Suspension Bridge

suspension bridge: see bridge.

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suspension bridge

a bridge that has a deck suspended by cables or rods from other cables or chains that hang between two towers and are anchored at both ends

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suspension bridge [sə′spen·shən ‚brij]

(civil engineering)

A fixed bridge consisting of either a roadway or a truss suspended from two cables which pass over two towers and are anchored by backstays to a firm foundation.

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Suspension Bridge 

a bridge in which the main support consists of flexible members (cables, ropes, or chains) under tension, and the bridge floor is suspended. Wire cables and ropes made of high-tensile steel with an ultimate strength of 2-2.5 giganewtons per sq m (200-250 kilograms-force per sq mm), which substantially reduce the deadweight of a bridge and permit longer bridge spans, are widely used in modern suspension bridges. In addition, suspension bridges have low rigidity because of the fact that during the movement of a temporary load on the bridge, the cable (chain) changes its geometric form, causing large deflections of the span. To reduce the deflections, suspension bridges are strengthened at the level of the bridge floor with longitudinal girders or stiffening trusses, which distribute the temporary load and decrease cable strain. Suspension bridges in which the bridge floor is supported by a geometrically stable suspended truss made of rectilinear cables (guys, or guy ropes) are called cable-braced bridges. Suspension systems are used primarily for highway and city bridges. The longest suspension bridge is the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, which was built in 1965 at the entrance to New York Harbor (USA) and has a central span 1,298 m long.

REFERENCES

Tsaplin, S. A. Visiachie mosty. Moscow, 1949.
Spravochnik inzhenera-dorozhnika [vol. 6]. Moscow, 1964.
Smirnov, V. A. Visiachie mosty bol’shikh proletov. Moscow, 1970.

N. N. BOGDANOV