Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
Warren truss bridge
References
Images
Diagram showing three types of truss bridges-Pratt truss, Warren truss, and Petit or Pennsylvania truss-above a labeled illustration of a cantilever bridge with approach span, anchor arm, cantilever arm, and suspended span.
Britannica AI Icon

Warren truss bridge

engineering
Written by
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

The Information Architects maintain a master list of the topics included in the corpus of  Encyclopædia Britannica, and create and manage the relationships between them.
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Last updated

Quick Summary

Diagram showing three types of truss bridges-Pratt truss, Warren truss, and Petit or Pennsylvania truss-above a labeled illustration of a cantilever bridge with approach span, anchor arm, cantilever arm, and suspended span.
truss and cantilever bridges Three common types of truss bridges and an example of a cantilever bridge.

A Warren truss is a type of truss bridge that uses a series of isosceles triangles to connect upper and lower members. Truss bridges, in general, are popular in engineering because their triangular structure provides stability and allows them to support significant loads over large spans using minimal material.12

The individual components of a truss are primarily subjected to axial tension or compression. The top and bottom horizontal pieces are called chords, while the sloping and vertical pieces form the web of the truss. The Warren truss is distinguished by its web members, which alternate in their direction of slope. This design, along with others like the Pratt truss, became common with the shift from wood to iron and steel in bridge construction.32

Summary created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
4 Britannica Sources
  1. Warren girder
  2. truss bridge
  3. bridge - Timber truss bridges
  4. truss

Ask Britannica AI about this topic

Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.