Depends on the type of bridge. Suspension bridges, for example, have tension holding them up. All are acted upon by gravity, and to a lesser extent, the force of contact with the wind.
The forces that acts on the bridge is the way the bridge is built or the mass that is put on the bridge. Some are different it only depends on how the bridge is built.
Tension and compression are the two forces that act upon a bridge.
A cable stay bridge may transfer forces that act on it by eventually transfer into a bedrock beneath the bridge foundation. One way of determining how this done is by using the seesaw method.
The Tower Bridge of London is primarily subjected to three main forces: compression, tension, and shear. Compression forces act downwards on the bridge, pushing the structure together. Tension forces act upwards, pulling the structure apart. Shear forces act parallel to the surface, causing different parts of the bridge to slide past each other. These forces must be carefully considered in the design and maintenance of the bridge to ensure its structural integrity.
There are many forces acting on a truss bridge compression, tension, and torsion. The truss bridge uses equilateral triangles to spread out the stress of the load on these forces along the hold structure.
For a start, it's unavoidable that gravity acts on the bridge. Next, if the bridge is not to fall through to the center of the Earth, Earth must push up on the bridge. There may also be forces caused by wind.
The arch bridge spreads load (the weight of the bridge and the traffic on it) from the deck to the abutments (the supports at each end) and into the ground. This creates a lot of compressions.
In cantilever bridges, the main forces that act on the structure are tension and compression. Tension forces occur in the upper portions of the bridge where the material is being pulled apart, while compression forces occur in the lower portions where the material is being pushed together. These forces work together to support the load of the bridge and transfer it to the foundations.
The main forces that affect bridges are gravitational forces (weight of the bridge and loads on it), tension forces (pulling forces on the bridge elements), compression forces (pushing forces on the bridge elements), and lateral forces (such as wind or earthquakes). These forces can cause stress, deflection, or deformation in the bridge structure, potentially leading to structural failure if not properly managed.
external forces and internal forces
The three different places on a bridge that would experience different forces are the supports (where vertical forces are highest), the center span (where compression and tension forces are highest), and the connections between bridge sections (where shear forces are highest).
don't know all the forces but the most important thing engineers have to factor in is the frequency at which the bridge vibrates. Bridges can be likened to a guitar string in that they vibrate at different frequencies. If the bridge is 'in tune' with the frequency of the wind it will wobble violently and eventually collapse. One example is the millennium bridge in London, on it's opening day the force of proples walking from side to side caused the bridge to sway considerably, forcing them to close the bridge and add supports.