science

The Rolling Bridge

The Rolling Bridge is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand The Rolling Bridge rather than just read about it. In short: The Rolling Bridge is a kinetic sculpture, and a unique type of curling moveable bridge, completed in 2004 as part of the Grand Union Canal office and retail development project at Paddington Basin, London. The bridge is scheduled to open every Wednesday and Friday at noon, and every Saturday at 2 pm.

Key takeaways

The Rolling Bridge belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The Rolling Bridge to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The Rolling Bridge from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Rolling Bridge is a kinetic sculpture, and a unique type of curling moveable bridge, completed in 2004 as part of the Grand Union Canal office and retail development project at Paddington Basin, London. The bridge is scheduled to open every Wednesday and Friday at noon, and every Saturday at 2 pm.

Design

The Rolling Bridge was conceived by Thomas Heatherwick. It consists of eight triangular sections hinged at the walkway level and connected above by two-part links that can be collapsed towards the deck by hydraulic cylinders mounted vertically between the sections. When extended, it resembles a conventional steel and timber footbridge, and is 12 metres (39 ft) long. To retract the bridge, the hydraulic pistons are activated and the bridge curls up until its two ends join, to form an octagonal shape measuring one half of the waterway's width at that point. The bridge won the British Constructional Steelwork Association's British Structural Steel Design Award.

Disadvantages The Rolling Bridge could theoretically allow the passage of boats, but the small basin behind the bridge is not open to canal traffic – it is currently occupied by a fountain, and blocked by a steel barrier at surface level to prevent boats entering. It also has a very long cycle time, taking 2–3 minutes to finish moving in either direction, which compares unfavourably with traditional hand-operated canal footbridges and would cause delays on a waterway with frequent boat traffic. Finally, the detour around the open bridge is very short, so the crossing is arguably not required at all. Thus, the project is primarily public art rather than a practical structure for navigation. The high number of complex moving parts – fourteen hydraulic rams, numerous precision bearings, and an underground machinery chamber to provide the required oil pressure – can be seen as an example of overengineering, and has led to maintenance failures where the bridge is unable to move for significant periods of time. For these reasons, the design disregards established principles of architecture and civil engineering such as form follows function. A higher-profile water crossing in London also proposed by Heatherwick – the Garden Bridge – attracted significant criticism along similar lines for mainly targeting tourists as a novelty, rather than functioning as a practical water crossing.

"Rolling" as a name and as a type

Traditional use of the term "rolling bridge" dates from at least the Victorian era, and is used to describe a type of retractable drawbridge used to span a ditch or moat surrounding a fortification. That type of bridge is not hinged, and remains horizontal when it is rolled inside the gates of a fort. Modern versions are called retractable bridges or thrust bridges. One particular version of the rolling bridge type was known as the Guthrie rolling bridge, examples of which may still be seen at Fort Nelson, Portsmouth. Certain types of bascule bridges roll on an arc; an example is the Pegasus Bridge.

See also Merchant Square Footbridge List of bridges in London

References

External links Rolling Bridge by Sándor Kabai, the Wolfram Demonstrations Project Meccano model of Heatherwick's Rolling Bridge by Alan Wenbourne Simulation Rolling Bridge London, made FreeBasic by Xkrouhn

Illustrations

The Rolling Bridge: Bridge animation — Bridge animation

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The Rolling Bridge

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The Rolling Bridge claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The Rolling Bridge before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The Rolling Bridge ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The Rolling Bridge

In research: The Rolling Bridge appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The Rolling Bridge in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The Rolling Bridge is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2004 establishments in England, Bridges completed in 2004, English inventions, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The Rolling Bridge outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study The Rolling Bridge in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The Rolling Bridge means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain The Rolling Bridge out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The Rolling Bridge in simple terms?

Why does The Rolling Bridge matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The Rolling Bridge?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The Rolling Bridge.