Deployable Temporary Bridge Structure - Analysis and Design

The military is always in need of rapidly deployable bridges for gap crossing solutions during war times and for rescue operations of people affected by natural disasters. Due to the constant need for these systems, the bridges are mainly designed to be light enough for transportation, easily erectable and quickly dismantled. This book analyses a modular bridge using a material lighter than the commonly used ones. The Bridge chosen for analysis was the Bailey bridge. Since steel is the dominant material used in its construction, this book looks at a lighter material to analyse the bridge with the same geometry. Composite materials were selected as the material for analysis, which included a pultruded glass fibre unidirectional epoxy matrix. Both bridges were analysed using SAP2000 and the same dimensions. The end results showed that, when compared with the steel, the composite material used in analysing the footbridge is still not currently feasible in terms of the materials available and the quantity needed.