Dictionary:
tres·tle (trĕs'əl)  |
[Middle English trestel, from Old French, alteration of Vulgar Latin *trāstellum, trānstellum, diminutive of Latin trānstrum, beam. See transom.]
| 5min Related Video: trestle |
| Sci-Tech Encyclopedia: Trestle |
A succession of towers of steel, timber, or reinforced concrete supporting the horizontal beams of a roadway, bridge, or other structure. Little distinction can be made between a trestle and a viaduct, and the terms are used interchangeably by many engineers. A viaduct is defined as a long bridge consisting of a series of short concrete or masonry spans supported on piers or towers, and is used to carry a road or railroad over a valley, a gorge, another roadway, or across an arm of the sea. See also Bridge.
A trestle or a viaduct usually consists of alternate tower spans and spans between towers. For low trestles the spans may be supported on bents, each composed of two columns adequately braced in a transverse direction. A pair of bents braced longitudinally forms a tower. See also Tower.
| US Military Dictionary: trestle |
2. also trestlework an open braced framework used to support an elevated structure such as a bridge.
3. also trestletree each of a pair of horizontal pieces on a sailing ship's lower mast supporting the topmast.
See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.
| Wikipedia: Trestle |
| Trestle | |
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| Trestles are useful as approaches to bridges over marshes and shallows | |
| Ancestor: | Beam bridge, clapper bridge |
| Related: | None |
| Descendant: | Viaduct |
| Carries: | Heavy rail |
| Span range: | Short |
| Material: | Timber, iron, steel, reinforced concrete, prestressed concrete |
| Movable: | No |
| Design effort: | low |
| Falsework required: | No |
A trestle is a rigid frame used as a support, especially referring to a path supported by a number of such braced frames or short spans supported by splayed vertical elements (usually for railroad use). Timber trestles were extensively used in the nineteenth century in mountainous areas and to traverse floodplains adjacent to rivers as approaches to bridges. These were typically constructed using peeled logs preserved with creosote as vertical elements and with bolted and spiked sawn timbers for bracing.
Twentieth century construction eliminated much of the need for trestles by using far more extensive grading and tunneling. In many parts of Australia, trestle bridges were replaced with earth-fill over corrugated iron pipe culverts.
The steel trestle shown below (to the left) is a modern structure with a long expected lifetime compared to a wooden trestle. Being fire resistant in this brushy location is also an advantage.
One of the longest trestle spans created was for railroad traffic crossing the Great Salt Lake on the Lucin Cutoff in Utah. It was replaced by a fill causeway in the 1960s, and is now being salvaged for its timber.
Many wooden roller coasters are built using design details similar to trestle bridges because it is so easy to make the roller coaster very high. Since loads are well distributed through large portions of the structure it is also resilient to the stresses imposed. The structure also naturally leads to a certain redundancy (provided that economic considerations are not overly dominant). Such wooden coasters, while limited in their path (not supporting loops), possess a certain ride character (owing to structural response) that is appreciated by fans of the type.
New Orleans still utilizes steel trestles to support parts of I-10, the Pontchartrain Expressway, and Tulane Avenue.
The Camas Prairie Railroad in northern Idaho utilized many timber trestles across the rolling Camas Prairie. The major trestle across Lawyers Canyon was the exception, constructed of steel.
 A steel trestle with plate girder spans and steel towers |
 A classic wood trestle using logs and beams |
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Trestle bridges |
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| Translations: Trestle |
Dansk (Danish)
n. - buk, understel
Français (French)
n. - tréteau
Deutsch (German)
n. - Auflagerbock, Tapeziertisch, Gerüst, (mar.) Längssaling
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - κινητός υποστάτης, (σ)τρίποδο, στήριγμα ή βάθρο από σανίδες και τρίποδα, υπόβαθρο, υποστήριγμα, καβαλέτο
Português (Portuguese)
n. - suporte de mesa (m), cavalete (m)
Русский (Russian)
подмостки, козлы
Español (Spanish)
n. - caballete
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - (trä)bock (s. stöd)
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
支架, 栈桥, 高架桥, 搁凳
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 支架, 棧橋, 高架橋, 擱凳
한국어 (Korean)
n. - 구각, 버팀 다리, 가대
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) مسند, منصه
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - חצובת-שולחן, רגלית, גשר-מתמכים
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Copyrights:
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Sci-Tech Encyclopedia. McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| US Military Dictionary. The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. Copyright © 2001, 2002 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Trestle". Read more |
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| Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved. Read more |
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