1. All About Bridges
Bridge types, construction, and erection

2. Ponte Costa e Silva, Brazil
Girder Bridge
World's Longest
Ponte Costa e Silva, Brazil
Total Length
700m
Center Span
300m
A girder bridge is the most common and most basic bridge. In modern steel girder bridges,
Example: A log across a creek
the two most common girders are I-beam girders and box-girders.

3. New River Gorge Bridge, U.S.A.
Arch Bridge
second oldest bridge type and a classic structure well suited to the use of stone.
Arches use a curved structure which provides a high resistance to bending forces.
World's Longest
New River Gorge Bridge, U.S.A.
Total Length
924m

4. Truss Bridge can serve as a distraction to drivers
Mostly all beams in a truss bridge are straight. Trusses are comprised of many small beams that together can support a large amount of weight and span great distances.
can serve as a distraction to drivers
World's Longest
Pont de Quebec
Total Length
863m
Center Span
549m
Truss Bridge

5. Cable Stayed Bridges extremely strong but very flexible
World's Longest
Tatara Bridge, Japan
Total Length
1,480m
Center Span
890m
A tower is erected on a continuous girder. From these towers, cables stretch down diagonally (usually to both sides) and support the girder.

6. Rigid frame bridges (Rahmen bridges)
The cross sections of the beams in a rigid frame bridge are usually I shaped or box shaped
a rigid frame bridge is one in which the piers and girder are one solid structure

7. Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, Japan
The girder or roadway is actually hanging suspended from the main cables. The majority of the weight of the bridge and any vehicles on it are suspended from the cables. In turn the cables are held up only by the towers, there is an incredible amount of weight that the towers must be able to support.
Suspension Bridges
World's Longest
Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, Japan
Total Length
3,911m
Center Span
1,991m
very old form of bridge

8. Bridges in Literature Braveheart
The Battle of Stirling Bridge is depicted in the 1995 film Braveheart after the novel. The director, Mel Gibson, however, chose not to depict the bridge at all in an attempt to make it more compelling cinematically.

9. Bridge in Movie
The golden gate bridge is an ironic structure. An engineering masterpiece. A triumph of human ingenuity and muscle over the elements. More people choose to end their lives at the Golden Gate Bridge than anywhere else in the world. The sheer number of deaths there is shocking but not altogether surprising. If one wants to commit suicide, there is an eerie logic in selecting a means that is almost always fatal and a place that is magically, mysteriously beautiful.
The Bridge is a visual and visceral journey into one of life’s greatest taboos.

10. Stirling Bridge Bridge Disasters Location: Stirling, Scotland
Type: Beam
Cause: Overload by attackers during the Battle of Stirling Bridge
Effect: The Battle of Stirling Bridge was a shattering defeat for the English: it showed that under certain circumstances, where the conditions were right, infantry could be superior to cavalry.

11. Yarmouth Bridge Bridge Disasters Location: Great Yarmouth,
United Kingdom
Type: Suspension Bridge
Cause: People crowded onto it to see a clown go down the river in a barrel pulled by geese. The weight of people shifted as the barrel passed underneath, the suspension chains on the south side snapped and the bridge deck tipped over.
Effect: Suspension chains snapped due to overload.

12. Bridge Disasters Ashtabula River Railroad Disaster
Location: Ashtabula,
Ohio, United States
Type: Wrought iron truss bridge
Cause: Possible fatigue failure of cast iron elements
Effect: One or perhaps two of the bridge designers later committed suicide. The disaster helped focus efforts to draw up standards for bridges including adequate testing and inspection.

13. Famous Bridge Tower Bridge 135 feet high and 200 feet wide
one of London's most recognizable symbols
Tower Bridge

14. Famous Bridge Eitaibashi one of the most famous bridges in Tokyo
(“Long Reign Bridge”)
sharply arched wooden bridge

15. Famous Bridge The Rialto Bridge
The stone Rialto bridge replaced a previous wooden structure
the oldest bridge crossing the
Grand Canal in Venice.
There are 2 ramps which lead up to the central portico and 2 ramps on either side
Famous Bridge

16. Bridges and Physics
Compression is a force that acts to compress or shorten the thing it is acting on.
Tension is a force that acts to expand or lengthen the thing it is acting on.
A simple, everyday example of compression and tension is a spring. When we press down, or push the two ends of the spring together, we compress it. The force of compression shortens the spring. When we pull up, or pull apart the two ends, we create tension in the spring. The force of tension lengthens the spring.
Stress: different types of materials can sustain different amounts of stress – force put on the bridge when holding up an object
Strain: the force caused by stress.