Suspension bridges

John Roebling died in 1869, shortly after work began on the Brooklyn Bridge, but the project was taken over and seen to completion by his son, Washington Roebling. Technically, the bridge overcame many obstacles through the use of huge pneumatic caissons, into which compressed air was pumped so that men could work in the dry; but, more important, it was the first suspension bridge on which steel wire was used for the cables. Every wire was galvanized to safeguard against rust, and the four cables, each nearly 40 cm (16 inches) in diameter, took 26 months to spin back and forth over the East River. After many political and technical difficulties and at least 27 fatal accidents, the 479-metre- (1,595-foot-) span bridge was completed in 1883 to such fanfare that within 24 hours an estimated quarter-million people crossed over it, using a central elevated walkway that John Roebling had designed for the purpose of giving pedestrians a dramatic view of the city.

By the turn of the 20th century, the increased need for passage from Manhattan to Brooklyn over the East River resulted in plans for two more long-span, wire-cable, steel suspension bridges, the Williamsburg and Manhattan bridges. The Williamsburg Bridge, designed by L.L. Buck with a span of just over 480 metres (1,600 feet), became the longest cable-suspension span in the world upon completion in 1903. Its deck truss is a bulky lattice structure with a depth of 12 metres (40 feet), and the towers are of steel rather than masonry. The truss in effect replaced Roebling’s stays as stiffeners for the deck. The 1909 Manhattan Bridge has a span of 441 metres (1,470 feet). Its fixed steel towers spread laterally at the base, and a 7.4-metre- (24.5-foot-) deep truss is used for the deck. Of greater significance than the deck construction, however, was the first application of deflection theory, during the design of these two bridges, in calculating how the horizontal deck and curved cables worked together to carry loads. First published in 1888 by the Austrian academic Josef Melan, deflection theory explains how deck and cables deflect together under gravity loads, so that, as spans become longer and the suspended structure heavier, the required stiffness of the deck actually decreases. Deflection theory especially influenced design in the 1930s, as engineers attempted to reduce the ratio of girder depth to span length in order to achieve a lighter, more graceful, appearance without compromising safety. Up to 1930, no long-span suspension bridge had a ratio of girder depth to span length that was higher than 1:84.

Ralph Modjeski’s Philadelphia-Camden Bridge (now called the Benjamin Franklin Bridge), over the Delaware River, is another wire-cable steel suspension bridge; when completed in 1926, it was the world’s longest span at 525 metres (1,750 feet). However, it was soon exceeded by the Ambassador Bridge (1929) in Detroit and the George Washington Bridge (1931) in New York. The Ambassador links the United States and Canada over the Detroit River. Because of heavy traffic on the river, a wide clearance was necessary. The steel suspension bridge designed by Jonathan Jones has a span of 555 metres (1,850 feet) and a total length, including approach spans, of more than 2,700 metres (9,000 feet). The design of the Ambassador Bridge originally called for using heat-treated steel wires for the cables. Normally wires were cold-drawn, a method in which steel is drawn through successively smaller holes in dies, reducing its diameter yet raising its ultimate tensile strength. Extensive laboratory tests showed that heat-treated wires had a slightly higher ultimate strength, but during the construction of the Ambassador Bridge several of them broke, and, to the contractors’ credit, all the cables spun thus far were immediately replaced with cold-drawn wire. The example illustrates the limitations of laboratory testing as opposed to studies of actual working conditions.

The George Washington Bridge, a steel suspension bridge designed by Ammann, was significant first for its span length of 1,050 metres (3,500 feet) and second for its theoretical innovations. After studying deflection theory, Ammann concluded that no stiffness was needed in the deck at all, as it would be stabilized by the great weight of the bridge itself. Indeed, the George Washington Bridge is the heaviest single-span suspension bridge built to date, and its original ratio of girder depth to span was an astonishing 1:350. Originally the 191-metre- (635-foot-) high towers were to have a masonry facade, but a shortage of money during the Great Depression precluded this, and the steel framework stands alone. Ammann designed the bridge to carry a maximum of 12,000 kg per metre (8,000 pounds per foot), even though the maximum conceivable load on the bridge was estimated at 69,000 kg per metre (46,000 pounds per foot), thus illustrating the principle that longer bridges need not be designed for maximum load. In 1962 the addition of a second deck for traffic resulted in the construction of a deck truss, giving the bridge its current ratio of girder depth to span of 1:120.

Early bridges

During the 19th century, low-cost production of iron and steel, when added to the invention of portland cement in 1824, led to the development of reinforced concrete. In 1867 a French gardener, Joseph Monier, patented a method of strengthening thin concrete flowerpots by embedding iron wire mesh into the concrete. Monier later applied his ideas to patents for buildings and bridges. In 1879 another Frenchman, François Hennebique, set out to fireproof a metal-frame house in Belgium, and his decision to cover the iron beams with concrete led him to develop a structural system wherein the metal bars (replacing iron beams) carried tension and the concrete carried compression. By the end of the century reinforced concrete had become an economical substitute for stone, since it was generally cheaper to produce concrete than to quarry stones. In addition to its price and load-carrying advantages, reinforced concrete could be molded into a variety of shapes, allowing for much aesthetic expression on the part of the engineer without significantly increasing materials or cost.

The most prolific designers first using reinforced concrete were Hennebique and the German engineer G.A. Wayss, who bought the Monier patents. Hennebique’s Vienne River Bridge at Châtellerault, France, built in 1899, was the longest-spanning reinforced arch bridge of the 19th century. Built low to the river—typical of many reinforced-concrete bridges whose goal of safe passage across a small river is not affected by heavy boat traffic—the Châtellerault bridge has three arches, the centre spanning just over 48 metres (160 feet). In 1904 the Isar River Bridge at Grünewald, Germany, designed by Emil Morsch for Wayss’s firm, became the longest reinforced-concrete span in the world at 69 metres (230 feet).

The longest-spanning concrete arches of the 1920s were designed by the French engineer Eugène Freyssinet. In his bridge over the Seine at Saint-Pierre-du-Vauvray (1922), two thin, hollow arches rise 25 metres (82 feet) at mid-span and are connected by nine crossbeams. The arches curve over the deck, which is suspended by thin steel wires lightly coated with mortar and hanging down in a triangular formation. The 131-metre (435-foot) span, then a record for reinforced concrete, thus has a light appearance. The bridge was destroyed during World War II but was rebuilt in 1946 using the same form.

In 1930 Freyssinet completed his most renowned work, the Plougastel Bridge over the Elorn Estuary near Brest, France. This bridge featured three 176-metre (585-foot) hollow-box arch spans, then the longest concrete spans in the world. Because of the great scale of this structure, Freyssinet studied the creep, or movement under stress, of concrete. This led him to his general idea for prestressing (see below Prestressed concrete).

In 1943 the Plougastel was eclipsed in length by the Sandö Bridge over the Ångerman River in Sweden. The Sandö Bridge is a thin, single-ribbed, reinforced-concrete arch with a span of 260 metres (866 feet), rising 39 metres (131 feet) above the river.