what determines the distancea beam bridge can span
Beam bridge Beam bridges are often only used for relatively short distances because, unlike truss bridges, they have no built in supports. The only supports are provided by piers. The farther apart its supports, the weaker a beam bridge gets. As a result, beam bridges rarely span more than 250 feet (80Â m). This doesn't mean beam bridges aren't used to cross great distances, it only means that a series of beam bridges must be joined together, creating what's known as a continuous span.
Tacoma Narrows Bridge (1940) The bridge's collapse had a lasting effect on science and engineering. In many physics textbooks, the event is presented as an example of elementary forced resonance; the bridge collapsed because normal speed winds produced aeroelastic flutter that matched the bridge's natural frequency.[1] The collapse boosted research into bridge aerodynamics-aeroelastics, which has influenced the designs of all later long-span bridges.