路桥工程专业英语第六课.doc

第六课：Bridge Introduction桥梁概论 Text: Bridges Read Material: Bridge Design Concept Text Bridges A bridge is a structure providing passage over an obstacle such as a vally, road, railway, canal, river, without closing the way beneath. The required passage may be for road, railway, cannal, pipeline, cycle track or pedestrains. The branch of civil engineering which deals with the design, planning construction and maintenance of bridge is known as bridge engineering. 1 Components of a bridge Figure 14-1a shows the elevation while Fig. 14-1b presents the plan of a bridge.Broadly, a bridge can be divided into two major parts: superstructure and substructure. The superstructure of a bridge is analogous to a single storey building roof and substructure to that of the walls, columns and foundations supporting it. Superstructure consists of structural menbers carrying a communication route. Thus hanrails, guardstones and flooring supported by any structural system, such as beams, girders, arches and cables, above the level of bearings form the superstructure. Substructure is a supporting system for the superstructure. It consists of piers, abutments, wingwalls and foundations for the piers and abutments. The other main parts of a bridge structure are the approaches, bearings and river training works, such as the aprons, and the rivetment for slopes at abutments, etc. Some of the important components of a bridge are explained in this section. Piers: These are provided in between the two extreme supports of the bridge abutments and in the bed of the river to reduce the span and share the total load coming over the bridge. Piers are provided with foundation which is taken below the bed of the river where hard soil is available. Abutments: The end supports of a bridge superstructure are called abutments. It may be of brick masonry, stone masonry, R.C. or precast concrete block. It serves both as a pier and as a retaining wall. The height of a abutment is equal to that of the pi