Chapter 18, Problem 12P

You are watching a new bridge being built near your house. You notice during the construction that two concrete spans are placed end to end to form a span of length L_i. However, they are placed end to end so that no room is allowed for expansion (Fig. P18.11a). In the opening storyline for this chapter, we talked about buckling sidewalks. The same thing will happen with spans on bridges if allowance is not made for expansion (Fig. P18.11b). You want to warn the construction crew about this dangerous situation, so you calculate the height y to which the spans will rise when they buckle in response to a temperature increase of ΔT.