Academic Journal of Science and Technology 
ISSN: 2771-3032 | Vol. 2, No. 1, 2022 

 

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Review	on	the	Development	of	Truss	Bridges	
Qianrui Niu1, a 

1Design school, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, 215000, China 
aCorresponding Author’s Email: Qianrui.Niu20@student.xjtlu.edu.cn 

 

Abstract: Bridges will always be an important project on human beings’ development. The society is in continuous 
decelopment, and the construction never stop, thus, the demand for bridges has been increasing for thousands of years. The 
bridge which can take more loads whilst using less materials will replace old one. And then the truss structure and truss bridges 
gradually come into public’s view. For the special triangle structure applied on them, the truss structure and truss bridges become 
of vital important in engineering, using the truss structure on the bridges which have long span can save a lot of money, and 
because of its special triangle structure, truss bridges can get the same or even more intensity than other bridges in different 
material. And the development of the truss can be tracked back to the simple wood structure, whilst the current truss bridges use 
some new materials such as shape memory alloys and modified reinforced concrete. The current study gives an overview on the 
development history about truss bridges in all ages from China to the world, and will discuss the alternative from material to the 
structure. 

Keywords: Truss bridge, Forth railway bridge, Whipper truss, Howe truss, New materials. 
 

1. Introduction 
In the past time, some people considered the truss bridge as 

a kind of bridge, in fact, it cannot call a bridge type, it is a 
combination of many different kinds of members. Truss 
bridges basically use the truss structure, which all the 
members in the structure are hinged together. So that all the 
members formed many triangles, and it is well-known that the 
triangles are the most stable construction in the 2-D structure. 
The shear force does not act on the members, this special 
structure transferred the shear force, the stress and the 
bending moment, which is the most common status into the 
simple axial tension and compression forces. And because of 
this special construction, compare different structures in the 
same length, truss bridges can take more tension and 
compression, so it can realize a greater bending strength. 
Whilst bridges in different constructions have the same length, 
the truss bridges will save more materials. 

The evolution of truss bridge change from changing 
structure or the materials to makes the bridges more 
intelligent, such as set up the supervisory instrument to 
monitor the parameter change, thereby obtaining the fatigue 
and the depletion information of the truss bridges, for that can 
simplified the process when engineers working on it. The 
development direction gradually changes from making the 
bridge safer, to making the bridge convenient for pedestrians 
and easier to take care and get maintenance at the same time, 
which can extend the life cycle and then let the building 
materials to get more effective use. 

The first truss structure can be traced back to the 16th 
century, which is invented by an Italian architecture Palladio, 
and during that time he begin to use the woods to make truss 
bridges [1], and that was the earliest truss maintained by the 
whole text, then it occurred the burr truss and Town truss, 
whilst the Town truss cannot count as a standard truss 
structure at present. Then the bridges in the Europe and USA 
experienced a time that change from the simple triangle 
derive the truss bridges combine with different constitute, and 
finally come back to the simple triangle structure. The bridges 
which suffered the checkout by the time can survive finally. 

The first Chinese truss bridge appeared during late Qing 
dynasty, it was founded by woods, called the Old bridge in the 
past time, but it was destroyed in 1887, now it has been 
renamed as Huiai bridge. After establishing the state, the 
demand for the construction in China got a large increase. 
Science experienced ‘epigone’ to ‘contestant’ and finally the 
“leader”, the quantity and quality of the bridges both leapt a 
lot [2]. Then the trend of designing the truss bridges has begun, 
and more kind of signature truss bridges occurred in the last 
few decades. 

Studying the changes in structure and materials of truss 
Bridges from ancient to modern times can tell us what 
measures architects have taken to enable them to achieve the 
same or even better function due to changes in climate, loads, 
natural disasters, etc. Through understanding these 
knowledges, we can improve the existing truss bridge, 
considering a variety of factors, under the premise of saving 
materials and ensuring safety, make its function more perfect, 
more intelligent. 

2. Material and Structural Renewal 

2.1. The Development of Truss Bridges’ 
Material 

Before 18th century, the material used for building bridges 
always the one that from the nature, such as the stones and 
woods, because those kinds of material have abundant 
resources in the nature, meanwhile, these materials are easy 
to process and transport, such points are the advantages 
during the time when the technology had not developed. After 
The first industrial Revolution, with the rapid development of 
metallurgy and the demands for the railway and the bridges 
grow rapidly, the age which using woods and stones replaced 
by the iron, which is lighter and have higher strength. 

The most primitive truss bridge was made of woods, it was 
designed by an Italian architect Andrea Palladio. According 
to Heyman, the Cismone was the raging river which will meet 
the Brenta, every year some piers of the bridge on that river 
will be carried away by the foods [1]. And because of that, 
Palladio improved the truss structure used to making roof of 



 

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the church and built such a bridge which existed for about 50 
years. This single span bridge got 100feet in length, all the 
members on that got 300 x 225mm, but in structure it is not a 
simple truss, in fact, it is a composite which combined the 
truss and other frame structures.  

The material changed of truss bridge changed from woods 
to the iron profits by 2 vital developments of technology. In 
1709, Abraham Darby successfully improved the inner 
diameter of blast furnace to let it fitter to the coke, the set up 
a new blower, finally found out the new method to fix the 
problem that the coke inadequate combustion, and further 
solved the fuel shortage. Meanwhile, in 1754, the UK found 
the first still mill, it boosted the efficiency of processing the 
iron. After many years, in 1840, Whipper designed his first 
bowstring iron truss bridge, and got the patent [3], in his 
patent, he claimed that this kind of truss bridge can be built to 
connect the wood floor, and have enough standability, there is 
no need to depend on the other materials such as stones and 
the woods. And the method of joints had been invented by 
him, which is still in use nowadays. Finally, The Whipple iron 
arch Truss Bridge had been found in 1869, the whole bridge 
all made by the cast iron and the wrought iron, which has the 
span of 33.5m, and 7m in width. The appearance of that 
bridge marked the building material of bridge changed from 
the time of wood to the age of the iron. 

Nevertheless, the emergence of the Forth railway bridge 
heralding the beginning of using the stell as bridge material, 
and the cast iron bridge fading away from the public’s sight. 
An engineer named Thomas Bouch once undertook the 
designing of booth the Tay Bridge and the Forth bridge. Nine 
years before the Forth bridge completed, a terrible catastrophe 
just happened, the Tay bridge over the firth just toppled down, 
and caused an accident which took a train with 73 people into 
the roaring waves during a storm day [4]. There are three main 
reasons why the longest bridge that time collapsed. The initial 
one is the bridge is made by the cast iron and the wrought iron, 
the tensile strength for the cast iron is smaller than the 
wrought iron, and the combination of the two materials did 
not appropriate which increase the fragility of the structure. 
In addition, the most important thing is about the profit, to the 
cost saving, the designed structure had been changed. Other 
statement said that it is about the wind force, because the 
technology did not enough, the actual wind force act on the 
bridge is far higher than the designed force. After the Tay 
bridge collapsed, Bouch had been removed from building the 
Forth bridge, shortly after that, he passed away and took 
placed by Benjamin Baker and John Fowler. They aimed at 
using new technology and materials to connect the two coasts, 
and make the main railway straight from Aberdeen to 
Edinburgh [4]. The engineers abandoned the ‘Aesthetics is the 
initial’ to the ‘function is the first’. Compared with other huge 
buildings at the same time, the Forth used the low carbon stell 
as the material, which has a medium tensile strength and the 
tenacity, and the design philosophy take the reference of the 
Chinese Magpie nests bridge.  

Finally, it had been finished at 1888, include 2 main spans, 
2 side spans and 2 approach Bridges with 15 spans. The main 
body of the three bridge towers 110 meters high, supported by 
granite piers. Each tower has two arms, each of them got 207 
meters long. The arms that form the main span are butted with 
107 meters long hanging beams, making the span 521 meters. 
It was the longest span bridge in the world, the record of it 
never be broken until the completed of Quebec Bridge in 1919. 
With the king driving the gold nail into the bridge in 1890, the 

Forth bridge officially welcomed the open to the traffic, until 
today it still be in used. As Pinsdorf conclude, the catastrophes 
not just remain the great problems, in fact, it led to the myth 
and the way of thinking about questions [5]. If the tragedy of 
the Tay bridge never happened, then the appearance of this 
magnificent Forth truss bridge will become impossible, for it 
have tightest conception and had been overengineered, and 
the age that the building material of bridge developed from 
iron to the steel would be delayed years no one knows. It is 
commonly said that the rapid development of the bridge 
engineering in USA was started by the rise of the railway, 
using steel and use of theoretical mechanics to guide the 
bridge design marked the bridge construction turn to the 
modern time. And it can be explained the Forth bridge 
witnessed the bridge engineering transition from modern to 
contemporary era.  

After 7 years, a Chinese politician Hongzhang Li visited 
the UK and this bridge, he wanted to build a similar in China. 
Afterwards, Tianyou Zhan suggested a scheme of Wuhan 
Yangtze River Bridge, and the blueprint of that was imitate 
the Forth bridge.  

2.2. The Development of Truss Bridges’ 
Structure 

The most primitive bridge is the single-plank bridge, which 
is a kind of beam bridge, the earliest possible date can be trace 
bank to the 1300 BC, which is the Yin dynasty of China. If 
people want to across some deep river or the valley, make pier 
under the bridge seems not possible, then the principle of 
triangle stability applied on the roof was discovered and 
applied on the bridges. According to the life experience, the 
ancients add a single column or two columns under the bridge, 
it was now called the King post truss and Queen post truss, 
and these two trusses structure were the fundamental types of 
trusses, other types all change based on these. 

The two basic trusses mentioned above do not have big 
alter before 19th century, as the American historical 
engineering records collection of summarized truss structure 
forms, there only exists two kinds of trusses, the Burr truss 
and the Town truss. As Knapp announced that the earliest Burr 
truss bridge was founded in 1804 across the Hudson River by 
Theodore Burr [6]. This bridge is an arch truss bridge with the 
combination of 3 arch trusses. It was covered 10 years after 
built, if the fire not burnt it in 1909, it may exist for a longer 
time. For the burr truss possess the prototype of the modern 
type, Theodore Burr is known as ‘the father of the USA truss 
bridge’. 

Benefit from the first industrial Revolution, the years 
around 1850s was the golden age of the bridges, during this 
time, Howe truss and Fink truss are invented. Howe used cast 
iron replaced the timber for the truss vertical rods, simplifying 
the complex mortise connections at the joints, meanwhile, it 
improved the life of the truss bridges. In addition, threaded 
rods were used in Howe, and two sides of it use the nut to fix, 
that makes the member adjustable, so the deformation of the 
truss can be recovered. Because of that, Howe truss is 
acknowledged as the crowning achievement of wooden truss. 

Moreover, the truss bridge used most commonly in 
contemporary era would be the triangle truss, also known as 
Warren truss after 2003. As Guise mentioned that this kind of 
repetitive triangles truss structure initially used by Italian, and 
finally spread to England [7]. In 1848, James Warren gained 
the paten in England, for the construction of this bridge firstly 
used in England, the Warren truss was become the synonym 



 

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of this type of the multiple triangles truss. And in 1851, 
Newark Dyke bridge with 77 meters in length and 11,25 
meters in width had been used to carry the railway trucks. 

2.3. The Truss Bridges in The Future 
In recent years, scholars have been working on using new 

materials for all kinds of buildings. In terms of truss bridge, 
new materials such as steel tube truss bridge, steel - concrete 
truss bridge have been researched. As this kind of truss 
combined the good points of both the steel truss bridge and 
concrete bridges [8]. Compared with general steel truss 
bridges, this kind of truss have stronger stiffness. Beside that, 
the building debris can be recycled and travel into the building 
process of other constructions. With the age that the train 
transportation still occupied a lot, using this structure can 
reduce the cost and have longer life circle. 

3. Conclusion 
In summary, the development of truss bridges has a long 

history, the material from the timber gradually replaced by the 
steel, and in the recent few years, scientists and other scholars 
still working on excogitate the new materials and structure to 
make the truss take more loads and save money at the same 
time. During the 19th century, the bridges and the truss bridges 
into a stage which booming growth, that is because the two 
times of the industrial revolution brought the abundant 
demand for the railways, the material have higher strength 

improve continuously, and engineers become more 
professional, they do not use the life experience as the 
reference to building the structures, they using more scientific 
method to design.  

References 
[1] Heyman J. (2000). Palladio’s wooden bridges. Architectural 

Research Quarterly. 4(1):81–5. 

[2] Zhou, X., & Zhang, X. (2019). Thoughts on the 
development of Bridge Technology in China. Engineering, 5(6), 
1120–1130. 

[3] Griggs, F. E. (2002). Squire Whipple—father of iron bridges. 
Journal of Bridge Engineering, 7(3), 146–155. 

[4] Hudson R. (2016) Forth Railway Bridge, 1888. History Today. 
66(3): 28–9. 

[5] Pinsdorf MK. (1998) Engineering Dreams into Disaster: 
History of the Tay Bridge. Railroad History.; (179):88–116. 

[6] Knapp RG. (2021) In search of America’s old covered bridges. 
Built Heritage. 5(1). 

[7] Guise D. (2006) The Evolution of the Warren, or Triangular, 
Truss. IA The Journal of the Society for Industrial Archeology. 
32(2): 23–40. 

[8] Tan, Y., Zhu, B., Qi, L., Yan, T., Wan, T., & Yang, W. 
(2020). Mechanical behavior and failure mode of steel–
concrete connection joints in a hybrid truss bridge: 
Experimental investigation. Materials, 13(11), 2549.