Mell What are suspension bridges made of?
Some of the earliest suspension bridge cables were made from twisted grass. In the early nineteenth century, suspension bridges used iron chains for cables. Today, the cables are made of thousands of individual steel wires bound tightly together.
How are simple suspension bridges built?
Simple suspension bridges are restricted in their use to foot traffic. For safety, they are built with stout handrail cables, supported on short piers at each end, and running parallel to the load-bearing cables. Sometime these may be the primary load-bearing element, with the deck suspended below.
What is the best use for a suspension bridge?
Light, and strong, suspension bridges can span distances from 2,000 to 7,000 feet far longer than any other kind of bridge. They are ideal for covering busy waterways. With any bridge project the choice of materials and form usually comes down to cost. Suspension bridges tend to be the most expensive to build.
What kind of materials are used in suspension bridges?
Suspension Bridges – Design Technology. Suspension bridges in their simplest form were originally made from rope and wood. Modern suspension bridges use a box section roadway supported by high tensile strength cables. In the early nineteenth century, suspension bridges used iron chains for cables.
What do you need to know about a suspension bridge?
A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (the load -bearing portion) is hung below suspension cables on vertical suspenders. This type of bridge has cables suspended between towers, with vertical suspender cables that transfer the live and dead loads of the deck below, upon which traffic crosses.
What kind of steel is used to build a bridge?
For building purposes, steel is fabricated in the form of plates (6 to 80mm thick) by means of rolling when red hot. For bearings and some other items, cast steel is used. For members under tension only, like ropes or cables, there are special steels, processed in different ways which allow us to build bold suspension or cable-stayed bridges.
Where do the cables go on a suspension bridge?
Any load applied to the bridge transforms into tension that the main cables must support. That’s why they continue beyond the pillars to the supports at the deck, and then continue into the ground anchors to provide enough support.