Loads
The amount of matter in a substance
Mass
The tall structure that cables are connected to in a suspension or cable stayed bridge.
Tower
A force that compacts or squeezes a material.
Compression
Truss bridge
The distance between two bridge supports
Span
A retaining wall supporting the ends of an arch bridge.
Abutment
A force that pulls on a material and stretches it apart.
Tension
This type of bridge is shaped on a curve with abutments at each end.
Arch bridge.
The weight of the structure itself as well as anything permanently attached to it..
Dead load
The roadway, or the pedestrian walkway surface of a bridge.
Deck
A force that acts on a material by twisting its ends in opposite directions.
Torsion
This type of bridge has 1 or more towers and cables run directly from the towers to the deck.
Cable-stayed bridge
The force of gravity exerted on a mass.
Weight.
The horizontal support on a bridge.
A beam
A force that bends or tears a material by pushing parts in opposite directions.
Shearing
This bridge has a rigid horizontal structure and a support on each end.
Beam bridge
The weight of movable objects such as people, furnishings, machines, and vehicles, on a structure.
Live load
A structure built to span physical obstacles without closing the way underneath such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle
A bridge
When a straight material becomes curved, one side squeezes together and the other side stretches apart.
Bending
A bridge that suspends the roadway by cables, ropes or chains from two tall towers and then anchored at both ends. This bridge is characterized by an M shaped cable pattern.
Suspension bridge.