© Raajit Sharma

Year 12
Engineering Studies
Assessment Task -
Material technologies and Civil Structures

links with evolution of bridge

design

Millau Viaduct
(Bridge)

Raajit Sharma
East Hills Boys High
5/12/2011
© Raajit Sharma

Abstract

Bridges have long fascinated the generations. It’s ease of use to overcome obstacles for
everyday needs for conveyance, transport and mobility of freight and passengers have
contributed to the rapid modernisation of economies.

This report investigates and reports on the history of Bridges – Civil structure materials and
design technology evolution. In the first part the report illustrates the timeline in the
evolution of bridges. It identifies the materials used and relates it to the linked era and
particular construction method. It also provides insights as to its influence in the improved
design.

In the second part the report chooses Millau Bridge to describe the design – truss,
suspension and explains the bridge in terms of structure, social impact and material used.

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Introduction

A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a valley, body of water or road,
for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle. Designs of bridges vary depending
on the function of the bridge, the nature of the terrain where the bridge is constructed, the
materials used to make it and the funds available to build it.

The greatest change in civil engineering is associated with the industrial revolution. During
this period construction material for civil structures largely changed from wood to iron and
steel.

Most bridge locations were dictated by considerations such as:

 The shortest distance between two points on the river banks or obstacles
 The need to join existing roads and infrastructure
 Replacement of an older structure

Traditionally materials used for bridges included stone, timber, wrought iron and steel. More
recently aluminium alloys, polymers and composite materials are being used for elements of
bridge construction.

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Part One

Evolution of Bridge Design

Featured Development of materials technologies with bridge design
Pre-Historic – Log bridges
In pre – historic time’s people began to build the crudest shelter for themselves and they
connected settlements through walkways and logging bridged streams. Trees that fell across
the stream from bank to bank acted as bridges. The wandering tribe that first deliberately
made a tree fall across a stream were the first bridge builders.

The material used was naturally available and there was no significant design features. It
was simply a method to get from one end of stream to the other.

Inca civilization in South America

Rope bridges, a simple type of suspension bridge, were used by the Inca civilization in South
America. The first bridges were natural of huge rock arch that spans. The first man-made
bridges were tree trucks laid across streams, flat stones and vegetation braided and hung in
suspension. These three types – beam, arch and suspension have been known and built
since ancient times and are the origins from which engineers and builders derived various
combinations such as truss, cantilever, cable-stayed, tied-arch and moveable spans.

About 1100AD to 1779 – Wood, masonry and stones era

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Masonry and stone materials have long been used for construction and are some of the
oldest building materials. The bridges of the Romans of the middle ages and of later master
builders were built with stone masonry.

Masonry arch bridges achieved stability due to the massive nature of the structure itself. The
high compressive strength enabled hard stone structures, built on stable ground, to last
thousands of years. Then these types of bridges were constructed by compressive forces
holding the stones, therefore the bridge together. In an effort to improve tensile strength of
masonry, reinforcing in a variety of forms had been used. The use of reinforcing greatly
extends the structural uses of masonry materials.

Arch bridges are always under compression, the

natural curve directs forces outwards in an effort to
spread the arch. The massive nature of the
abutments resists this collapsing force holding the
arch in shape and including compressive forces in the
structure. The weight force of an arch bridge is
redistributed from the centre of the arch and
outwards. To span greater heights or wider distances a series of smaller arches may be
joined end to end stacked upon each other to span greater distances.

Timber has favourable qualities of strength for resisting compression, tension and bending.
Rough sawn timber beams have been used since primitive times for constructing beam
bridges. The introduction of trussed frames and arches
allowed larger spans. In earlier times timer was
abundant and cheap, hardwood in good form was
excellent for construction. Wood was most often used,
even for major bridges.

A truss takes the form of a triangle or combination of

triangles. The triangular configuration is capable of
carrying large amounts of loads based on the principle that a triangle cannot collapse or vary
its shape, unless the length of one side is changed. Its greatest limitation is its length. The
further apart its supports, the weaker a beam bridge gets, however in an effort to span
larger distances individual spans can be joined together.

Unfortunately when wooden bridges are exposed to the elements they are quickly attacked
by decay, especially at the critical connections between members. These spaces cause
spaces of moisture to develop leading to the rotting of the timber and/ or corrosion of metal
pins, rivets or joints. To prevent this many bridges in the 18th century were provided with a
roof to protect them from the elements. The result then was the covered bridge, which were
popular in the USA in those times.

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1779 – Cast iron era

The first iron bridge was constructed in 1779 at
Coalbrookdale in England over the Severn River. The
design was an arched bridge and made good use of the
compressive strength of cast iron. Each member was
crafted in wood and used as templates, from which sand
moulds were made. Cast iron was then poured into
moulds to produce each member. The member made out of
cast iron was assembled using methods common for
timber construction. The members were connected using traditional wood-working joints.

A major disadvantage is that cast iron is that it is brittle and weak in tension, compared to
steel. This is why the iron bridge was made an arch bridge, because it was strong in
compression, but weak in tension. At that time, the Iron Bridge was seen as a great step
forward and the use of cast iron increased rapidly.

1840’s - Wrought iron

Cast iron became the material of choice until the failure if the Dee Bridge. This railway bridge
was a trussed girder design that failed under torsion loads. From that time studier bridge
designs were developed & cast iron was only used for compressive members. Engineers then
turned to Wrought Iron as a tougher, more reliable material for carrying of tensile loads.

Wrought iron was first used in 1840’s & buy mid 19th century structural shapes were being
formed. Wrought – iron was also used to support suspension bridge decks, because of its
high compressive strength. Even with the benefits of wrought iron, which allowed increased
loads, bridges began to fail by fatigue in the metal.

1890’s –Steel
By the 1890’s steel had replaced wrought iron as a material used for trusses. Steel was a
favourable material because it had high strength
qualities and was therefore suitable for bridges with
larger spans. A special advantage of steel is its
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ductility, it deforms before it breaks, because it begins to yield above a certain stress level.
For bridges high strength steel is preferred. This is because high strength steels are not as
ductile with those of normal strength. Example of bridge using steel – Golden Gate Bridge

1900’s– Concrete and steel

Concrete is being used to form structural members of bridges. Concrete is high in
compressive strength but weak in tensile strength. The final product of concrete depends on
the requirements of the structural member that is being constructed. Tensile stresses occur
in joints due to ground movement, wind, and changes in temperature. In these cases
reinforced concrete is used.

Modern bridges -Pre-stressed concrete, reinforced steel, cable

Structural members with high tensile stresses are manufactured from prestressed concrete.

Prestressed concrete revolutionised the design and construction of bridges. With

prestressed concrete beams can be made more visual appealing and can span greater
distances than other materials e.g. reinforced concrete

Prestressed concrete bridges in many instances have become cheaper than steel bridges and
required reduced maintenance requirements.

All types of structures can be built with reinforced, pre –

stressed or post stressed concrete:

- Columns
- Piers
- Walls
- Slabs
- Beams
- Arches
- Frames
- Suspended structures

Part Two

Millau Viaduct
History

The Millau Viaduct is a cable-stayed road bridge that spans the valley of the river Tarn near
Millau in southern France. It was designed by Norman Foster and it is the tallest bridge in

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the world, with a summit of 343 metres or 1,125 ft. It was opened at 16 December 2004
with a total length of 2460m.

Location

The Millau Viaduct is located on the territory of the communes of Millau and Creissels,
France. Before the bridge was constructed, traffic had to descend into the Tarn River valley
and pass along the route national N9 near the town of Millau, causing heavy congestion at
the beginning and end of the July and August vacation season. The bridge now traverses the
Tarn valley above its lowest point, linking two limestone plateaus, the Causse du Larzac and
the Causse Rouge, and is inside the perimeter of the Grands Causses regional natural park.

Design

Millau viaduct is a cable-stayed bridge, it is similar to suspension bridges but it uses cables.
These cables ride freely across towers, transmitting the load to anchorages at either end.
Unlike suspension bridge the cables are directly attached to the deck and it also requires
fewer cables and is faster to build.

Bridge structure, social impact and materials used

The bridge structure is very unique. It has 7 pylons supported by four deep shafts each (15m
deep and 5m in diameter). Masts are set on top of the pylons, which in-between each of
them has eleven stays (metal cables) which are anchored to provide support to the road
deck. The road deck is specially design so it provides negative lift in strong wind situations.

Heights of the piers

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P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 P7

94.501 m 244.96 m 221.05 m 144.21 m 136.42 m 111.94 m 77.56 m

(310 ft 0.5 in) (803 ft 8 in) (725 ft 3 in) (473 ft 2 in) (447 ft 7 in) (367 ft 3 in) (254 ft 6 in)

The deck of the Millau viaduct has a total mass of around 36,000 tonnes, 2460m long and
32m wide. It is composed of 173 central box beams which is the spinal column of the
construction. The box beams have a 4m cross section and a total height of 90 tons. The deck
also has an inverse Airfoil; providing negative lift, this is because
winds reach up to 160km/h.

The seven masts reach up to 87m each and weighing individually at

700 tonnes, which are set on top of the pylons. Between each
mast eleven stays are anchored, providing support for the road
deck.

Each mast of the viaduct is equipped with eleven pairs of stays

laid face to face. The stays were made up of 55 to 91 high tensile
steel cables, or strands, themselves formed of seven strands of steel. The strands are made
up of a central strand with six intertwined strands. Each strand has triple protection against
corrosion (galvanisation, a coating of petroleum wax and an extruded polyethylene sheath).
The exterior of the stays is coated along with a double helical weathership. The idea is to
avoid running water which, in high winds, could cause vibration in the stays and compromise
the stability of the viaduct.

For deformations to be allowed to the metal deck under traffic, a special surface of modified
bitumen was installed. It was spread to provide flexibility to adapt to deformations in the
steel deck without cracking.

The structure of the bridge is very unique and is environmentally friendly. It has takes very
less amount of land space and it did not block and affect water flow, animal life and aquatic
life.

The bridge has great strength to withhold massive weight and has great wind resistance
capabilities.

A number of organizations opposed the project, including the France Nature Environment,
the national federation of motorway users, the environmental action and WWF.

Some of the arguments were that:

- The viaduct represented a detour, therefore reducing the number of visitors

passing through Millau
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- The technical difficulties were too great

- Other routes were better and cheaper cutting a cost by a third.

Conclusion

Bridge construction, materials and designs have evolved with time. The construction and
design is motivated by the specific need to overcome obstacle either it be river, cliff,
overpass and mountain, available construction materials and capital.

The ancient prehistoric bridges like modern bridges were to overcome obstacles. The needs
were different from today; materials were different from today and so as the funds,
population and design methodology.

Millau Bridge is a pinnacle of modern bridge structures. It has used great ingenuity in using
cutting edge design and enhanced materials quality.

Bridges will continue to evolve with time – it is greatly linked with development in materials.

Bibliography
- http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-20080318-52/the-millau-viaduct-the-worlds-
tallest-bridge/

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millau_Viaduct

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_three_longest_supported_deck_arch_bridge
_spans

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspension_bridge

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arch_bridge

- http://theconstructor.org/structures/history-of-bridges/5491/

- http://surferjerry.com/travel/the-millau-viaduct/

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Gate_Bridge

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- http://siteselection.com/ssinsider/snapshot/sf050103.htm

- School Engineering Text Book

- http://bridgepros.com/projects/Millau_Viaduct/

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqKmDYzzyCI – Suspension Bridges(big bigger

biggest)

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