The Town lattice truss : an appropriate bridge technology for developing countries

The Town lattice truss is proposed as an appropriate technology for the Tshumbe Diocese of the Democratic Republic of Congo. This proposal is made based on an understanding of rural transport and appropriate technology and an in-depth analysis of the details of the Town lattice truss. The nature and importance of rural transport and accessibility are presented, and bridges are identified as a key component in rural transport development. The concept of appropriate technology is presented along with a framework consisting of required and desired characteristics of any appropriate technology, including bridges. Structural materials are compared for use in bridges in rural areas of developing countries and timber is selected as the appropriate choice for the Tshumbe Diocese. Three existing timber bridges systems for developing countries are analyzed and compared, and the Town lattice truss is proposed as an alternative to all three. The Town lattice truss is presented and described in detail with reference to a study of forty existing bridges in the northeastern United States that was conducted as a part of this work. Appropriate characteristics of the truss are identified and used to compare the truss with other timber bridge systems. The wooden pegged connections and chord structure are identified as unique components of the Town lattice truss and are the subjects of further analysis. Equations are developed for strength prediction and stiffness estimation for the wooden pegged connections.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2010

Author dc:creator

• Radford, Todd C. (Todd Craig), 1977-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Jerome Joseph Connor, Jr.

• Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/57549

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/57549