Engineering Structures 101

Bridges

Compiled by
Professor Martin Fahey
School of Civil and Resource Engineering
The University of Western Australia

Pons Augustus, Rimini, Italy, AD 14.

Typical Roman circular arch bridge

Arch Bridges:
Types of Arches

Pont Neuf (“New Bridge”), Paris, 1578 / 1604. Circular Arch Bridge.

Ponte Vecchio (“Old Bridge”),

Florence, 1345. Taddeo Gaddi.
Only bridge over the River Arno
not destroyed by retreating
Pont d’Avignon, France, River Rhone, 1188 Frére Benoît (St Bénézet), leader of German Army in WW2. A
“Brothers of the Bridge” [revival of the Roman Guild of Bridge Builders Fratres segmental arch bridge (arches are
Pontifices (Ponti-fices = bridge-builders) or Frères Pontifes]. Destroyed deliberately by segments of circles).
one of the Avignon Popes for defence reasons. Arches made up of three arcs of a circle

Engineering Structures 101: Bridges Page 1

 Construction of Pont de la
Concorde, Paris

Pont de la Concorde, Paris, built by Perronet, 1791. Segmental arches

(rubble from La Bastille used to construct the piers)

Common Bridge Types

Note that in all cases, the
main elements can be
solid or trusses.

Beam bridge:
bridge deck in bending
deck could be
solid beam (eg concrete), or
box section (steel or concrete box section), or
truss

Britannia Bridge, Menai Straits, Wales, 1850.

First railway bridge designed as deep box girder (two side-by-side rectangular tubes each
containing a single rail line). The designer (Robert Stephenson) included towers for adding
suspension chains if necessary. Main spans 460 t. wrought iron, total span 461 m consisting of
Simple beam bridge: stone slabs on stone supports (Dorset, England) two continuous wrought iron tubes side-by-side. Destroyed by fire in 1970 by two boys!

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 Continuous steel plate girder bridge. This 3-span bridge has a composite section consisting of
14th Street Bridge over the Potomac River. Continuous riveted steel girders. Note the
the steel girder and the concrete roadway on top. (Near Lausanne, Switzerland)
absence of internal hinges, and the roller supports at the piers

Continuous steel box girder bridge over the Rhine, Bonn, Germany, 1967. Note Steel box girder bridge in Koblenz, Germany, collapsed during construction due to buckling.
varying depth of the box sections Similar collapses occurred at Millford Haven, Wales, 1970 (4 deaths), and the Westgate
Freeway Bridge, Melbourne, 1970 (35 deaths), both designed by Freeman Fox .

Hinge

Concrete box section beam bridges:

one of the Florida Keys bridges, USA
(above), and the Linn Cove Viaduct,
North Carolina, USA (right). Simply-supported box-section
(The new Windan Bridge over the prestressed concrete bridge,
Swan River on the Graham Farmer BART system, San Francisco.
Freeway is a concrete box section
bridge, but constructed by incremental
launching).

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 Bollman Truss
Warren Truss
(without verticals)

One way of strengthening a simple

Fink Truss beam is to use a truss.
Railway engineers in the US adopted
wooden truss methods for bridge
construction for the development of the
railway system in the US. Pictures
show some of the (many) types of Fink “through truss”. 1868, Ohio, US. Compression columns
trusses that were developed. are hollow wrought iron tubes
Pratt or Howe Truss

Crumlin Viaduct, Ebbw Vale,

Wales. Designed by Brunel
(1806-59), this early railway
viaduct is interesting in that it
is constructed entirely from
pin-connected iron members.
Deck support is by Warren
truss elements, simply
supported.

Bollman Truss Bridge, Laurel, Maryland, USA. The existing bridge was built
in 1869 along the B&O Main Line , and moved to the current location in 1888.

Lift bridge, Sacramento River Delta.. A Warren truss with verticals is used
throughout. Lift span is simply supported. The double spans on each side are Simply-supported steel truss railway bridge, UK
determinate due to internal pins. (Near Rio Vista, California)

Engineering Structures 101: Bridges Page 4

 Trusses are common
elements in many types of
buildings

Steel Pratt truss spanning between

columns

Merchant Exchange Building.

The outside trusses of this
building consist of X-braced
50-ft square panels. The clear
span between supporting
columns is 100 ft, and the end
of the building (foreground)
has a 50-ft overhang.
(Chicago, Illinois)

Circular Arch Bridge: Pons Fabricus (Ponte Fabrico), Rome, Tiber. Built
in 62 B.C. by L.Fabricius. Oldest surviving bridge in Rome. Still used
Earliest existing cast iron bridge: Ironbridge, River Severn,
by pedestrians. Note the hole through the centre - relieved water
England, built by Abraham Darby, 1779.
pressure in flood conditions

Ironbridge, River Severn, England, built by Abraham Darby, Buildwise Bridge, River Severn, Thomas Telford (1796): cast-iron
1779. Members in compression; connections using dowels etc. bridge half the weight of the Ironbridge

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 Craigellachie Bridge over the River Spey. An historic bridge, being the
first such wrought iron truss arch bridge to be built by Telford in 1815.
Caisson used to construct piers
of St Louis Bridge. Deepest
point had 23 m water depth and
30 m below riverbed. (50 m, or
5 atmospheres, of water
pressure). Men worked in
pressurised chamber at
pressures up to 240 kPa (2.4
atmospheres). Because of this,
40 m there were 91 cases of the
bends, 2 crippled for life, 13
deaths. Would have been much
worse except they realised slow
decompression and short shifts
were necessary.
20 m
Base of the Gateway Arch. The size of cross-section of the arch rib
can be seen by comparison with the figures on the ground. The
section of the arch at the base is an equilateral triangle with 90 ft.
sides. The arch is taken 45 ft. into bedrock. (St. Louis, Missouri)
Engineering Structures 101: Bridges
St Louis Rail Bridge, St Louis USA, Mississippi River. James Eades, 1874. First true
steel bridge. Three spans, each 152 m. Foundations were a major technical challenge
(see next slide)
Gateway Arch, St Louis,
USA.
This free-standing arch is
630 ft. high and the world's
tallest. Built of triangular
section of double-walled
stainless steel, the space
between the skins being
filled with concrete after
each section was placed.
Shape is almost perfect
“inverted catenary”
Construction of the Gateway Arch (St. Louis, Missouri). Arch is
not stable on its own until complete.
Page 6
 Interior of Carmel
Mission. Built in 1793
it is an interesting
design in that the walls
curve inward towards
the top, and the roof
consists of a series of
inverted catenary
arches built of native
sandstone quarried
from the nearby Santa
Lucia Mountains.
(Carmel, California)
Garabit Viaduct, River Truyère, St Flour, France. (Viaduc du Garabit).
Built by Gustav Eiffel, 1884. Last (and best) of his many wrought iron bridges. Two-
hinged arch design became standard for many to follow. Note shape of the arch.

Garabit Viaduct, River Truyère, St Flour, France. (Viaduc du Garabit).

Built by Gustav Eiffel, 1884. Last (and best) of his many wrought iron bridges. Two-hinged Garabit Viaduct, Gustav Eiffel, 1884. The hinge at one end
arch design became standard for many to follow. This photograph taken September 2002. of the arch.

Garabit Viaduct.The arches are broad at the base

(for stability) and are narrow, but deep, at the top.

Garabit Viaduct, Gustav Eiffel,

1884. The bridge has been
repainted recently to a colour that
matches the original colour
selected by Eiffel.
(photograph taken 2002)

Engineering Structures 101: Bridges Page 7

 Construction of the Garabit Viaduct. Hinged arch segments were tied back to the
Garabit Viaduct, Gustav Eiffel, 1884. towers using cables until they joined together. Compare with Sydney Harbour
Bridge construction (see later)

Eiffel Tower, Champs du

Mars, Paris. 1889. Grew
from Eiffel’s bridge-building
expertise. Was world’s tallest
structure for 40 years. 300 m
tower built of puddled iron.
The “arch” shape at the Graceful ironwork arches in the Musée d’Orsey, Paris, which is now the most
bottom is purely decorative. beautiful museum in Paris (more manageable in short visit than the Louvre), having
being converted from a disused railway station.

Different types of arch

bridge configurations.

Pont Alexandre III, Paris, 1896 / 1898

(Widely regarded as the most beautiful of all of the bridges of Paris. This photograph pre-
dates the painting of the bridge for the 1989 bi-centenary of the French Revolution - much
gold leaf added then)

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 Pont Alexandre III. Detail of
bridge structure. Note the the
casting over the gap in the
parapet and deck expansion joint
at the top of the slide, and the gilt
ornamentation covering the
support pin at the end of the
arch rib. Without appropriate
deck discontinuities, the bridge
would not behave as a simple 3-
Steel arch of Pont Alexandre is a 107 m span ellipse with a rise/span hinged structure.
ratio of 1/17. Note the central hinge.

Pont Alexandre III. Re-gilding carried out for the bi-centenary of

Pont Alexandre III. Detail of bridge structure. Note the gilt
the French Revolution (1788 – 1988). Dome in the background is
ornamentation covering the support pin at the centre of the arch.
Les Invalides, the site of the tomb of Napoleon I

Sydney Harbour Bridge, completed 1932.

Almost longest arch bridge in the world. (Longest is Bayonne Bridge, New York,
completed a few months earlier, which is 1.5 m longer). Two-hinge arch. The span
between abutments is 503 m to allow unobstructed passage for ships in Sydney
Harbour. It contains 50,300 tons of steel (37,000 in the arch). It is the widest (49 m)
bridge in the world.
Sydney Harbour Bridge, completed 1932.

Engineering Structures 101: Bridges Page 9

 Stages of construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Sydney Harbour Bridge, completed 1932.

Plougastel Bridge, River Elorn (Brest), France, 1929. Built by great French
engineer Eugène Freyssinet, pioneer of reinforced concrete construction.
For construction of the arches of the Plougastel Bridge, Freyssinet built a single
timber form, mounted on floating concrete caissons, which was floated into
position, and the caissons sunk onto the bottom

Salginatobel (Salgina Gorge) Bridge (1930) in the Davos Alps, Switzerland. This 3-hinged
Plougastel Bridge: Picture shows one arch completed, and the timber form in
concrete arch bridge designed by Robert Maillart has a span of 90 meters and a rise of 13
place for construction of the second arch. meters. The arch rib increases in depth from the supports to the quarter-span points where it
becomes integral with the deck, and tapers to the mid-span hinge. This bridge was designated as
an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1991.

Engineering Structures 101: Bridges Page 10

 Two slender fixed arch concrete highway bridges, crossing the Moesa Torrent, on the San
Bernardino Pass road, Switzerland. Designed by Professor Christian Menn, they are fine
Schwandbach Bridge, 1933, Switzerland. Concrete arch bridge designed by Robert Maillart. examples of modern concrete bridge design. Arch span: 112 meters, column spacing on both
Note the sloping walls supporting the deck off the arch approaches: 17 meters. Scale of the structure can be seen from the figure, bottom left.

Bixby Creek Bridge, Carmel, California, 1932. This fixed reinforced concrete Fursteuland Bridge, River Sitter, Switzerland. A fixed reinforced concrete arch
arch bridge spans 218 m across a deep river valley. bridge, crossing the valley in a single 135 m span

Krk Bridge, Croatia (1964). World’s longest span concrete arch bridge (390 m)
Gladesville Bridge, Sydney, Australia, 1964. Concrete arch bridge

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 Wenner Bridge, Austria
Timber arch bridge

Engineering Structures 101: Bridges Page 12