The Anatomy of Bridgework

The need for the reconstruction of bridges, arising from various causes which have been treated in the preceding chapters, original weakness or faults in design, decay or defect...

The addition of distributing girders, described in the last chapter, as a means of strengthening a bridge floor, while sufficient in many cases so far as the cross-girders are c...

Considerable latitude is observable in the practice of engineers in the use of rivets. Numberless experiments to determine the resistance of riveted connections have from time t...

In the preceding chapters defects of various kinds to which riveted bridgework is liable have been more particularly dealt with; it is now proposed to consider the examination o...

The floors of bridges commonly give more trouble in maintenance, and their defects are more frequently the cause which renders reconstruction necessary, apart from reasons not c...

Deflection, considered only as a fraction of the span, and without regard to other conditions affecting it, is of very little use as an indication of a girder’s fitness for its...

Instructive lessons are to be had from a study of the various alterations in form to which metallic bridgework is liable, which alterations may be due simply to the development...

High stress, provided it be well below that at which immediate injury results, or possible failure, is not uniformly objectionable. It may be first considered relative to the ab...

The author has collected particulars as to the amount and rate of rusting in metallic structures which are of some interest. In all such instances it is very necessary to note t...

Bracing, whether to strengthen a structure against wind, to insure the relative positions of its parts, or for any other purpose, cannot be arranged with too great care and rega...

It is seldom that girders of this description--or, indeed, of any other--show signs of failure from mere defect of strength in the principal parts, even though somewhat highly s...

Masonry bridges, in which description it is intended to include structures both in stone and brick, are, when well built, amongst the most durable and long-suffering of any whic...

Cast Iron as a material for bridges has of late years fallen into disrepute. It is now entirely tabooed by the Board of Trade for railway under-bridges, unless of arched constru...

No book has, so far as the author is aware, been written upon that aspect of bridgework to be treated in the following pages. No excuse need, therefore, be given for adding to t...

The life of bridges of differing materials has been incidentally touched upon by the examples quoted, in dealing with each class of structure. It will be useful to recapitulate...

Timber bridges, though probably the most ancient in type, are yet the least durable in any particular instance. The perishable nature of the material when used for exposed const...

Latitude in practice--Laboratory experiments--Care in considering practical instances--Main girder web rivets--Lattice girders investigated--Rivets in small girders--Faulty brid...

Differences as between new work and old--Influence of booms and web structure on deflection--Yield of rivets and stiffness of connections--Working formulæ--Set--Effect of floor...

Liability to defects--Impact--Ends of cross and longitudinal girders--Awkward riveting--Fixed ends to cross girders--Plated floor--Liberal depths desirable--Type connections--Ef...