Wing wall

A wing wall is a smaller wall attached or next to a larger wall or structure.

Bridges

In a bridge, the wing walls are adjacent to the abutments and act as retaining walls.They are generally constructed of the same material as those of abutments. The wing walls can either be attached to the abutment or be independent of it.[1]

The soil and fill supporting the roadway and approach embankment are retained by the wing walls, which can be at a right angle to the abument or splayed at different angles. The wing walls are generally constructed at the same time and of the same materials as the abuments.[2] Scour can be a problem for wing walls and abutments both, as the water in the stream erodes the supporting soil.[3]

Other uses

Wing walls can serve as buttresses to support walls.[4] They can also be purely decorative.[5]

References

  1. ^ "Wing Walls". David Childs Ltd.. http://www.childs-ceng.demon.co.uk/parts/wing.html. Retrieved February 1, 2009. 
  2. ^ Pierce, Phillip C.; Brungraber, Robert L.; Lichtenstein, Abba; Sabol, Scott; Morrell, J.J.; Lebow, S.T. (April 2005). "Covered Bridge Manual: Publication No. FHWA-HRT-04-098" (PDF). US Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center. http://www.tfhrc.gov/structur/pubs/04098/04098.pdf. Retrieved February 1, 2009. 
  3. ^ Melville, Bruce; van Ballegooy, Sjoerd; Coleman, Stephen; Barkdoll, Brian (2006). "Scour Countermeasures for Wing-Wall Abutments". Journal of Hydraulic Engineering 132 (6): 563–574. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9429(2006)132:6(563). http://cedb.asce.org/cgi/WWWdisplay.cgi?0603271. Retrieved February 1, 2009. 
  4. ^ Mahan, Dennis Hart (1873). Descriptive Geometry, as Applied to the Drawing of Fortification and Stereotomy. New York: John Wiley & Son. pp. 26–27. http://books.google.com/?id=1hV5FPHZWOwC&pg=PA27&dq=wing+wall+buttress. Retrieved February 1, 2009. 
  5. ^ "Two wing walls make all the difference". Sunset. January 1989. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1216/is_/ai_6925850. Retrieved February 1, 2009.