Beam Bridge Weight Distribution The weight placed on a beam bridge is pressed directly downward, toward any underneath support, which makes the middle portion of the bridge the weakest. Beam bridges use vertical supports to secure the weight over longer distances.

They do it by carefully balancing two main kinds of forces called compression (a pushing or squeezing force, acting inward) and tension (a pulling or stretching force, acting outward), channeling the load (the total weight of the bridge and the things it carries) onto abutments (the supports at either side) and piers ( …

The prototypical bridge is quite simple—two supports holding up a beam—yet the engineering problems that must be overcome even in this simple form are inherent in every bridge: the supports must be strong enough to hold the structure up, and the span between supports must be strong enough to carry the loads.

7 Different Types of Bridges

• Arch Bridge.
• Beam Bridge.
• Cantilever Bridge.
• Suspension Bridge.
• Cable-Stayed Bridge.
• Tied-Arch Bridge.
• Truss Bridge.

truss bridge

arch bridge

suspension bridges

Triangles

The Triangle is one of the most solid geometrical shapes. But it points out also the weakest areas in hitting, locking, stances, moving and so on.

For larger structures, the lattice of a hexagon is stronger because it meets in pairs of 3, connected at 3 sides, bringing us back to the triangle thing. Materials engineer here. “Triangles” just in general are not the strongest shape.

hexagon

The circle ie the strongest shape because it maintains constantly pressure , There is no inherent leverage as all points are at a constant distance from each other. It depends on the stress applied: downward, it’s the triangle – torsional,it’s the circle.

We tried the experiment twice and both times found the circular column to be the strongest. This is because it doesn’t have any edges so the weight of the books is shared evenly by the circle. The square and triangle support the books on their edges and corners meaning they collapse.

The most efficient shape for both directions in 2D is a box (a square shell) however the most efficient shape for bending in any direction is a cylindrical shell or tube. But, for unidirectional bending, the I or wide flange beam is superior.

The cross section of the H beam is stronger than the cross section of the I beam, meaning it can bear a greater load.

An H beam has a thicker central web, which means that it is generally stronger. An I beam generally has a thinner central web, which means that it is often not able to receive as much force as an H beam.

Beams generally have thicker flanges and thinner webs, so pound for pound, beams generally make better beams than tubes do. If loaded as a column, the one with the largest cross section will be the strongest as long as you don’t get into buckling. If you are loading in torsion, generally the tube will be stronger.

I-Beam. . . . is the quintessential beam profile. The design is super strong in the vertical direction, yet has a uniform and equal response to other forces. It has the best strength to weight ratio (vertical) making it a great DIY beam profile — for Cranes, and for the main beams of big and/or long trailers.

The answer is round tube has a higher resistance to both flex and torsional twisting than square for a given weight. If you have a round hole, putting the maximum size round tube through it will be stronger than its’ square counterpart. However, if you have a square hole use square tube.

I-beams (or H-beams) are designed for maximum strength in bending. Square tubes are slightly stronger than an I or H in bending (assuming same wall thickness), are much stronger in torsion, and are heavier. Also, square tubes are a lot easier to weld to one another.

Rectangular tube is stronger than round tube in bending; round tube is stronger in torsion (twisting). Both are stronger than channel.

Due to a variety of factors, tubes are inherently stronger than pipes. This means that steel tubes perform better overall in applications that require durability and strength. While tubes come in a number of shapes, such as square, round and rectangular, pipes are always round in shape.

I beams are the choice shape for structural steel builds because of their high functionality. The shape of I beams makes them excellent for unidirectional bending parallel to the web. The horizontal flanges resist the bending movement, while the web resists the shear stress.

This bending is called buckling. Hence a better choice is to have a bar of I-shaped cross-section, as shown in figure (c). This section provides a large load bearing surface and enough depth to prevent bending. Also, this shape reduces the weight of the beam without sacrificing its strength and hence reduces of cost.

T-beam is simply rectangular beam cast monolithically with the slab. T-beam casting with slab as we know so Its flange takes compressive stress and that mean It will resist more sagging moment of beam. Depth of beam is reduced as compare to ordinary beam so better headroom advantage.

Basically, an I-beam is almost as strong as a solid beam, but, at about half the material and weight, is much cheaper and more efficient. The I-beam is much stronger by weight because it distributes a load through the webbing of the beam and is built to distribute a vertical load.