridge until a 'strand' is built up. The wire is looped round the wheel of the
traveling sheave (shown) which is connected to an endless hauling rope.

Forth Road Bridge. Looking up the cable to the south tower saddle. Note the
bundles or 'strands' of wires that will form the finished cable. The individual wires
are colour-coded to assist in the spinning operation.

Forth Road Bridge.

Cable saddle at the top of the side
tower. Note the size of the saddle
which has to take the resultant
vertical component of cable tension
due to the angle change in the cable
at this location.

Forth Road Bridge. After the cable has been laid, the stiffening truss is constructed
symmetrically about both main towers. This view, taken before the truss has reached the side
towers or met at midspan, shows the geometry of the finished cable supporting the unfinished
truss.

Forth Road Bridge.

View of the south cable
anchorage at the same
construction stage as in
previous slide. Note the scale
from the figures to the left of
the anchorage.

Forth Road Bridge. Close-up of the unfinished end of the stiffening truss taken from the south
side tower. The truss has a warren configuration with verticals, and the top and bottom chords
are box sections. Note the scale of the truss from the figures on the closest vertical member.
(See old Firth of Forth Bridge in the background)

Anchor Block for the Rainbow Suspension Bridge, Tokyo Bay, Japan.

http://www.me.utexas.edu/~uer/papers/paper_jk.html

Tacoma Narrows Bridge

(Washington State, USA)
Collapsed on November 7, 1940.
Caused by torsional oscillations
induced by vortex-shedding

Replacement bridge
Tacoma Narrows
Main deck girder is
now a very deep open
truss, much stiffer in
torsion (and bending)
that the original, and
less susceptible to
vortex-induced
vibrations.

Current suspension bridge decks have moved

towards aerodynamic shapes that do not
suffer vortex shedding (eg Humber Bridge,
UK, 1981). Severn Bridge 1966 (next slide)
was first that used this shape.
Humber Bridge, UK, 1981

Severn Bridge, UK (1966). Revolutionary aerodynamic shape of the bridge deck avoided
the problems of wind-induced vortex shedding that caused the torsional vibrations of the
Tacoma Narrows bridge. Now the standard shape of suspension bridge decks.

Millenium Bridge, London. New footbridge across the Thames in London, 2000.
Closed due to pedestrian-induced oscillations.

Progression in increase in bridge spans for past 200 years

Akashi-Kaikyo Suspension Bridge, Japan. Links city of Kobe with Awaji Island.
Worlds longest bridge (Main Span 1991 m)

Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge, Japan. Links Kobe with Awaji Island.

Worlds longest span (1991 m)

Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, Japan. Overall length 3.9

km.

Note main span: 3.3 km (current longest is 1.99 km)!

Proposed Messina Strait Bridge (Italy-Sicily). Longitudinal section (top) and

cross-section through the deck (above). All dimensions are in metres.

Proposed Messina Strait Bridge (Italy-Sicily). Schematics of the cables

(left) and towers (right)

Forth Railway Bridge. Completed in 1889, this 4-span cantilever and suspended span
bridge was one of the major engineering achievements of its day, and at the time had
the world's longest clear spans of 521 m. The bridge was built by being cantilevered
in a balanced manner about each pier. This procedure included the suspended spans
which were subsequently released at the hinges

Forth Railway Bridge. Completed in 1889.

Forth Railway Bridge. A train passing over the bridge emphasises the massive scale of
the tubular members.

Qubec Bridge during construction. Bridge collapsed during construction

(twice!), killing many workers. First collapse was due to insufficient bracing
of compression members (buckling occurred).

Carquinez Bridge (Venezuela) central truss lifting (same system used in Qubec bridge)

Qubec Bridge: The Collapse of September 11, 1916

Jacking system failed when lifting the central span into place

Completed Qubec Bridge. Note extra bracing. 2nd accident occurred during lifting
the central section (jacks failed)

Royal Albert Bridge, Saltash. This historic bridge, built by I. K. Brunel in 1859,
consists of a combination of wrought iron tube arch ribs and suspension chains.
Each span is 142 m. (Cornwall, England)

Royal Albert Bridge, Saltash, River Tamar, England. 1858.

I.K. Brunel. Wrought iron.

Royal Albert Bridge, Saltash. Raising one of the arches into

position.

Cable stay bridges:

Various arrangements of
the cables

Albert Bridge across the River Thames. One of the earliest cable-stayed bridges, it
opened in 1873. Main span 117 m (London, England)

Albert Bridge across the River Thames. One of the earliest cable-stayed bridges, it
opened in 1873. Main span 117 m (London, England)

A notice at the end of the Albert Bridge requests that soldiers 'break step' when
crossing, indicating that the possibility of a resonant effect was recognized. Dynamic
effects can be important in cable structures on account of their potential flexibility
and consequent low natural frequencies (see current problems with Millennium
Bridge, London)

Pont du Normandie (River Seine, Le Harve, France) 856 m main span - longest in
the world up to 1999. Longest now is Tatara Bridge, Japan, 890 m)

Pont du Normandie (River Seine, La Harve, France). Arrangement of the cables.

Secondary cables are to dampen vibrations of main cables

Pont du Normandie (River Seine, La Harve, France) during construction

Cable-stayed bridge in Germany. Note cables only go to centre (between the two
roadways)

Cable-stayed bridge in Germany during construction - balanced cantilever method.

Modern Bridge Design

Many outstanding bridge designers are creating bridges that are both functional and
beautiful.
Many examples in Europe and elsewhere.

Ganter Bridge (1980) spanning an Alpine valley, near the Simplon Pass in Switzerland, and
shown during construction. Designed by Christian Menn, this is an interesting example of a
cable-stayed bridge, though the cables are inside a thin concrete wall. The overall layout of the
bridge is S-shaped in plan, the 174 m main span is straight, but the side spans, including the
back-stay cables, have 200-m radius curves. The taller pier is 150 m high.

Ganter Bridge (1980) spanning an Alpine valley, near the Simplon Pass in Switzerland.
Cable stayed bridge (see previous slide)

Ganter Bridge (1980), near the

Simplon Pass in Switzerland. Designed
by Christian Menn, this is an
interesting example of a cable-stayed
bridge, though the cables are inside a
thin concrete wall. The overall layout
of the bridge is S-shaped in plan, the
174 m main span is straight, but the
side spans, including the back-stay
cables, have 200-m radius curves.

Footbridge, La Dfense, Paris (1980s). Very elegant steel arch suspension bridge

Alamillo Bridge, River

Guadalquivir, Seville, Spain
1987-1992.
One of series of extraordinary
bridges by Spaniard Santiago
Calatrava.
Length: 250 m. Max. span:
200 m.Mast height: 142 m.
The extraordinary weight of
the mast (steel filled with
concrete) angling back at 58
is enough to support the bridge
deck without the need for
counter-stay cables. This was
a first in bridge design, and
creates a stunning display.

Campo Volantin Footbridge, Bilbao, Spain, 1990 - 1997. Santiago

Calatrava. Steel inclined parabolic arch with glass decking

Campo Volantin Footbridge, Bilbao, Spain, 1990 - 1997. Santiago

Calatrava. Steel inclined parabolic arch with glass decking

Model of Lusitania Bridge, Gaudiana River, Mdira, Spain. 1991.

Santaigo Calatrava (engineer and architect!)

Lusitania Bridge, Gaudiana

River, Mdira, Spain. 1991.
Santaigo Calatrava
(engineer and architect!)

Sources
The pictures contained in this presentation were either
downloaded from the Internet, or scanned in from books. The
main sources used are:

Godden Slide Library, University of California, Berkeley

http://www.eerc.berkeley.edu/godden/index.html

David Bennett: The Creation of Bridges. Chartwell Books Inc.

The Builders: Marvels of Engineering. National Geographic Society,

Washington D.C.

Many other Internet sites, too numerous to mention