How do you design a low cost bridge?

Question

Is there a website that gives tutorials on this? Back in school, we were only taught about moving loads, influence diagrams but we were never made to design a bridge.

Answer 1

One way... design a bridge that has to span only a very short distance and carry only a very small load and last only once. A rope tied between two trees provides a low cost bridge.



It is all about defining the requirements and optimizing the design to just meet all those requirements. And... since you are talking about cost, what factors do you consider in determining the cost? Is it only the material, does it include labor, is the cost amortized over the life of the bridge, will the bridge need frequent maintenance because it is near the ocean or because it has to survive summer/winter temperature extremes, does it include costs of removing and disposing of the bridge when it gets replaced?

Answer 2

Bridge design is a huge topic as indicated by the fact that there is a 15 volume design manual. One can also search for ideas by doing a web search. The links below may help you in your search. In addition the West Point bridge program is good and helps by doing finite element analysis on a bridge you design.

Answer 3

Have you heard of the west point bridge builder? It lets you design bridges and estimates the cost. They have a challenge every year and a large sum of money if you win. Let me tell you though, the people in this challenge write large software programs to run simulations to find the cheapest bridge.