Extreme structure development and the future.
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Author Archives : Roumen V. Mladjov, S.E., P.E.
Roumen Mladjov, S. E., P. E., Roumen’s main interests are structural and bridge development, structural performance, seismic resistance, efficiency, and economy. (rmladjov@gmail.com).
One of America’s greatest bridges, carrying the heaviest traffic in Northern California.
The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge (henceforth, Bay Bridge), completed November 12, 1936, during the Great Depression, remains one of the world’s greatest bridges. Together with its neighbor, the Golden Gate Bridge, it represents the culmination of more than 100 years of bridge engineering development in the US. After its opening, the bridge, which connects San Francisco and Oakland, soon became known as the “workhorse of Northern California,” carrying the heaviest traffic in the region. As part of Interstate 80, it remains the busiest traffic link in Northern California carrying on its two decks up to 280,000–300,000 vehicles per day, or more than 13,000 per peak hour.
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The most famous bridge in the world, a symbol of San Francisco and American ingenuity.
The Golden Gate Bridge is one of the world’s most famous and admired structures. Spanning the picturesque Golden Gate Strait north of San Francisco, the bridge transforms the strait into a more beautiful and dramatic setting. This unique site and its bridge are a graceful and majestic entry into the San Francisco Bay, a breathtaking sight welcoming vessels from all over the Pacific.
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Building taller, longer, stronger, and faster is one of humanity’s eternal aspirations. It is not by chance that the construction industry measures achievements by comparing the height of skyscrapers, the size of arenas, and the span of bridges.
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Development, Achievements, and Possibilities
Cable-stayed structures are the youngest, fastest-developing, and most promising bridge systems. …
The structural design of buildings and bridges is currently based on the Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) method. The main structural design philosophy is to maintain the factored resistance (the strength of the entire structure and all its elements) above the maximum demand from the worst possible combination of loads on the structure. The ratio of the strength to the demand represents the safety of the structure, where the nominal resistance is reduced by multiplying factors < 1.0, while the loads are increased by multiplying factors >1.0. These multipliers are the safety factors prescribed by the design codes and specifications for both building and bridge structures. For simplicity, all strength-reducing or load-demand-increasing factors are called safety factors in this article. …
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Upgrading Highway Bridge Infrastructure
There is general agreement that the country’s infrastructure is in critical condition. With available funding that pales in comparison to the amount needed, engineers working on infrastructure-related projects have a professional obligation to produce high-efficiency projects to ensure maximum impact is obtained from the available funding. …
To the engineers and builders of the amazing, elegant, and powerful structures commonly known as Great Bridges.
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Remarkable, Signature or Great Bridges?
Mankind has been building bridges since the time of early civilizations. Today, bridges are all around us – they provide easier, faster, and safer connections between two points. Bridges have evolved from merely utilitarian structures to become symbols of cities, countries, and human progress. …
The Role of Engineers, Architects, and Builders
Bridges are among the oldest structures used by mankind. From meeting purely utilitarian necessities, bridges have evolved with time to become symbols of human progress, of cities and entire countries. Among the thousands of bridges around us are the bridges that we all admire, the bridges that are the symbols of the eternal human aspiration for building longer and taller, stronger and faster. …
Part 2: A Study for Structural Efficiency and Economy in Construction
This article references several detailed Tables. Unfortunately, space constraints dictate not reprinting Table 1 from the May 2016 issue of STRUCTURE.
Efficiency and economy of structures are important parts of structural engineering. Efficiency and economy are not new ideas: engineers build many remarkable bridges and buildings under strict financial constraints. …