| A | B |
|---|
| Dead Load | Refers to the weight of the bridge itself. |
| Live Load | Refers to the weight of the traffic the bridge will carry. |
| Environmental Load | Refers to the other external forces, such as wind, weather, and possible earthquake action. |
| Beam Bridge | This bridges is basically a rigid horizontal structure that is resting on two supports, one at each end. |
| Arch Bridge | This bridges is a semicircular structure with abutments on each end. |
| Suspension Bridge | This is a bridge in which cables or ropes are strung across an obstacle, such as a river, and the deck is suspended from these cables. |
| Compression | A force that acts to compress or shorten the thing that it is acting upon. In other words it is a force that squeezes. |
| Tension | A force that acts to expand or lengthen the thing that it is acting upon. In other words it is a force that stretches. |
| Torsion | A twisting or rotational force. |
| Resonance | A vibration in an object caused by an external force that is in harmony with the natural vibration of that object. |
| Through Truss | In this type of truss bridge, the supporting trusses are placed above the roadway |
| Deck Truss | In this type of truss bridge, the supporting trusses are placed under the roadway |
| Dissipation | This is the spreading out of force or weight over a greater area so that no one area has to deal with a large amount. |
| Abutments | This is the part of an arch bridge that bears the weight or pressure of the arch. |
| Trusses | A pattern of triangles and additional beams used to spread the forces on a beam bridge. |
| Deck-stiffening truss | This is a truss that is added to the underside of a suspension bridges in order to increase the height of the deck so it can better resist twisting. |
| Load | Any force, such as weight, that affects a bridge. |
| Span | The distance between two bridge supports. These supports can be columns, towers or the walls of a canyon. |
| Dampeners | These are used to interrupt a resonance wave. They do this by vibrating in the opposite direction in order to stop the wave. |
| Weather | This is the hardest force on a bridge because it is unpredictable and never-ending. |
| Three major types of bridges | Beam, Arch and Suspension |
| Two categories of suspension bridges | Classic suspension (M-shaped) and Cable-stayed suspension (A-shaped) |
