BRIDGES

Silvia ArtigasDiana Hung

WHY ARE BRIDGES IMPORTANT IN

ARCHITECTURE?

• DEFINITION

• ETYMOLOGY

• HISTORY

• TYPES OF BRIDGES

– BEAM

– CANTILEVER

– ARCH

– TIED ARCH

– TRUSS •  

INDEX

– SUSPENSION

– CABLE STAYED

– MOVABLE

– DOUBLE DECKED

– BY USE

• STRUCTURE

• EFFICENCY

• OTHER FUNCTIONS

• BRIDGES FAILURES

• BRIDGE MONITORING

    Bridges are structures that work as a way of passage over an obstacle.

DEFINITION

The origin of the word bridge comes from an Old English word brycg, of the same meaning, derived from Proto-

Germanic root brugjō.

ETYMOLOGY

• The first bridges were made by nature itself. A log fallen across a stream or stones in the river.

• The use of stronger bridges using plaited bamboo and iron chain was visible in India by about the 4th century.

HISTORY

•Military and commercial purposes bridges were constructed by the Mughal administration in India•Rope bridges are a simple type of suspension bridge that were used by the Inca civilization.

• The Arkadiko Bridge is one of four Mycenaean corbel arch bridges part of a former network of roads, designed to accommodate chariots, between Tiryns to Epidauros in the Peloponnese, in Greece.

• With the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, truss systems of wrought iron were developed for larger bridges.

• In 1927 welding pioneer Stefan Bryła designed the first welded road bridge in the world.

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TYPES OF BRIDGEThere are six main types of bridges: beam bridges, cantilever bridges, arch bridges, suspension bridges, cable-stayed bridges and truss bridges.

• BEAM They are horizontal beams

supported at each end by abutments, hence their structural name of simply supported. Also known as piers.

• CANTILEVER They are built

using cantilevers horizontal beams supported on only one end.

• ARCH

They have abutments at each end. The weight of the bridge is supported by these abutments.

• TIED ARCH

They have an arch-shaped superstructure, but differ from conventional arch bridges.

• TRUSS

A truss bridge is a bridge composed of connected elements (typically straight) which may be stressed from tension, compression, or sometimes both in response to dynamic loads.

• SUSPENSION

They are suspended from cables. The earliest suspension bridges were made of ropes or vines. In modern bridges, the cables hang from towers that are attached to caissons. Simple, stressed ribbon, underspanned, suspended-deck and self-anchored.

• CABLE-STAYED

They are held up by cables. Less cable is needed than in suspension bridges and the towers holding the cables are proportionately shorter.

• MOVABLE

They are designed to move out of the way of boats or other kinds of traffic.

• DOUBLE-DECKED

They have two levels. Some double-decker bridges only use one level for street traffic. Example: Washington Avenue Bridge.

• BY USE

A bridge is designed for trains, pedestrian or road traffic, a pipeline or waterway for water transport or barge traffic.

• An aqueduct is a bridge that carries water, resembling a viaduct, which is a bridge that connects points of equal height. Viaducts may span land or water or both.

Some bridges attract people attempting suicide, and become known as suicide bridges.

To create a beautiful image, some bridges are built much taller than necessary. These are called Moon Bridges.

Bridges may be classified by how the forces of tension, compression, bending, torsion and shear are

distributed through their structure.

STRUCTURE

• A bridge’s structural efficiency is the ratio of load carried to bridge mass, given a specific set of material types.

• A bridge's economic efficiency will be site and traffic dependent, the ratio of savings by having a bridge compared to its cost.

EFFICIENCY

• Some bridges accommodate other purposes, such as they can feature as restaurants. Suspension bridges towers carry transmission antennas.

• A bridge can carry overhead power lines.

• In railway parlance, an overbridge is a bridge crossing over the course of the railway. In contrast, an underbridge allows passage under the line.

OTHER FUNCTIONS

• The failure of bridges is of special concern for structural engineers in trying to learn lessons vital to bridge design, construction and maintenance.

• “Structurally deficient" and "functionally obsolete".

BRIDGE FAILURES

CONCLUSIONBridges have a great importance in society because of itsnoble purpose of communicate, they allow the flow ofthings such as merchandise and knowledge. Bridges helpus grow economically, culturally and let us have alwaysany kind of feedbacks. For architects, bridges have thesame importance, plus the ability of using their creativityfor innovating as time progresses. In the end, bridges areimportant for architects in three ways: connecting spaces,overcome obstacles, and allowance of innovating designs.