Leaving part of the sides would probably give it a bit more load capacity. You might need to weld in some stabilizing elements to keep the sides from collapsing.
That's a question you should ask a civil engineer.
If you use only the container floor as a bridge, it may not be strong enough for this purpose. A lot of the structural capacity would have come from the side walls loosely acting as girders.
There are factors to consider like - maximum live load - pedestrians only or occasional light vehicles? a finished surface which will add kN to the dead load; final span; abutment type and anchoring; are parapets required or not; etc.
I suggest you post this question on an engineering forum:
Recycling a damaged shipping container
I am wondering if you cut all 4 sides and the top off of a standard 40' conex shipping container.
Would the floor have any strength as a walking bridge over a creek?
Is there really any strength added to the floor by the 2"x2" square tube running on top above the walls and the 16 guage wavy sides?
George
1 Featured Comment
Why not just build a wood & steel bridge if you're going to cut 83% out of the container?
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Leaving part of the sides would probably give it a bit more load capacity. You might need to weld in some stabilizing elements to keep the sides from collapsing.
No, you can't cut out all 4 sides.
Why not just build a wood & steel bridge if you're going to cut 83% out of the container?
Just open the doors on either side and you have yourself a bridge tunnel or tunnel bridge, duh.
Just to be pedantic about it, you're talking about adaptive reuse of a shipping container, not recycling it ... carry on.
@georgeberz
That's a question you should ask a civil engineer.
If you use only the container floor as a bridge, it may not be strong enough for this purpose. A lot of the structural capacity would have come from the side walls loosely acting as girders.
There are factors to consider like - maximum live load - pedestrians only or occasional light vehicles? a finished surface which will add kN to the dead load; final span; abutment type and anchoring; are parapets required or not; etc.
I suggest you post this question on an engineering forum:
http://www.eng-tips.com/
http://www.efunda.com/forum/fo...
https://www.engineersedge.com/...
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