Engineering of bridges: Design assumptions and practice

Bridges are crucial to societal development and are normally major capital projects.

Many factors influence bridge construction – engineers must make assumptions in order to design these key structures to the client’s remit. The assumptions usually feature factors of safety, cumulative use of the bridge over time and the type of use the bridge will be subject to, among many other points of detail.

This lecture will explore some of the more notable assumptions made in the design of bridges and review the attempts to foretell the future by the engineers of the past.