6. Innovative structural Design

The main form of innovative structural design in the Humber Bridge is the use of tensile steel cables which are bedded into the concrete anchorage at either side of the bridge, using 490,000 tonnes of reinforced concrete to secure the cables in order for them to support the bridge deck and cope with the loads presented by the bridge. The other main use of reinforced concrete is in the towers and foundations which support the spanning cables. These cope with the compressive forces of the cables pulling down on the bridge towers with the combined weight of the bridge deck (17,000 tonnes) and the cables (11,000 tonnes) creating a load in the cables of 19,400 tonnes being supported by the main concrete towers.

The tensile steel cables are made from 14,948 5mm thick steel cables which, if joined together end to end, would span 43,000 miles. Each individual cable is looped across the bridge four times, allowing these thin materials, when held together in the main cable, to span the distance of the bridge and be strong enough to withstand the load from the weight of the main deck. The tension in the cables is also supported by the bridge towers, helping to keep them upright as the cables pull with equal force on either side of the towers like a tent pole being held vertically by the tension in the tent fabric.

The use of a skeletal structure on the Humber Bridge also allows the utilisation of the space to allow for an uninterrupted road surface, as the structure surrounds the roadway and supports it by hanging it from the structure itself. This allows the road to be an uninterrupted space and function with ease, allowing maximum space for function without adding any extra elements to the structure which would have added materials and cost. This maximises efficiency and shows the Humber Bridge is a no-frills piece of infrastructure.

Using this direct led function of being a bridge across the estuary, the use of materials in the Humber Bridge is kept to the minimum of what is needed to keep the bridge functioning and no wastage was added to add aesthetical elements to the bridge. This, however, does not detract from its magnificence whilst keeping the cost of construction lower.