"Bridge Engineering Vols. 1 & 2" by J.A.L. Waddell

[question_asker]

Does anybody have a PDF or link to this classic text by Waddell? It was published in 1916 and is now public domain. I found this thread (below) on Eng Tips, but SlideRuleEra's site is no longer active. I, like many others on this site and in the engineering community, found great value in many of the resources provided on SRE's website and wish I had taken the time to download some of these references while they were available.

https://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=182268

 

[question_asker]

Well, looks like I should have done a little more investigating before posting. Both volumes of Bridge Engineering are available on Google Books, as well as many other of Waddell's publications. See link below. Sorry for the duplicate thread/post.

https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&hl=en&q=bridge+engineering+waddell

 

[BridgeSmith]

I'd be surprised if bridge engineering books from that long ago are still relevant today. Of course, the basic design principles remain, but the loading, materials, analysis tools, and the understanding of how the loads affect the structure have all changed significantly. Surely there are more modern texts that are more applicable to designing bridges today, or even analyzing and rating bridges of that era.

 

[bridgebuster]

If you work on older bridges the ancient texts come in handy, by shedding light on long list terms, understanding why certain things were done, etc. A few years ago I did a superstructure replacement of a 2 span bridge designed in 1940, the pier design was exactly what Waddell recommended. In the 80’d I worked with an old timer who had hard copies of both volumes. He guarded them something fierce. At the time he said he thought they were still relevant.

I enjoy reading Waddell’s work, very opinionsted at times but still a good read.

 

[question_asker]

BridgeSmith - Agree, reading more out of interest than utility. I enjoy the historical texts and learning how various items were handled before modern methods and computing power. I’m also interested in the non-technical writing about bridge engineer’s role and duty to society, especially in the context of the early 1900s.

BridgeBuster - very cool. I’ve worked on a few bridges from turn of the century and am always intrigued. If we’re lucky the plans are still intact and in good shape and are a joy to study.