As the title states, how do wooden bridges hold the weight of trains?
I’m specifically speaking of steam locomotives in the late 1800s.
I know there is some sort of engineering involved, and I know there’s a lot of wooden beams and some sort of science behind the angles and supports but I just don’t get it and I would like to understand.
Thank you!
In: Engineering
It’s a misconception that wood isn’t strong. Wood has a very high specific strength (strength to weight ratio). Higher than steel. The main reason you see structures transitioning to other materials has more to do with cost/availability/longevity of other materials and that metals have a better ability to be formed into very efficient structures.
When it comes to designing structures it really just comes down to distributing the weight. It’s like walking on sand. You tend to walk with your feet flatter. Large quantities of large “thick” beams distribute the train weight. It’s pretty simple really. Doing it efficiently is harder though.
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