Wind Loads for 19th Century Bridges: Design Evolution, Historic Failures, and Modern Preservation
Publication: Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 21, Issue 2
Abstract
This paper presents an historical survey of the basis for design wind pressure used by and early century engineers. Events significant to the development of current wind design standards for pedestrian bridges are explored. These include 19th century treatments of wind load, a review of bridge disasters that spurred new thinking, and historical developments of today’s standards.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The writers would like to thank Frank Hatfield, professor emeritus, Michigan State University, Dennis Randolph of the Calhoun County (Michigan) Historic Bridge Park, Doug Fredericks of CH2M Hill, Sacramento, Calif., and Mark Hamouz of LONCO, Inc., Denver, Colo., for their assistance providing information for this paper. This paper is an outgrowth of ongoing research in historic bridge preservation at the University of Colorado at Denver.
References
American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO). (1928). Standard specifications for highway bridges and incidental structures, Washington, D.C.
American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO). (1931). Standard specifications for highway bridges, Washington, D.C.
American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO). (1935). Standard specifications for highway bridges, 2nd Ed., Washington, D.C.
American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO). (1941). Standard specifications for highway bridges, 3rd Ed., Washington, D.C.
American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO). (1953). Standard specifications for highway bridges, 6th Ed., Washington, D.C.
American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO). (1961). Standard specifications for highway bridges, 8th Ed., Washington, D.C.
American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO). (1965). Standard specifications for highway bridges, 9th Ed., Washington, D.C.
American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). (1977). Standard specifications for highway bridges, 12th Ed., Washington, D.C.
American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). (1992). Standard specifications for highway bridges, 15th Ed., Washington, D.C.
American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). (1997). Guide specifications for design of pedestrian bridges, Washington, D.C.
American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). (1998). AASHTO LRFD bridge design specifications—U.S. units, 2nd Ed., Washington, D.C.
ASCE. (2005). ASCE 7-05 minimum design loads for buildings and other structures, Reston, Va.
ASCE Task Committee on Wind Forces. (1961). “Wind forces on structures.” Transactions, Vol. 126, Part II, 1146, reprinted ASCE, 1972.
Cooper, T. (1905). “What wind pressure should be assumed in the design of long bridge spans?” Engineering News, January 5, 15–16.
Deans, J. S. (1893). Letter to Engineering News, New York, December 28, 518–520.
“Editorial.” (1905). Engineering News, Jan. 5, New York, 17.
Edwards, L. N. (1933). “The evolution of early American bridges.” American wooden bridges, Committee on History and Heritage of American Civil Engineering, ed., ASCE, New York, 1976, 161.
“The following bridge and trestle accidents are reported.” (1888). Engineering News, April 14, New York, 283.
Griggs, F. E. (1991). A biographical dictionary of American civil engineers, Vol. II, ASCE, New York, 108.
Griggs, F. E. (2002). “Squire Whipple—Father of Iron Bridges.” J. Bridge Eng., 7(3), 146–155.
Harmon, G. (2002). “Troubled bridge over water.” Daily Sentinel, February 1, Grand Junction, Colo.
Hatfield, F. J. (2001). “Engineering for rehabilitation of historic metal truss bridges.” Proc., 7th Historic Bridges Conf., Wilbur J. and Sara Ruth Watson Bridge Book Collection, Cleveland State Univ., Cleveland, 7.
Historic American Engineering Record (HAER). (1984). National Park Service, delineated by Long Hoeft Architects, HAER Call No. WVA, 35-WHEEL, Drawing 1.
Kemp, E. L. (1997). “Preserving the Wheeling Suspension Bridge.” 5th Historic Bridges Conf., Burgess and Nipple, Ltd., Columbus, Ohio, 4.
Kemp, E. L. (1999). “Charles Ellet, Jr. and the Wheeling Suspension Bridge.” Proc., Int. Conf. on Historic Bridges to Celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the Wheeling Suspension Bridge, West Virginia Press, Morgantown, W.Va., 15–31.
“King Iron Bridge.” (1880). Engineering News, New York, Nov. 13, VI.
Law, W. G. (1881). “On the pressure of wind upon a fixed plane surface.” Paper presented to Institution of Civil Engineers, London, Engineering News, October 8, 408.
“The Louisville and Jeffersonville Bridge disaster.” (1893). Engineering News, New York, Dec. 28, 517–520.
Petroski, H. (1995). Engineers of dreams, Vintage Books, New York, 76–77.
Rutz, F. R. (2004). “Lateral load paths in historic truss bridges.” Ph.D. thesis, Civil Engineering, Univ. of Colorado at Denver, 112–128.
Rutz, F. R., and Rens, K. L. (2004). “Alternate load paths in historic truss bridges: New approaches for preservation.” Proc., 2004 Structures Congress, G.E. Blandford, Structural Engineering Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers, ASCE, Reston, Va.
Rutz, F. R., Rens, K. L., Jacobson, V. R., Hamedian, S., Elias, K. M., and Swigert, W. B., (2006). Load paths in historic truss bridges, No. 2004-25, prepared for National Center for Preservation Technology and Training, Natchitoches, La., by Univ. of Colorado at Denver under Grant MT-2210-04-NC-12.
Scott, R. (2001). In the wake of Tacoma—Suspension bridges and the quest for aerodynamic stability, ASCE, Reston, Va., 3.
Simmons, D. A. (1985). “The risk of innovation: Ohio bridge patents in the 19th century.” Proc., 1 Historic Bridges Conf., Dept. of Civil Engineering of Ohio State Univ. and Historical Preservation Division, Ohio Historical Society, Columbus, Ohio, 125–129.
Smith, C. S. (1881). “Wind pressure upon bridges.” Engineering News, Oct. 1, 395.
“The Tay Bridge disaster.” (1880). Engineering News, New York, Jan. 3.
Turner, C. A. P. (1905). “Probable wind pressure involved in the wreck of the high bridge over the Mississippi River, on Smith Avenue, St. Paul, Minn., August 20th, 1904.” Transactions, ASCE, June, 31–50.
U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. (1924). “Standard specifications for highway bridges.” Dept. Bulletin No. 1259, Washington, D.C., 47.
Waddell, J. A. L. (1884). The designing of ordinary iron highway bridges, Wiley, New York, 6.
Waddell, J. A. L. (1898). De Pontibus, Wiley, New York, Plate VIII.
Waddell, J. A. L. (1916). Bridge engineering, Wiley, New York, 149–154.
Watson, S. R. (1975). “Civil engineering history gives valuable lessons.” Civ. Eng., ASCE, in special issue celebrating ASCE’s 125th anniversary. K.A. Godfrey, eds., New York, 1977, 14.
Whipple, S. (1847). A work on bridge building: Consisting of two essays, the one elementary and general, the other giving original plans, and practical details for iron and wooden bridges, H.H. Curtis, Printer, Utica, N.Y.
Whipple, S. (1872). An elementary and practical treatise on bridge building. An enlarged and improved edition of the authors original work, 2nd Ed., D. Van Nostrand, New York, 236–239.
Winpenny, T. R. (1992). “The rise and fall of the Phoenix Bridge Company.” Proc., Int. Historic Bridges Conf., Dept. of Civil Engineering, Ohio State Univ., and Historical Preservation Division, Ohio Historical Society, Columbus, Ohio, 61.
“Wreck of bridge over the Yellowstone River, Springdale, Mont.” (1894). Engineering News, New York, Jan. 11, 35.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2007 ASCE.
History
Received: Mar 23, 2006
Accepted: May 18, 2006
Published online: Apr 1, 2007
Published in print: Apr 2007
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.