Future trends in suspension bridges

To intelligently predict future trends of suspension bridges requires an understanding of the need for longer spans and demographics of suspension bridges in terms of population and span growth. The span length of both the classical catenary and the cable-stayed suspension bridge have been steadily increasing. This paper discusses the current dramatic increase in span lengths, technological limitations and future potential for overcoming these limitations. Currently, new materials and concepts are developing and emerging to further push out the boundaries of technological limitations to the achievement of new limits. As promising as emerging materials are in providing increased strength and reduction in weight, there is a price in the form of reduced stiffness. This will then require innovative structural solutions to overcome these problems. This paper evaluates these emerging materials and other concepts to enhance the range and capability of suspension bridges.