A bridge, which was being constructed for a whopping amount of Rs 12 crore, collapsed in Bihar, India. The bridge has collapsed due to negligence by the construction company. This a crazy study of how common sense can fall through the cracks of strained budgets and rigid oversight from city and state staff. The lesson that came out of it are not just relevant to people who works on bridge construction. It’s a story of how numerous small mistakes by individuals can collectively lead to a tragedy.
What is Bridge Construction? Bridge’s Components and Functions.
It is due to tragedies like this that precise inspections are crucial, as they help identify potential risks and prevent catastrophic failures, ensuring the safety and reliability of systems and structures, and ultimately protecting lives and the environment while working in the bridge construction projects. In this blog we will discuss about components structure of bridge construction, it’s types, loads and functions.
What Is Bridge in Construction?
In construction, a bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as waterbodies, valleys, roads or railways. The main purpose of a bridge is to provide passage over these obstacles. Bridges come in various designs, each suited to different types of terrain, load requirements and materials available.
Bridge is a structure having an opening not less than 6m that forms part of a highway over or under. Structures less than 6m are called culverts.
Bridge is the key element in a transportation system:-
- It controls the capacity of the system.
- If the bridge fails, the system fails.
- It is the highest cost per miles of the system.
Bridge Components:-
A bridge consists mainly of foundation, superstructure and substructure.
Superstructure is a structural parts of the bridge which provides the horizontal span like bridge deck, bridge girder, railing etc. while substructure is the structural parts of the bridge which supports the horizontal span like pile, piers, abutments, bearings etc.
Types of Bridges :-
Bridges can be classified according to materials , it’s usage, span and structural form. We will discuss some of it here:
Suspension Bridges
- Suspension bridges are typically supports or towers connected draping cable. This cable than also connected with the vertical cable to support up the bridge deck. Most recognisable example is the golden gate bridge. Piers with draping cable attached high above the roadways.
Cable stayed bridge
- It is similar to the suspension bridge, they’re similar in that there are towers primarily supports that then connect to the ground but instead of having two main draping cables, the cables are directly attached from those towers to the deck.
- It allows you to use cables to act as a resisting force to the suspended or hanging deck. Bridge using the counterweights of both sides to be able to have much longer span in between piers.
- When you’re building a bridge across a large body of water, the energy and the effort it takes to drill the piers or piles down beneath the water surface to build these supports makes it more of incisive to have less supports. And when we are considering to build less supports allow us to have longer spans hence the suspension bridges and cable stayed bridge become an attractive options.
Arch bridges
- Arch bridges are primarily resisting the load in axial compression along the arch. The deck is above the arch or there are cases where the arch is elevated and the deck is actually through the arch and so we call that a through arch bridge.
Truss bridge
- A truss bridge is a structural type that is comprised of several different elements composed of a truss, which is a structure of connected elements forming triangular units. The truss design offers a high degree of strength and stability, distributing the load evenly through the structure. Truss bridges are known for their efficiency in using material to support heavy loads and their capability to span long distances.
Cantilever bridge
- Cantilever bridge is a structure supported on one end where there is a fixed side or support whether beams or other types of support members are resisting the rotation of the deck. The cantilever is incredibly important to make sure that the fixed end is strong enough that the flexible extended memeber has the ability to resist the tension on top and the compression on bottom.
Floating Bridges
- Supported by floating pontoons or boats, used where it is impractical to build piers.
Loads to be considered in bridge construction
The loads acting on their bridge can be generally divided into two main broad categories:
1. Dead loads
- Self weight of girder and deck
- Wearing surface
- Curbs and parapets and railling
- Utilities and luminaries
2. Live loads
- Cars and trucks load
- Special vehicles load
- Pedestrians load
- Impact load
3. Other Loads
- Wind load
- Seismic load
- Centrifugal load
- Snow and Ice load
Function of the Bridge
- Overcoming Obstacles: Bridges overcomes physical barriers such as rivers, valleys, roads and railways, enabling uninterrupted passage for vehicles, pedestrians and trains.
- Connecting Regions: By linking previously isolated areas, bridges facilitate trade, travel and communication, fostering economic development and social integration.
- Improving Traffic Flow: Bridges alleviate traffic congestion by providing alternate routes and bypassing bottlenecks, leading to more efficient transportation networks.
- Supporting Infrastructure: Bridges are often integral components of broader infrastructure projects, such as highways, rail networks and urban development plans, enhancing overall connectivity.
- Aesthetic and Architectural Significance: Many bridges are designed not only for functionality but also to be visually appealing, becoming landmarks and symbols of engineering and architectural beauty.
Overall the bridge construction helps us to access the places which are inaccessible and cut down the time to reach there or also decrease the friction to connect two places, community or city. It is also surpass the existing infrastructure like railways, roads, canals etc.
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