Bridge anchorage

A massive structure that secures a suspension bridge’s main cables and transfers their tensile pull into the ground or rock.

Suspension bridge: A bridge whose deck hangs from main cables supported by towers and secured at both ends. Its cable system creates the large horizontal pull that the anchorage must resist.
Tensile force: A pulling force that tends to stretch or separate a material or structural member. The main cable transmits tensile force directly into its anchorage.
Brooklyn Bridge: A New York City suspension bridge opened in 1883, crossing the East River between Manhattan and Brooklyn. Its masonry anchorages demonstrate the monumental form used for early long-span suspension bridges.
Earth anchorage: A cable anchoring system that transfers tension into a substantial soil or rock mass. It describes ground-based resistance as distinct from anchoring cables to the bridge deck.
Main cable: The principal tension member in a suspension bridge, carrying loads through its suspended shape to towers and anchorages. The anchorage receives the cable’s tensile force at its end.
Concrete: A composite construction material made by binding aggregates with cement and water. Massive concrete anchorages use their weight and geometry to resist cable pull.
Golden Gate Bridge: A suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate strait in San Francisco, opened in 1937. Its concrete anchorages secure the main cables at the bridge’s ends.
Gravity anchorage: An anchorage that resists cable pull chiefly through its mass and the friction or bearing it mobilizes. This is the classic massive-block solution for resisting a suspension bridge’s cable force.
Cable saddle: A shaped steel fitting that guides a suspension bridge’s main cable over a tower. It contrasts with the anchorage: the saddle redirects cable force at a tower rather than fixing its end.
Reinforced concrete: Concrete containing embedded steel reinforcement to improve its resistance to tensile and bending stresses. Reinforcement helps anchorage blocks withstand local stresses around cable anchorages.

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