Write a 6 pages paper on bridge design: truss systems. The design assumes that the members of the truss will come into action when any tension or compression is applied to the structure. Depending on

Write a 6 pages paper on bridge design: truss systems. The design assumes that the members of the truss will come into action when any tension or compression is applied to the structure. Depending on the buckling pressure and other static parameters, different units of the particular truss act under compression, while others do the same when the structure is under tension.

The history of truss bridges started in the United States using wood as the truss members due to the abundant availability of the same in various regions. While timber wood members were used for taking the compression, the iron rods served as members for taking the tension. Started in the 1820s, the United States witnessed the building of such truss bridges that included lattice truss bridges and other iron truss bridges. However, wrought iron replaced the timber in such trusses from 1870 to 1930. Thereafter the steel truss bridges that had greater resistance to rust started coming up, throughout America and other places in the world.

This type of truss is used mostly in most residential buildings. The boards and steel bars come together at the rooftop end to form an intersection, thus providing the required support to the rafters and rigidity to the roof. A V-shaped web supports the interior of the structure, as the same is formed as a single bar with arms going upwards to meet at an intersection at the top. While the Fink trusses can form up to 80 feet, a single truss can be made up to the length of 33 feet. A double truss of this type can go up to 54 feet. This type of truss has found wide use in railroad bridges, as the design was preferred for building bridges in Baltimore and Ohio, Western and Norfolk railroad used such truss systems in their bridges.

In the year 1852, Albert Fink, a railroad engineer designed the Fink truss system for a bridge. Thereafter, West Virginias saw the building of a bridge with this type of truss over the Monongahela River. The bridge had the largest span at the time in North America.&nbsp.