General Information

Figure 1 shows a pedestrian suspended bridge.

Structural Concept

Figure 2 shows the bridge.

The girders (A, B, and C) have a length of approximately 2.5 m (deck width ≅ 1 m), and their bottom sides are directly connected to the walkway cables, which are made of steel wire ropes. Figure 3 shows a bottom view of the bridge.

The deck is placed over four stringers (1 to 4), which are connected to the girders by transverse beams and a single longitudinal beam located at the mid-width of the deck. The external stringers (1 and 4) are also connected to the girders by vertical members (two per girder). The longitudinal beam is made of a rusted H-section, while the remaining members are made of square hollow sections; they are connected by welding. Figure 4 shows the bridge entrance on shore 1.

The tower's columns (A and B) are made of H-sections of different heights (A is shorter than B), and their bases are embedded in RC. The walkway cables pass over the top end of column A and through two web holes on column B; they are anchored (on both shores) to ground-embedded anchor blocks. Figure 5 shows the opposite bridge entrance.

Column C is made of a wood log (ground-embedded base), and the walkway cable passes over its top end; column D is made of a living tree, and the walkway cable is connected to it by a vertical cable (steel wire rope). Figure 6 shows the connections between the walkway cable and the tree.

The vertical cable is looped around the trunk over a branch bark ridge and terminated with U-bolt clamps. The connections are of direct contact type (cable-to-cable and cable-to-tree). Figure 7 shows a schematic three-dimensional view of the bridge.

Alternative Variant

Figure 8 shows a schematic three-dimensional view of the bridge and a pony truss bridge variant made of steel.