Story Of A Steel Bridge

When engineering students in Canada are soon to graduate, the solemn “Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer,” penned by none other than Rudyard Kipling, charges them with their Obligation to high standards, humility, and ethics. Each budding engineer then receives an Iron Ring to be worn on the small finger of the working hand as a reminder throughout their career. Through the story of the 1907 Quebec Bridge disaster, in which seventy-six men died, author Dan Levert teaches a powerful object lesson in what can happen when that Obligation is forgotten. Woven from transcripts of the inquiry into the collapse, the report of the commissioners, and other sources including the coroner’s inquest, On Cold Iron plays out like a fast-paced thriller. Levert recounts the original 1850s proposals to bridge the St. Lawrence near Quebec City, through the design and construction of what was to be the longest clear span bridge of any kind in the world, to its shocking collapse during construction in August 1907. The missteps, poor policies, hubris, and wrong-headed actions begin to build like a death by a thousand cuts, until its inevitable and horrifying culmination. The meticulously researched and deftly delivered story of this terrible historical event makes fascinating reading for anyone, but even more, it is a powerful cautionary tale and a clarion call for the obligation and responsibility of an engineer.

Bridges are great symbols of mankind’s conquest of space. They are a monument to his vision and determination, but these alone are not enough. An appreciation of the mathematical theories underlying bridge design is essential to resist the physical forces of nature and gravity. The object of this book is to explain firstly the nature of the problems associated with the building of bridges with steel as the basic material, and then the theories that are available to tackle them. The book covers: a technological history of the different types of iron and steel bridges the basic properties of steel loads on bridges from either natural or traffic-induced forces the process and aims of design based on limit state and statistical probability concepts buckling behaviour of various components and large-deflection behaviour of components with initial imperfections detailed guidance on the design of plate and box girder bridges together with some design examples The Second Edition includes a completely new chapter on the history and design of cable-stayed bridges, the various types of cable used for them and their method of construction, and it addresses many of the changes introduced in the latest version of the British Standard Design Code for steel bridges, BS 5400: Part 3:2000.

This English translation of the successful French edition presents the conception and design of steel and steel-concrete composite bridges, from simple beam bridges to cable supported structures. The book focuses primarily on road bridges, emphasizing the basis of their conception and the fundamentals that must be considered to assure structural safety and serviceability, as well as highlighting the necessary design checks. The principles are extended in later chapters to railway bridges as well as bridges for pedestrians and cyclists. Particular attention is paid to consideration of the dynamic performance.

The stresses imposed on UK roads by forty tonne vehicles have led to an extensive programme of bridge improvements across the country. This book draws on case studies to create an essential tool for all bridge engineers involved in strengthening steel bridges to meet these challenges.Resulting from the Highways Agency's assessment and strengthening of steel and steel/concrete composite bridges, this report disseminates the knowledge gained and ingenuity used during this work and will be an invaluable reference for future work.

John Roebling was one of the nineteenth century's most brilliant engineers, ingenious inventors, successful manufacturers, and fascinating personalities. Raised in a German backwater amid the war-torn chaos of the Napoleonic Wars, he immigrated to the US in 1831, where he became wealthy and acclaimed, eventually receiving a carte-blanche contract to build one of the nineteenth century's most stupendous and daring works of engineering: a gigantic suspension bridge to span the East River between New York and Brooklyn. In between, he thought, wrote, and worked tirelessly. He dug canals and surveyed railroads; he planned communities and founded new industries. Horace Greeley called him "a model immigrant"; generations later, F. Scott Fitzgerald worked on a script for the movie version of his life. Like his finest creations, Roebling was held together by the delicate balance of countervailing forces. On the surface, his life was exemplary and his accomplishments legion. As an immigrant and employer, he was respected throughout the world. As an engineer, his works profoundly altered the physical landscape of America. He was a voracious reader, a fervent abolitionist, and an engaged social commentator. His understanding of the natural world, however, bordered on the occult and his opinions about medicine are best described as medieval. For a man of science and great self-certainty, he was also remarkably quick to seize on a whole host of fads and foolish trends. Yet Roebling held these strands together. Throughout his life, he believed in the moral application of science and technology, that bridges--along with other great works of connection, the Atlantic Cable, the Transcontinental Railroad--could help bring people together, erase divisions, and heal wounds. Like Walt Whitman, Roebling was deeply committed to the creation of a more perfect union, forged from the raw materials of the continent. John Roebling was a complex, deeply divided yet undoubtedly influential figure, and this biography illuminates not only his works but also the world of nineteenth-century America. Roebling's engineering feats are well known, but the man himself is not; for alongside the drama of large scale construction lies an equally rich drama of intellectual and social development and crisis, one that mirrored and reflected the great forces, trials, and failures of nineteenth century America.

This book contains stories. The stories contain information and lessons. The information and lessons are coated in simple language and humor. The idea of this book is to provide information about the working of bridge engineers in field covering their struggles, joy, triumphs and failures. Many a mistake mentioned in the book appears silly, but real people do these mistakes in real life, often with tragic consequences. Since the information is provided in the form of stories, the readers will find it easy to get the message, and to retain it. It is meant to be a resource for the fresh engineers, for the students and for people interested in civil engineering or asset management. Designers and academicians who don’t get much exposure to the field conditions will also find this book extremely useful. This book, thus, bridges the gaps between theory and practice, between field and design office and between the freshman and experienced people. And so, it is aptly named as ‘Stories That Bridge’.