Bridges presentation
the wide, deep, and fast-flowing Mississippi. While recovering from illness in France, the designer
James Buchanan Eads found the solution to sinking piers in deep water. He investigated a bridge
under construction over the Allier at Vichy that used Cubitt and Wright's pneumatic caissons -
floorless chambers filled with compressed air.
The first major bridge of steel in France was the Viaur Viaduct (1902), a three-hinged steel arch of
721ft (220m) flanked by 311ft (95m) cantilevers. The crowning achievement of the material during
the 19th century, however, was the mighty Forth Railway Bridge in Scotland (1890). Its design was
motivated by the Tay Bridge disaster. About 54,000 tons of Siemens-Martin open-hearth steel were
required for the 1710ft (521m) cantilever spans whose main compression struts of rolled steel plate
were riveted into 12ft (4m) diameter tubes. Another authority on the effects of wind on structures
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