Description: Themes: Gustave Eiffel, James Eads, and Benjamin Baker as structural artists; Relationship between form and forces in a structure; Understanding the types of loads structures carry.

Learning Objectives: Students should be able to: Critique the design of a railroad bridge on the grounds on structural art - efficiency, economy and elegance; Trace the evolution of Eiffel's bridges from the Rouzat Bridge to the Pia Maria Bridge and finally the Garabit Viaduct, identifying the specific innovations of each design; Reason about the role of equilibrium and balance in a cantilever bridge and perform a calculation to relate different forces on the bridge; Identify the role of wind in the Firth of Tay disaster and its influence on the development of the Forth Bridge; and Outline the social, symbolic and scientific significance of the Garabit Viaduct and the Eads Bridge.

Keywords:  /*-->*/ iron, steel, masonry, Eiffel, Eads, horizontal cantilever bridge, arched bridge, equilibrium, compression, tension, Garabit Bridge, Pia Maria Bridge

Categories: Structural Engineering, Princeton University, Bridges