CE 414

Introduction
to Bridges
Engineering

Asst Prof Mansoor Khalid

 What is a BRIDGE?
•Bridge is a structure which covers a gap
•Generally bridges carry a road or railway across a natural or artificial
obstacle such as, a river, canal or another railway or another road
•Bridge is a structure corresponding to the heaviest responsibility in carrying a
free flow of transport and is the most significant component of a transportation
system in case of communication over spacings/gaps for whatever reason
such as aquatic obstacles, valleys and gorges etc.
Bridge is the KEY ELEMENT
in a Transportation System
History
• Primitive Peoples:
– Logs
– Slabs of Rocks
– Intertwined Vines or Ropes
• Roman Empire—First Great Bridge Builders
– Timber Truss Bridges
– Masonry Arch Bridges
• Europeans
– Followed HRE Until Iron and Steel Use
• Nineteenth Century—
– Modern Long Bridges
– Moveable Bridges
Rock Bridges
Wadi Rum Rock Bridge
Rope Bridges
Log Bridges
 LOG BRIDGE
Members of a Denver
and Salt Lake Railroad
Company (D&SL)
survey crew pose on a
log bridge over the
Colorado River in Gore
Canyon (Grand
County), Colorado.
View of a settlement in (probably) Utah; shows a log bridge, a stream, and houses.
People sit on a porch; a United States flag waves from a pole.
U.S. Army soldiers from the Ohio Engineers, building a small log
bridge over a ditch, at Fort Sheridan, Illinois
LOG BRIDGE View of hot springs site enclosed by stone and
wooden frame buildings, Hot Sulphur Springs, CO
Covered Bridges
 COVERED
BRIDGE

• Bridges. Old
covered bridge,
Jackson River,
Va.
Structure of covered bridge. Wallingford, Vermont
Covered Bridge, Glen
Canyon, Santa Cruz
County, CA
CONSTRUCTION
• Must carry own weight and weight of traffic
– Must withstand force of high winds
– Must consider effects of contraction and/or
– Expansion due to temperature changes
– Most common materials
• Wood—temporary
• Steel—for long, strong spans
• Reinforced concrete—attractive designs but difficult to work
with on large bridges
• Prestressed concrete—stronger than reinforced, cheaper
than steel
TYPES OF BRIDGES

• Fixed
• Moveable
• Other
Beam or Girder Bridges
FIXED

• Beam or Girder
– Two parallel beams w/ flooring supported by
piers
– Span can be supported by trestle
– Used for hwy over/underpasses or small
stream crossings
– Example—Covered Bridge
Cars on a suspension bridge over a river, possibly in Colorado.
enz_bridge.jpg
Millennium Bridge, London
ostruz.jpg www.prevodi-vertalingen.com/.../ ostruz.html
Truss Bridges
FIXED

• Truss
– Beam bridge strengthed by trusses (structural
spts joined to form triangles with tie rods)
– Lighter than ordinary beam sections of equal
length
– Useful for longer bridges
Timber Truss Bridge
Continuous Truss Bridges
View west of an iron truss bridge crossing the Colorado River on the Denver
and Rio Grande Railroad Montrose line at Grand Junction, Colorado; people
and horses are on a sand bar.
View of the bridge crossing the White River at Meeker, CO
White Water Creek Bridge, Spanning White Water Creek,
Bernard vicinity, Dubuque County, IA
Truss Bridge

View of a trestle bridge that

crosses Arastra Gulch near
Silverton (San Juan County),
Colorado.
Jefferson Barracks Bridge
Location: Mississippi River, Jefferson Barracks, Missouri
Simple Truss Bridges
FAI 24 Bridge Over the Ohio River
Paducah, Kentucky

www.modjeski.com/projects/ servproj/paducah.htm
gcdranet.homelinux.com/davehonan/ bridges/il.html Cairo
Ohio River ferry and railroad bridge, Metropolis, IL
Arch Bridges
FIXED

• Arch
– One or more arches
– Masonry, reinforced concrete or steel
– Roadway on toop of arches or suspended by
cables
– Spans can be longer than beam or truss
Aquaduct
Old stone bridge at Bull Run Battlefield. Manassas, Virginia.
Stone bridge in Rock Creek Park.
Stone bridge, Elizabeth Park, Hartford, Ct..
Old Stone Bridge, Boonton, N.J..
Stone Bridge at Bowling Green, Gallatin vicinity, Sumner County, TN
Segovia, Spain
Franklin Park, Ellicott Bridge, Emerald Necklace, Boston, MA
Pont du Gard
Arch bridge, Bellows Falls, Vt..
Bayonne Bridge, Spanning Kill Van Kull between Bayonne &
Staten Is, Bayonne, Hudson County, NJ
Kill van Kull Bridge
[Hell Gate Bridge (New York Connecting RailroadBridge), New York].
[Hell Gate Bridge (New York Connecting RailroadBridge), New York].
Steel Arch Bridge, Niagara.
 History of Bridge Development

Natural Bridges 700 A.D. Asia

Great Stone Bridge in China

Clapper Bridge
Tree trunk Low Bridge
Stone Shallow Arch

Strength of
Materials
Mathematical
Theories
Roman Arch Bridge
Development of
The Arch Metal
Natural Cement

100 B.C. Romans 1300 A.D. Renaissance

 History of Bridge Development

1800 A.D. 1900 A.D. 2000 A.D.

Truss Bridges
Prestressed
First Cast-Iron Bridge Mechanics of Concrete
Design
Coalbrookdale, England Steel

Britannia Tubular Bridge Suspension Bridges

Wrought Iron Use of Steel for
the suspending
cables
1850 A.D. 1920 A.D.