High water

Heavy rains last week put the bridge to its first real test of its foundation. Several inches of rain pushed the water level of the creek up to within a few feet of the bottom cord of steel. All went well. No damage or undermining found. Very happy.

Bridge construction update, temporary deck.

Here are a couple photos that show that i have installed a narrow wooden deck on the bridge. With the weather getting cooler and winter on the way, I wont have time to cut and prepare all of the heavy timbers for the full deck. That will have to be done next summer. So, until then, to get use out of all my hard work so far, I went for a temporary decking for my 4 wheel ATV.

This will be a big help during the heavy spring rains and high water. Crossing the creek in high water has been near impossible since my old bridge was washed out.

Next year I hope to redeck it for heavy traffic, like the big truck in the background.

Second truss is up!

I had some time on Labor Day to work on my bridge. The second truss is up and aligned with the first. Some more bracing needs done and all the cross framing needs added to give it rigidity. Then the path has to be cleared up to the creek.
The plan is to drag it up to and then across the bridge abutments and over the creek with my dozer. More to come!

Bridge build photo update #4

My kids became some extra crew help a few weekends ago during the center pier concrete pour.

I pulled the flood damaged bridge frame out of the creek bed with the bulldozer. It will be cut up and used in the contruction of the new bridges steel truss frame.

Here are some more recent photos showing the start of the center pier and the west abutment.

A side shot showing all three now in various stages of construction.

Bridge build photo update #3

Here are some more progress photos on the east abutment and the start of the center pier.

More bridge building pics.

More bridge construction photos. East bank abutment. Since these photos were taken I have backfilled the wall, poured concrete for the upstream wing, and begun foundation work on the down stream wing.

Once all of the wing work is done on this side of the creek, I will pour a concrete slab over the wall and backfill. Then its off to the west side of the stream to do this again. I am also thinking of building a center pier to increse the bridge load carring ability.

Ive started on my replacement bridge.

Im finally underway on my replacement bridge. The bridge will cross the small creek on the property that limits access to my workshop and future site of my pole barn. I am building the foundation piers on both banks. Not sure what form the finished bridge will take yet. I first had in mind a concrete or brick arch bridge, but have lately thought a steel pony truss bridge may be quicker and cheaper. i have most of the materials already on site. Either way its gonna be a long project. Probably a year to complete it if im lucky!

This is a small pony truss bridge photo to give you an example of what I want to build. The deck it missing from this old one though.

Here is another pic of a pony truss near my home. It has a poured concrete deck over steel under framework. My plans call for a span of about 32 feet and a deck width of aroun 12 feet.

Here is a stone arch bridge like the one I at first wanted to make. I think it would be to huge a job for me to try this now.

Flash flood takes out my bridge!

Monday afternoon a huge line of thunderstorms tore through Indiana. Lots of wind, a few possible tornados, and massive quantities of rain. In a few hours, several inches of rain added to weeks of previous rainfall. It was too much for my old improvised steel frame bridge. The water spilled over the creek banks and swept up logs and debris. I had relied on this bridge for over ten years to cross this creek to get to my workshop trailer. Now I will be looking to push ahead with my plans to construct a larger bridge. One that a full sized truck can go over. I will keep all of you posted as I progress with it.

Test run of my first water wheel.

I placed the water wheel I built into the streambed to test it out. Work out very well with only a little head pressure to turn it. I will need to make a proper raceway for it to achieve usefull power. But its fun to watch it turn endlessly.

Here is a short video of it in motion. Quality is poor, from my cell phone. I will get better vids soon.

Green energy from my creek.

One of my many 'other' projects is this water wheel ive been building. My plan is to put it into a water chute I will build in my creek along with a dam. If I can get this to work reasonably well, it should have enough power to spin a small generator. Depends on several things how well it will function for me.
If I can build enough head pressure at my dam to move the water down the chute forcefully.
What kind of speed will the wheel turn at and with how much torque?
Will it do as well once under load from a generator under load as well?

Specifics:

36" dia wheel

28" wide

1.5" output shaft dia.