Bridges : understanding their engineering and planning / George C. Lee and Ernest Sternberg ; Illustrated by David C. Pierro.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lee, George C., author.

Sternberg, Ernest, author.

Contributor:

Pierro, David C., illustrator.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bridges--Design and construction.

Bridges.

Bridges--Planning.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (182 p.)

Place of Publication:

Albany, New York : State University of New York Press, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Whether you are a student considering a career in civil engineering and transportation planning, a public official interested in the future of infrastructure, or a person who simply cares about bridges, this book offers an accessible and illustrated introduction to the most beloved feature of our built environment. Learn about engineering basics: the forces that bridges must resist to stay aloft and the principles by which engineers decide which types of bridges make sense at which sites. Find out how engineers protect bridges from their greatest threats—the earthquakes, floods, and other hazards that can cause catastrophic damage.Moving from engineering to planning, learn how we decide whether a bridge is worth building in the first place, learn about controversial features of cost-benefit analysis, and about the transportation models by which planners forecast bridge effects on traffic patterns. Investigate a sometimes intractable problem: why a project often creeps along for a decade or more to get from initial studies to the day the ribbon is cut, undergoing vast cost escalations. Also explore the environmental impact of bridges, and the meaning of a "sustainable bridge," and whether bridges could once again be built, like ancient Roman ones, to last a thousand years.

Contents:

""Contents""; ""List of Tables and Figures""; ""Preface and Acknowledgments""; ""Part I: Deciding about Bridges""; ""Chapter One: Crossing the Bridge Before We Get There""; ""What is a Bridge?""; ""The Bridge Decision""; ""This Book""; ""Chapter Two: Counting Our Bridges""; ""Is Infrastructure Aging?""; ""Are Bridges Deficient?""; ""Is Traffic Congestion Increasing?""; ""Infrastructure Crisis?""; ""The Bridge Decision""; ""Part II: Bridge Engineering""; ""Chapter Three: Understanding Stresses and Strains""; ""What the Structure Must Do""; ""Stresses and Strains""

""Compressive Force: Pushing On a Column""""Tensile Force: Pulling on a Cable""; ""Shear Force: Scissor Effect on a Beam""; ""Basic Bending""; ""Basic Torsion""; ""Combined Stresses in Actual Bending""; ""Bending Moment:The Relationship Between Distance and Applied Force""; ""Combined Torsion and Bending""; ""Toward Engineering Design""; ""Sources and Further Reading""; ""Chapter Four: Bridge Types and Sites""; ""Structural Members: Material and Shapes""; ""Culvert and Slab Bridges""; ""Girder Bridges""; ""Arch Bridges""; ""Truss Bridges""; ""Suspension Bridges""; ""Cable-Stayed Bridges""

""Fitting the Bridge to the Site""""Sources and Further Reading""; ""Chapter Five: Making Strong Bridges: Dealing With Uncertainty""; ""Setting Limit States""; ""Checking For Stress Maxima""; ""The Old Method: Safety Factors""; ""The Current Method: Load and Resistance Factor Design""; ""A Word On Redundancy""; ""Bridges: Safer but not Perfectly Safe""; ""Further Reading""; ""Chapter Six: Resisting Extreme Events""; ""Bridge Disasters""; ""The Causes of Bridge Failure""; ""Planning to Avert Disasters""; ""Earthquake""; ""Hydraulic Forces From Flood""; ""Hydraulic Forces From Scour""

""Vessel Collision""""Terrorism""; ""The State of the Art""; ""Further Reading""; ""Part III: Bridge Planning""; ""Chapter Seven: Is It Worth It? Costs, Benefits, and Tough Decisions""; ""Measuring Internal Costs and Benefits""; ""Setting Up the Analysis""; ""The Discount Rate and Present Value""; ""Sensitivity Analysis and Risk""; ""A One-Hundred-Year Bridge?""; ""External Costs and Benefits""; ""How to Judge a Bridge Proposal""; ""Further Reading""; ""Chapter Eight: Traffic Across the Bridge""; ""Bridges As Links in Networks""; ""Bridges As Chokepoints""; ""The Need for Models""

""Part 1: Capacity and Users""""Modeling the Present""; ""Modeling the Future""; ""The Need for Scenarios""; ""Part 2: Travel Patterns-The Four-Step Process""; ""Trip Generation""; ""Trip Distribution""; ""Modal Split""; ""Trip Assignment""; ""Square City Under Four Scenarios""; ""Traffic Models for Infrastructure Decision: Some Cautions""; ""Traffic Models: Limitations and Prospects""; ""Further Reading""; ""Chapter Nine: The Bridge in the Environment""; ""Great Lake City Wants to Build a Bridge""; ""Preparing the EIS""; ""Assessing Alternatives""

""Cataloging the Effects, Finding Remedies""

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781438455273

1438455275