Bridge Vocabulary

5. A beam fabricated by riveting or welding steel plates together, often used as the main load-bearing element in bridges.
9. The science that studies the movement of air and how it interacts with solid objects, like a bridge deck.
13. The side-to-side and rotational movement of a bridge deck, often caused by wind.
14. The distance between two intermediate supports or the distance covered by a single bridge section.
17. The unsteady separation of airflow creating swirling eddies, which can cause lateral bridge motion, famously affecting the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.
18. A long projecting beam or structure anchored at only one end, used to support a bridge deck.

1. A temporary wooden framework used to support the stones of an arch or dome while it is being built.
2. A vertical support structure, often in the middle of a river, that holds up the bridge superstructure.
3. The simplest and oldest type of bridge, essentially a rigid horizontal structure supported at its ends
4. A rigid framework, usually below the deck of a suspension bridge, added to resist bending and twisting.
6. A type of bridge where the deck hangs from vertical cables, which are themselves supported by large main cables slung between towers.
7. A type of bridge where the deck is directly supported by cables running from one or more towers.
8. The specific rate at which an object will vibrate if disturbed and allowed to oscillate freely.
10. A bridge built with projecting structures that are supported at one end and carry the span between them.
11. A bridge whose main support structure is a framework of interconnected triangles.
12. A phenomenon where an external force matching an object's intrinsic frequency causes dangerously large vibrations.
15. A repetitive motion, back and forth or up and down, around a central point.
16. A bridge that is shaped like a curved support, transferring the load outward to the abutments on either side