What Makes Bridges so Strong? - (Structural Engineer Explains)

#BridgeConstruction #Engineering #CivilEngineering #BridgeBuilding #StructuralEngineering #BridgeDesign #Infrastructure #EngineeringProjects #ModernBridges #BridgeTechnology
So, you see how bridges take enormous amount of loads of vehicles passing one after the others allowing them to pass an obstacle like a river, a roadway or a water way. Well, certainly they take the load of heavy loaded trucks but still manages to stay strong for lifetime like around 100 years or so;
but the golden question, we’ve been asked for is what makes bridges so strong.
You know the strength of a bridge is its essence, and the top priority of any bridge is safety. A pedestrian bridge must be strong enough to support people, cyclists, animals, and light vehicles.
So, that’s where experts called ‘engineers’ come in to design elements or components so strong to carry the designed or intended load.
For the bridge to carry that much load, the engineers uses different types of materials like Concrete, steel, or may be wood. They arrange these members or elements of a bridge in a geometry. Their combination, their quality and their quantity, everything is crucial to make bridge strong.
But why we need to build strong bridges?
Well, that’s because we don’t want the bridge to collapse. So, our main objective is to determine the design load for a bridge and satisfy that with the design elements.
Let’s find out what happen when we overload a bridge with more people or stuff.
So, you see it collapses.
That’s why we need to build stronger bridges.
And we do this by using stronger elements and stronger materials.
Take a look at this simple bridge we call it as ‘beam bridge’
Now if this bridge is of a wooden card board; it will take not much load.
But if we build it using a steel plate it will take much more load in comparison.
So, you see selecting the type of material is critical in making stronger bridges.
The other factor to make stronger bridges is geometry.
Take a look at this bridge made of truss elements.
You’d see how it’s elements are slim and slender.
But what’s the secret here?
Well, the secret here is it’s geometry. Simple.
It’s geometry; I mean; it’s elements are arranged in a way that all the members are in either compression or tension. I’ve got an other explainer video about different stresses so make sure to have a look at that video.
Well, the bridge here is a steel truss bridge and to your surprise it has to be strong. You know why?
Because it has to take the load of heavy trains.
If you take a closer look at the bridge truss; you’d see it has got some triangles doing the trick.
Well, if you know it or not.
The triangles are strong when used in buildings. When you apply the load on the side of the triangle it bends but it won’t go anywhere if you apply the force on the tip.
That’s the trick behind why the bridges made with trusses are stronger and can carry heavy loads.
So, when a car travels on a truss bridge; all these triangles distributes the force in a way that it collectively converts forces in to tension or compression.
Another type of bridge we normally see is a suspension bridge. One famous example of a suspension bridge is a golden gate bridge.
Now, let’s see how we build suspension bridges.
Suspension bridges are made to carry and distribute the load as tension.
We support the deck of the bridge with suspending it using tension elements.
These tension elements are nothing but ropes or wires that tightly carries the deck.
These wires are then hung on the tall towers that take the load and distribute on the soil below the river.
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For detailed information about why bridges are so strong and about different types of bridges; read our article here: www.iamcivilengineer.com/what-makes-bridges-so-strong/