Serway & Jewett — Temperature: Problem 11

You are watching a new bridge being built near your house. You notice during the construction that two concrete spans of the bridge of total length \(L_i = 250\text{ m}\) are placed end to end so that no room is allowed for expansion (Fig. P18.11a). In the opening story line 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 \(\Delta T = 20.0^\circ\text{C}\).