Structural Engineering Aspects: Brewery Wharf Bridge

BREWERY WHARF BRIDGE

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Introduction

A bridge refers to a structure that spans between anchors horizontally. Its primary purpose is to carry vertical loads. Spans are made as short as possible; long spans are used where proper foundations are scarce, for instance, over estuaries with deep water. Brewery Wharf is a 9600-meter square site that is bordered by a busy road and bridge on one side, a river on another one and lastly a construction site.

The Brewery Wharf Bridge was constructed in 1992 by Ove Arup and partners. Originally, it was built to connect the Leeds center to a new visitor’s center for the Tetley’s Brewery. This is a very appropriate showcase project example that demonstrates how an area can be rejuvenated to attract people. The bridge has brought an immense change as it draws both commercial and residential developments. This construction project was intended to link the north and south banks of the River Aire and act as a development catalyst to rejuvenate Brewery Wharf area. The construction’s location beside River Aire meant building on porous open textured gravel because water levels could rise at any time (Bullock, 2010).

Civil and or Structural Engineering Aspects

Brewery Wharf Bridge is a type of a suspension bridge. The bridge has cables suspended between towers, in addition to a vertical suspender cables that carry the weight of the deck below. This arrangement makes it easy for the deck to be level or to arc forward for additional clearance. This type of bridge is constructed without any form of false work. A suspension bridge carries loads in tension through curved cables. The loads are moved both to the towers, which move them by vertical compression to the ground, and to the anchorages, that must resist the inward pull of the cables and sometimes the vertical. The Brewery Wharf Bridge can be viewed as an upside-down arch that is in tension with towers in compression. The deck is hung in the air and because of this; care must be taken to ensure that the bridge doesn’t move excessively under loading. Therefore, the deck must be either stiff or heavy or both (Wai-Fah Chen, 2014).

The suspension cables of the Brewery Wharf Bridge are supported at each end of the bridge. This is because any weight exerted on the bridge is changed to a tension in these critical cables. The key cables continue beyond the pillars to ensure level support and continued connections with supports