Introduction of Bridge Engineering

A bridge is a construction made for carrying the road traffic or other moving loads in order to pass through an obstacle or other constructions. The required passage may be for pedestrians, a road, a railway, a canal, a pipeline, etc. Obstacle can be rivers, valleys, sea channels, and other constructions, such as bridges themselves, buildings, railways, or roads, etc. Bridges are important structures in modern highway and railway transportation systems, and generally serving as “lifelines” in the social infrastructure systems. Bridge components (superstructure, bearing, substructure, etc.), bridges classification (e.g., according to materials of construction, span length, span type, deck location, usage, geometric shape, and structural form), and selection of bridge types are discussed in this chapter.