Bridge
The basic purpose of a bridge is to carry traffic over an opening or discontinuity in the landscape. Various types of bridge traffic can include pedestrians, vehicles, pipelines, cables, water, and trains, or a combination thereof. An opening can occur over a highway, a river, a valley, or any other type of physical obstacle. The need to carry traffic over such an opening defines the function of a bridge.
Type Of Bridge
Our first step is to consider the most suitable bridge type. We can group all bridges in the world into four basic types:
Girder bridge
Arch bridge
Cable-stayed bridge
Suspension bridge
Common wisdom suggests that girder bridges and arch bridges are good for short to medium spans, whereas cable-stayed bridges are good for medium to longer spans, and suspension bridges are good for very long spans. Based on this assumption, some engineers established rules to assign a span range for each of these bridge types. For example, in the 1960s, the reasonable maximum span length of a cable-stayed bridge was thought to be approximately 450 m and that of a girder bridge was thought to be approximately 250 m. These previously held theories did not last long as cable-stayed bridges with spans of over 1000 m have been completed since then.
Fig. 1 Girder Bridge
Fig. 2 Cable Stayed Bridge
Fig. 3 Suspension Bridge
Fig. 4 Arch Bridge
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