Buoyant Deck Bridge With Tensile Support
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing solutions for traversing wetlands and water bodies with heavy equipment face challenges due to lack of hard-packed surfaces, leading to equipment sinking or losing traction, and often require durable and costly infrastructure that may disrupt fragile ecosystems.
Innovation Solution
A bridge system utilizing a deck with selected density for buoyancy and a tensile support system anchored to towers, combining buoyancy and tension to maintain a deck at a desired elevation above the hydrological surface, allowing for safe passage of heavy equipment and reducing the need for excessive material strength or buoyancy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional bridges or access mats are used to cross wetlands and water bodies, then heavy equipment can traverse the terrain, but the infrastructure requires excessive material strength and buoyancy, increasing cost and environmental impact
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the physical parameters of the deck by selecting specific density values (less than 1.0 g/cm³ for buoyancy) and combines this with tensile support members. This parameter change allows the deck to achieve sufficient load-bearing capacity with reduced material quantity, as the tensile members compensate for the lighter deck construction.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention creates a composite system combining a buoyant deck (with density less than water) and tensile support members (cables or chains). This composite approach allows the structure to achieve both buoyancy and tensile strength, reducing the need for excessive material in either component while maintaining reliability for heavy load support.
2Quantity of substance
If the deck density is reduced to improve buoyancy, then material requirements decrease, but the deck requires additional tensile support to maintain elevation and structural integrity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies buoyancy as a counterweight to gravity. By selecting deck materials with density less than 1.0 g/cm³, the deck itself provides upward buoyant force that counteracts the downward gravitational force, reducing the need for additional heavy support structures while maintaining structural integrity and elevation.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention optimizes the density parameter of the deck material to achieve the right balance between buoyancy and structural strength. By carefully selecting density values (0.5-0.9 g/cm³), the system achieves sufficient buoyancy to reduce material requirements while maintaining enough mass to provide structural integrity when combined with tensile support.
3Reliability
If the deck is positioned at higher elevation above water to improve safety and stability, then load-bearing capacity increases, but more buoyancy and tension are required to maintain this elevation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent optimizes the deck density parameter to achieve the desired elevation without excessive force requirements. By selecting specific density values (less than 1.0 g/cm³), the system achieves the target elevation through optimized buoyancy while requiring reasonable tensile forces from support members, creating an efficient balance between stability and force requirements.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The bridge system effectively supports heavy loads across wetlands and water bodies with reduced material requirements, minimizing environmental impact and cost, while maintaining structural integrity and ecosystem preservation.
Implementation Method 1
A deck with a density selected to provide buoyancy in the hydrological surface feature is positioned between the first and second locations
Implementation Method 2
Cable or a similar tensile support member extends between the tower and the deck. The support member is connected with the deck from above and is in tension to support the deck
Data Source
AI summary
A bridge and method of installing the bridge for spanning a hydrological surface feature. The bridge includes a deck spanning the hydrological surface feature, at least one tower, and a tensile support system connecting the deck with the tower under tension to provide a tensile force for supporting the deck. A density and surface area of the deck, and the tensile force provided by the tensile support system, are selected to facilitate flotation of the deck on the hydrological feature with a top surface of the deck at a selected elevation above a surface the hydrological surface feature while supporting a selected load and while the deck is supported by the tensile force.