A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually something that is otherwise difficult or impossible to cross. There are many different designs of bridges, each serving a particular purpose and applicable to different situations. Designs of bridges vary depending on factors such as the function of the bridge, the nature of the terrain where the bridge is constructed and anchored, the material used to make it, and the funds available to build it.
Software architecture is the set of structures needed to reason about a software system and the discipline of creating such structures and systems. Each structure comprises software elements, relations among them, and properties of both elements and relations.
Rebar, known when massed as reinforcing steel or steel reinforcement, is a tension device added to concrete to form reinforced concrete and reinforced masonry structures to strengthen and aid the concrete under tension. Concrete is strong under compression, but has low tensile strength. Rebar usually consists of steel bars which significantly increase the tensile strength of the structure. Rebar surfaces feature a continuous series of ribs, lugs or indentations to promote a better bond with the concrete and reduce the risk of slippage.
In engineering, a requirement is a condition that must be satisfied for the output of a work effort to be acceptable. It is an explicit, objective, clear and often quantitative description of a condition to be satisfied by a material, design, product, or service.
In engineering, a foundation is the element of a structure which connects it to the ground or more rarely, water, transferring loads from the structure to the ground. Foundations are generally considered either shallow or deep. Foundation engineering is the application of soil mechanics and rock mechanics in the design of foundation elements of structures.
Prestressed concrete is a form of concrete used in construction. It is substantially "prestressed" (compressed) during production, in a manner that strengthens it against tensile forces which will exist when in service. It was patented by Eugène Freyssinet in 1928.
A culvert is a structure that channels water past an obstacle or to a subterranean waterway. Typically embedded so as to be surrounded by soil, a culvert may be made from a pipe, reinforced concrete or other material. In the United Kingdom, the word can also be used for a longer artificially buried watercourse.
A box girder bridge, or box section bridge, is a bridge in which the main beams comprise girders in the shape of a hollow box. The box girder normally comprises prestressed concrete, structural steel, or a composite of steel and reinforced concrete. The box is typically rectangular or trapezoidal in cross-section. Box girder bridges are commonly used for highway flyovers and for modern elevated structures of light rail transport. Although the box girder bridge is normally a form of beam bridge, box girders may also be used on cable-stayed and other bridges.
The decision-matrix method, also Pugh method or Pugh concept selection, invented by Stuart Pugh, is a qualitative technique used to rank the multi-dimensional options of an option set. It is frequently used in engineering for making design decisions but can also be used to rank investment options, vendor options, product options or any other set of multidimensional entities.
A specification often refers to a set of documented requirements to be satisfied by a material, design, product, or service. A specification is often a type of technical standard.
The Highlands–Sea Bright Bridge is a bridge connecting Highlands, New Jersey in the west to Sea Bright, New Jersey in the east, across the Shrewsbury River. The eastern terminus is at the entrance to Sandy Hook. The span is part of Route 36.
In the Eurocode series of European standards (EN) related to construction, Eurocode 2: Design of concrete structures specifies technical rules for the design of concrete, reinforced concrete and prestressed concrete structures, using the limit state design philosophy. It was approved by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) on 16 April 2004 to enable designers across Europe to practice in any country that adopts the code.
Value-driven design (VDD) is a systems engineering strategy based on microeconomics which enables multidisciplinary design optimization. Value-driven design is being developed by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, through a program committee of government, industry and academic representatives. In parallel, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has promulgated an identical strategy, calling it value-centric design, on the F6 Program. At this point, the terms value-driven design and value-centric design are interchangeable. The essence of these strategies is that design choices are made to maximize system value rather than to meet performance requirements.
IDEF6 or Integrated Definition for Design Rationale Capture is a method to facilitate the acquisition, representation, and manipulation of the design rationale used in the development of enterprise systems. This method, that wants to define the motives that drive the decision-making process, is still in development. Rationale is the reason, justification, underlying motivation, or excuse that moved the designer to select a particular strategy or design feature. More simply, rationale is interpreted as the answer to the question, “Why is this design being done in this manner?” Most design methods focus on what the design is.
Geoprofessions is a term coined by the Geoprofessional Business Association to connote various technical disciplines that involve engineering, earth and environmental services applied to below-ground ("subsurface"), ground-surface, and ground-surface-connected conditions, structures, or formations. The principal disciplines include, as major categories:
Business requirements, also known as stakeholder requirements specifications (StRS), describe the characteristics of a proposed system from the viewpoint of the system's end user like a CONOPS. Products, systems, software, and processes are ways of how to deliver, satisfy, or meet business requirements. Consequently, business requirements are often discussed in the context of developing or procuring software or other systems.
Certain works of structural engineering design are also works of structural art. Such works can be classified as structural art when they attain excellence in the three areas of efficiency, economy, and elegance, as defined by Prof. David P. Billington of Princeton University. A key part of the concept of structural art is that the structural engineer making the design must exercise his or her creativity and playfulness to create an elegant structure within the constraints imposed by engineering requirements. These constraints include the safety and serviceability of the structure. Therefore, a structure cannot be a successful work of structural art without also being a successful work of structural engineering design, yet many works of structural engineering design that are safe and serviceable do not rise to the level of structural art because they fail to be economical, efficient, or elegant. Structural art is a topic of active scholarly research at several universities in the United States, including Princeton University, Tufts University, Bucknell University, University of Massachusetts Amherst, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Roger Williams University, and in other parts of the world such as Spain and Germany. While structural artists often collaborate with architects, the discipline of structural art is based upon engineering rather than architectural design. A recent summary about this topic can be found in a review paper.
Lockyer Creek Railway Bridge (Lockyer) is a heritage-listed railway bridge on the Toowoomba–Helidon railway line over Lockyer Creek at Lockyer, Lockyer Valley Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by William Pagan and built from 1909 to 1910. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.
This glossary of structural engineering terms pertains specifically to structural engineering and its sub-disciplines. Please see Glossary of engineering for a broad overview of the major concepts of engineering.
Humphery Railway Bridge is a heritage-listed railway bridge on the Mungar to Monto railway line at Humphery, North Burnett Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by William Pagan and built in 1913. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.
