Segment arch bridge
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A segment arch bridge , also known as a flat arch bridge, is a bridge whose arches describe a segment of a circle with an angle of less than 180 °, i.e. the section of a circle whose diameter is larger than the clear width of the bridge. Segment arch bridges are therefore flatter than round arch bridges. The bridge type is defined by the arrow ratio , which relates the height of the arrow to the clearance. A working definition that is suitable for adequately distinguishing between semicircular arch bridges (180 ° or arrow ratio of 1: 2) is the classification from clear spans that are at least three times the height of the arrow (arrow ratio of 1: 3 and higher).
history
The oldest known examples of segment arch bridges come from the Roman Empire . Occasionally, the bridge type has also been found in China since the Sui dynasty . After the fall of the Roman Empire , the technical ability to build flat-span bridges in Europe was lost. It was not until the late Middle Ages that the flat arch re-emerged in bridge construction, starting in Italy , but quickly established itself alongside the pointed and round arches and reached new dimensions with spans of well over 40 m.
Some famous historical segment arch bridges
- Pier of Rhodes (Greece, Greek, 4th century BC)
- Ponte San Lorenzo (Padua) (Italy, Roman, about 30 B.C.)
- Trajan's Bridge ( Romania / Serbia , Roman, built around 105 AD by Apollodorus of Damascus )
- Puente de Alconétar ( Spain ), Roman, 2nd century AD
- Bridge at Limyra ( Turkey , Roman 3rd century AD)
- Makestos Bridge (Turkey, Roman, Late Antiquity )
- Anji Bridge (China, Sui Dynasty, ca 605 AD)
- Ponte Vecchio ( Florence , 1345)
- Ponte Scaligero ( Verona , 1356)
- Trezzo Bridge ( Trezzo sull'Adda , 1377)
- Rialto Bridge ( Venice , 1591)
- Meat Bridge ( Nuremberg , 1598)
Individual evidence
- ^ O'Connor (1993), p. 171
See also
literature
- Colin O'Connor: Roman Bridges , Cambridge University Press 1993, ISBN 0-521-39326-4 , p. 171