Essay On Warren Truss

965 Words2 Pages

The Warren Truss design is a common design for real and model bridges. It’s exact history and origin is somewhat unclear. James Warren, in 1948, patented a model which many assigned the name Warren Truss. Warren’s patent was more about the technique of building rather than a model. Nevertheless, the Warren Truss has been around for some time and has been very prominent in bridge construction. Examples of this truss design can be found across the globe. A Warren truss has alternating compression and tension diagonals and, since all panel lengths and diagonals are of equal length creating a series of equilateral triangles, it is sometimes called an equilateral truss. It is sometimes called an isosceles or isometric truss when the panel lengths …show more content…

Their patent was based on trusses comparable to those that Alfred H. Neville built in France and were similar to an 1839 design by William Nash of England. Both well-known English engineers, Warren and Monzani set out to design a truss that could possibly be utilized as a through truss or a deck. In their original design, cast iron was implemented for the diagonal members and top chord and wrought iron links and bars were used for the lower chord portions. The cast iron members used for the top chord were coupled together with junction blocks made of cast iron, and the wrought iron members used for the diagonals and lower chord were joined with pins. Warren and Monzani’s configuration was rectangular. Even though, at the time, the process of calculating forces in truss members under fixed and fluctuating loads had been published in the United States, this method was not yet known in England. It wasn’t until W. B. Blood developed a process of analyzing triangular trusses in …show more content…

To test the load handling capabilities of the structure, two separate loads were applied independently. First, a standard brick with the dimensions of 3-5/8” x 2-1/4” x 8” and an approximate weight of 4.5 pounds was place on top of the structure to observe the effects. The structure was able to support this distributed load with ease, causing no visible bending, breaking, or failures. The brick was then removed before performing the second test. To perform the second test, the structure was suspended across two tables, with a string attached to the center of one side of the truss systems. The standard brick was then attached to the rope to create a vertical load. After carefully attaching the brick to the string, the structure began to bend before eventually failing, causing the structure to break in

Open Document