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Evaluation and Repair of Wrought Iron and - Purdue e-Pubs ...

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16This method <strong>of</strong> testing <strong>of</strong> structural elements worked well for this time period.Bridges typically were not designed by individual engineers, but rather were designed byan iron works company <strong>and</strong> then constructed. New methods in analyzing stresses <strong>and</strong>strains in structures were just being developed <strong>and</strong> not yet commonly used in engineeringpractice. Material behavior was also not yet fully understood.In 1847, the Stephenson’s bridge over the River Dee in Chester Engl<strong>and</strong> whichutilized cast iron beams, failed. This failure along with many other cast iron failuresresulted in an increase in materials testing <strong>and</strong> research. Many books like ExperimentalResearches on the Strength <strong>and</strong> other Properties <strong>of</strong> Cast <strong>Iron</strong> by Eaton Hodgkinson(1850) investigated cast irons’ material properties <strong>and</strong> determined that cast iron was notstrong in tension.By the 1860’s wrought iron <strong>and</strong> steel were being produced <strong>and</strong> commonly usedfor construction purposes. The material properties <strong>of</strong> these metals were extensivelyinvestigated. One source that encompassed all aspects <strong>of</strong> iron bridge construction is AComplete Treatise on Cast <strong>and</strong> <strong>Wrought</strong> <strong>Iron</strong> Bridge Construction by William Humber(1870). This source describes methods to analyze <strong>and</strong> design iron bridges. Importantly,a section on material properties is included. In this section Humber tested the strength <strong>of</strong>wrought iron from different manufacturers throughout the country.One <strong>of</strong> the most comprehensive sets <strong>of</strong> data acquired for the strength <strong>of</strong> wroughtiron was completed by David Kirkaldy while he worked at Robert Napier’s VulcanFoundry Works in Glasgow. During this time period, the company was using wroughtiron <strong>and</strong> steel to construct boilers <strong>and</strong> pressure vessels <strong>and</strong> was interested in ensuring thematerials used were strong enough <strong>and</strong> well understood. Between 1858 <strong>and</strong> 1861,Kirkaldy completed a series <strong>of</strong> tensile load tests <strong>of</strong> common metals used during this time.He published Results <strong>of</strong> an Experimental Inquiry into the Comparative Tensile Strength<strong>and</strong> other properties <strong>of</strong> various kinds <strong>of</strong> <strong>Wrought</strong>-<strong>Iron</strong> <strong>and</strong> Steel in 1862.

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