CIV 1164S Bridge Engineering

This is a graduate course dealing with modern topics in bridge design.

Topics are chosen in response to a growing need for bridges that offer not only low initial cost, but which are also durable, rapid to construct, and versatile in terms of the aesthetic possibilities they offer. The course focuses on the following types of bridge, which offer all of these benefits, yet which are not commonly used in Ontario:

1. Precast segmental bridges
2. Cast-in-place segmental bridges
3. Incrementally launched bridges
4. Rigid frame bridges
5. Arch bridges

Lectures present the fundamental principles underlying the design, detailing, and construction of these bridge types. Case studies of real bridges will be used to illustrate these principles, and to address a need for knowledge of completed works of bridge engineering. With this knowledge, graduates will be better able to make creative design decisions on their own as they enter practice.

This course is not intended to be a step-by-step introduction to the bridge code, nor is it intended to cover structural systems that are currently in widespread use in local bridge design practice. Rather, it is intended to give students access to a body of knowledge of state of the art structural systems, details, and methods of construction that have proven effective in other parts of the world and that hold promise as potential solutions to design challenges that will be faced by local bridge designers in coming years.

I have taught this course four times, in the fall term of 2003 and 2004, and in the winter term of 2006 and 2007.