GENERAL: More on the Bridge Structure Question...

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From: jporter@xxxxxx (John Porter)
Newsgroups: alt.architecture
Subject: Re: A good book.
Date: 16 Sep 1993 21:15:33 GMT
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N John Tsuchiya (tsuchiya@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) wrote:
: Here is an interesting fact which would seem like a paradox to most
: people (a magic trick, if you will...):

: In a large tensile structure (such as a bridge),
: if you increase the tensile strength of the
: material that the sturcture is made of,
: you will WEAKEN the total strength of the structure!

I'll bite. I can imagine that increasing the modulus of elasticity
would tend to weaken the structure because it would reduce its
ability to even out the stresses, but I can't see how a structure
(presumably designed to keep everything below the elastic limit)
would even "know" what the tensile strength of its members were. Does
this imply that if by some magic wand the tensile strength of a
bridge's parts were suddenly increased to infinity then it would
collapse into a pile of dust?
--
John Porter
jporter@xxxxxx
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