Bridges Throughout the World

Engineering Structures 101Bridges

Compiled by Professor Martin FaheySchool 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 TypesNote 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

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

Bollman TrussFink TrussPratt or Howe TrussWarren Truss (without verticals)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

Steel Pratt truss spanning between columnsMerchant 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)Trusses are common elements in many types of buildings

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.20 m40 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 SantaLucia 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. Two-hinged 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, PortugalGustav 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 pre-dates 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.

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, AustriaTimber 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

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.Towers are 305 m high, the tallest of their time.

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.

Tacoma Narrows Bridge (Washington State, USA)Collapsed on November 7, 1940.Caused by torsional oscillations induced by vortex-sheddinghttp://www.me.utexas.edu/~uer/papers/paper_jk.html

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.Replacement bridge Tacoma NarrowsMain 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.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.

Proposed Messina Strait Bridge (Italy-Sicily). Longitudinal section (top) and cross-section through the deck (above). All dimensions are in metres.Note main span: 3.3 km (current longest is 1.99 km)!

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, 1916Jacking 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)

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 DesignMany 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

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

Godden Slide Library, University of California, Berkeley http://www.eerc.berkeley.edu/godden/index.htmlDavid 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 mentionThe pictures contained in this presentation were either downloaded from the Internet, or scanned in from books. The main sources used are:

Previously discussed some bridges in the section on Beams, Arches and DomesTypical of medieval bridges constructed for the purpose of allowing travel by pilgrims. One of the main destinations was Santiago de Compostela, in Northern Spain.

Note also the chief of the bridge builders in Rome would have been called the Pontifex Maximus - a name also applied to the Pope (the Pontif).

Documents

Bridges Throughout the World