Question 7

A bridge is used to connect two places separated by a river or stream. The Romans, the Chinese
and other civilizations have unique ways of designing their bridges.
Construct suspension bridges using different types of materials and investigate the maximum
weight it can withstand.
Discuss the outcomes of the experiment from an engineering point of view.

Aim/ Purpose
To investigate the relationship between the types of materials used to build a suspension bridge
and the maximum weight it can withstand.
Hypothesis
i) The higher the tensile strength of the cables, the more the load it can withstand.
ii) The higher the diameter of the cables, the more the load it can withstand.
Variables:
Constant Variable: Wooden plank, Length of deck, size of hook, length of the
Suspenders (cables)
Manipulated Variable: Different type of materials (Guitar String, Tin wire, Stainless Steel,
Copper, Raffia string)
Responding variable: The maximum load the suspension bridge can withstand.

Conclusion: The higher the tensile strength of the cables, the more the load it can withstand.





















Introduction

A well-built suspension bridge is a most impressive sight to behold; it is a marvel of both
architecture and engineering and has been poetically described as a symphony in steel." The most
famous such bridge is undoubtedly the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, USA. Built in 1937
and with a length of 1280 meters, it is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful bridges ever
built (see Figure 1). Another, nearly as famous, is the Brooklyn Bridge, in New York City, USA; it
was built in 1883 and has a span of 486 meters. The longest such bridge built to date (it was
opened only as recently as 1998) is the Akashi Kalikow Bridge in Japan; it has a Length of 1991
meters. In a suspension bridge the roadway is held by vertical cables or rods that are attached to
two curving cables that run along the length of the bridge. These cables pass over a pair of turrets
at opposite ends of the bridge and are securely anchored to deeply laid foundations. The basic
design of such a bridge has been known for a long time; one of the earliest suspension bridges was
built with bamboo in China (where else?) in the 3rd
Century BC.






Figure 1





Figure 2









The vertical rods that hold a suspension bridge obviously need to be extremely strong, if they
are to support heavy vehicular trace. In this article we shall focus on the shape of the suspension
cable that holds the bridge via the rods. We shall show that the shape is a parabola and not
catenaries, as is sometimes supposed. The reason for the mix-up should be clear: the shape of a
uniform chain freely hanging under its own weight (e.g., a telephone cable) is a catenaries (catena
in Latin means `chain'), and a catenaries closely resembles a parabola in its lower portion. (See
Figures 2 and 3; the vertical scale has been shown exaggerated.)




Figure 3




The Shape of a Suspension Bridge

We make a few simplifying assumptions about the various Cables used in the bridge, and the
turrets at the Of course, we may take the curve of the suspension cable to be symmetric in the
plane that bisects the bridge at right angles, perpendicular to its length. The well-known (and
highly readable) book by Simmons [1] uses these assumptions to formulate a deferential equation
and then presents a solution. We give a different treatment here, based on one given by Petro [2].
Let the horizontal distance between any two adjacent rods be 2a, and let the points where the
rods are attached to the cable be P0, P1, P2, In Figure 3, the lowermost portion of the cable is
shown as segment P0P1. Let the height of P0P1 above the roadway be b. Let the angle made by
PkPk+1 to the horizontal be k, for k = 0, 1, 2, of course, 0 = 0. Impose a coordinate system in
which the roadway is the x-axis and the vertical line of symmetry of the bridge is the y-axis; then
the x-coordinate of Pike is (2k 1) a. Let the tension in segment PkPk+1 be to, and let the load
acting downwards along each vertical cable be W. Using Lames theorem1 on the relationship
between three forces in equilibrium.













What is a suspension bridge?
A suspension bridge is a type of bridge where the deck is hung below suspension cables on
vertical suspenders. Suspension bridges are efficient at holding up a large amount of weight over a
long period of time. A suspension bridge has two towers that hold up the horizontal cables. From
these main horizontal cables hang vertical cables that are attached to the deck of the bridge. A
suspension bridge must with stand forces of tension on its cables and large amounts of
compression on its towers.
One of the several types of bridge designs
Used for the longest spans
Cables- suspend the roadway
Towers- stabilize wire cables (offer little support)
Anchorages- key to the structure, mass that keeps cables tight, gives the bridge structure
















WITH ANCHORAGES WITHOUT ANCHORAGES
Due to the limitations of the truss bridge type, another bridge type is needed for long
spans. A suspension bridge can withstand long spans as well as a fairly decent load.
A suspension bridge uses the tension of cables to hold up a load. The cables are kept under
tension with the use of anchorages that are held firmly to the Earth.
The deck is suspended from the cables and the compression forces from the weight of the
deck are transferred the towers. Because the towers are firmly in the Earth, the force gets
dissipated into the ground.
The supporting cables that are connected to the anchorages experience tension forces. The
cables stretch due to the weight of the bridge as well as the load it carries. Each supporting cable
is actually many smaller cables bound together at the anchorage points, the main cable separates
into its smaller cables .The tension from the main cable gets dispersed to the smaller cables.
Finally the tensional forces are dissipated into the ground via the anchorage


Here is a cross section picture of what a main cable of a suspension bridge looks like this.
A cable stayed bridge is a variation of the suspension bridge. Like the suspension bridge, the cable
stayed bridge uses cables to hold the bridge and loads up.



A cable stayed bridge uses the cable to hold up the deck. The tension forces in the cable
are transferred to the towers where the tension forces become compression forces. Lets take a
quick look at the forces at one of the cable points.

The Lifting force holds up the bridge. The higher the angle that the cable is attached to the deck,
the more load it can withstand, but that would require a higher tower, so there has to be some
compromise.

With all cable type bridges, the cables must be kept from corrosion. If the bridge wants to
be longer, in most cases the towers must also be higher, this can be dangerous in construction as
well during windy conditions. The bridge is only as good as the cable If the cables snap, the
bridge fails



Roeblings Engineering Contributions:
Engineer famous for American suspension bridges
Use of steel
Development of wire cables
Spinning: assembling heavy cables in the air
Advancement of stiffening trusses
Truss: triangular structure that adds strength not weight









The History
Early suspension bridges were simple and crude with a narrow walkway that was
suspended from chains or rope. Some of these early bridges are believed to have been used in the
7
th
century by the Mayans, and later in China and Tibet. However these theories werent proved,
the first suspension bridge design was drawn by Faust V rancid in his book Machine Nova in
1595.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Suspension Bridge
Advantages of Suspension Bridges
-They can span longer distances than any other type of bridge.
- They require less material to build, resulting in reduced construction cost.
- You dont have to shut down a waterway in order to build the bridge.
-They can withstand earthquakes better than stiff conventional bridges.

Disadvantages of Suspension Bridges
-Road deck can vibrate and even twist is high winds.
-The road deck lacks the stiffness required to carry heavy railroad traffic.
- Some areas of the bridge are difficult to install and maintain.

Under spanned Suspension Bridges
An under spanned suspension bridge is a lot like a normal suspension bridge except for the fact
that the main cables run underneath the deck. This design is functional but it makes the road deck
unstable and unable to hold up large amounts of wait.
The Road Deck
The road deck of a suspension bridge is very important. Most deck designs are made from open
trusses that allow wind to pass through. It is important to build the deck aerodynamically or else it
will twist and could snap. One of the more famous occasions of this happening was the Tacoma
Narrows Bridge. The truss work of the deck was too flexible and it snapped in strong winds.


The Building Steps
1. First huge concrete caissons are sunk into the bedrock to provide a solid base for the
towers.
2. Next the towers are constructed on top of the caissons.
3. Giant anchor points are created on both ends of the bridge to keep tension in the cables.
4. Then the main cables are strung across the span of the bridge.
5. A temporary walkway is constructed beneath the main cables so that construction can
begin on the road deck.
6. Suspender cables are put into place as the road deck is built to provide strength.
7. When the road deck is finished, a layer of concrete is poured over the steel, followed by a
layer of asphalt.














Construction of Deck

We decided to use wooden plank as our deck. Below is the measurement and diagram of the
deck. We use 23 wooden planks to build a deck. The size of a deck is = the length is 40cm and the
width is 4cm and the height is 2cm by the size. The total length of the deck is 125cm. Each wooden
plank consists of 1.5cm gap in between them.


40 cm


2cm
4cm













DECK
LOAD / WEIGHT

TENSION

Diagram 1

Diagram 2


CABLE



We have changed the positions of the cable from vertical to horizontal to get better results.
Here we can feel that tension on the cable is delivered among the cables equally. So it takes longer
time to snap. Later we decided to change the positions of the cable has been fixed horizontally.
Now the tension applied to the cable directly and it snaps faster than the vertical style. We get a
better reading and cable snapping faster when fixes the cables horizontally. Below is the diagram
where the cable has been changed the positions.





















CABLE

DECK

LOAD / WEIGHT

Diagram 3


TENSION


The Principle Working Of Suspension Bridge
When we put the weight on the deck, the weight will exert pressure to the deck. The pressure on
the deck will be transferred to the cables. The force acting on the cables known as a Tension.

The Tensile Strength
Tensile strength is defined as stress which is measured as force per unit area. Tensile strength of a
cable is the maximum stress that the cable can withstand before the failure or breaking. The
tensile strength of cables is measured in unit of Map (Megapascal).

The Snapping Of Cables
The cable will snap when tension inside the cable caused by weight is exceeded then the tensile
strength of the cables.
The Maximum Weight a cable can withstand before snapping:

Type of Materials (Cables) Maximum Weight it can Withstand
Raffia Cable (Suspenders) 4-6kg
Tin Wire 2-5 kg
Nylon Cable 5-7kg
Copper Cable 14-17kg











Safety Precaution during Experiments
We have been advised to take safety precaution to avoid injuries during
the experiments. Teachers advice us to wear lab coat, goggles, safety boot,
woolen gloves when handle load more than 10kg. We are advised to be far
way except the person whom is putting the load. It is stated, every time the
snapping of the cable its known that the load used will fall down or the
snapping of cable cause the hook to fly over.
Every time we conduct experiments we need to make sure our safety and
the experiments will be carried out in our school study hut. We will make
sure that basic precautions are taken under considerations to prevent any
injuries. We will make sure using different size of loads.



















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