Suspension Bridges

Ethan Husted
Phys &222
Feb 4, 2019

The type of bridge I chose to make is a

suspension bridge. One famous example of a
suspension bridge is the Golden Gate Bridge,
which is located in San Francisco, California.

Modern suspension bridges are usually made

The Golden Gate Bridge: San Francisco, California
out of steel and concrete, with cables that are
made of braided steel wire or chain links. While
these types of materials can support more weight, suspension bridges can still be made from
other materials such as wood planks and bamboo, with ropes or vines for the cables as was done
with the first suspension bridges.

These cables are a crucial part of the design of suspension bridges. The cables are used to
redistribute the bridge’s load into tension throughout the cables, allowing the bridge to span large
areas, which is part of the reason why the design of suspension bridges works so well.

While the stress is pretty evenly spread, the place that probably experiences the most stress on
this type of bridge would be the cables directly in the center of the bridge. Since this is the
farthest location from any other sort of support, it will likely have the most torque or tendency to
dip down, so the cables have to have sufficient tension to keep the bridge stable. The amount of
stress here is probably somewhere around 1000 psi.

Any kind of mechanical strain on the bridge is compensated for by the fact that the bridge is
able to move around quite a bit, with a maximum downward deflection of 10.8 ft at midspan, a
maximum upward deflection of 5.8 ft, and a maximum transverse deflection of 27.7 ft. This also
allows the bridge to withstand other environmental factors such as wind.

Thermal strain on the bridge can change its length by nearly a meter when presented with a
significant temperature change. However, this strain is compensated for by being spread out
through several expansion joints, so that there is very little change in each one.

The Golden Gate Bridge was completed in 1937 and is still in fairly good condition today.
Considering the material used in construction and the location of the bridge, as long as
maintenance is kept up and the cables are retensioned as needed, the Goleden Gate Bridge should
last quite a while longer before it is no longer safe to use.

Overall, suspension bridges are a great way to span large gaps cost-effectively. Often, they use
steel wire that is either braided or made into chain links to form the cables which provide the
main source of support for these bridges. Suspension bridges offer a stable design that can
account for adverse conditions and can have a long lifetime of use if contructed properly.
 Bibliography

(2019, February 4). Retrieved from http://design-technology.org/suspensionbridges.htm

Britannica, T. E. (2016, November 15). Suspension bridge. Retrieved
fromhttps://www.britannica.com/technology/suspension-bridge#googDisableSync
Golden Gate Bridge. (2019, January 31). Retrieved from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Gate_Bridge
Golden Gate Bridge's thermal expansion - fxSolver. (2019, February 4). Retrieved from
https://www.fxsolver.com/blog/2015/07/01/golden-gate-bridges-thermal-expansion/
Golden Gate Transportation District. (2019, February 4). Retrieved from http://goldengate.org/
Types of Bridges. (2019, February 4). Retrieved from http://www.historyofbridges.com/facts-about-
bridges/types-of-bridges/