The river Danube is an international waterway flowing 2857 km across Europe from the heights of the Schwarzwald massif down in the Black Sea delta. In its passage, the second longest European river crosses 22 geographical longitudes, joining 8 countries: Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria and Ukraine. The International Conference on Bridges across the Danube has become a traditional international event in bridge engineering, initiated by Prof. Miklos Iványi and organized periodically each third year in different Danube countries: 1992 on a ship, sailing on the Danube from Vienna via Bratislava to Budapest, 1995 in Bucharest, 1998 in Regensburg, 2001 in Bratislava, 2004 in Novi Sad, 2007 in Budapest and 2010 in Sofia. The Eight International Conference on Bridges across the Danube took place in Timisoara (Romania) and Belgrade (Serbia) in October 2013 aiming at analysing present trends in bridge construction in every Danube country.

This comprehensive and up-to-date reference work and resource book covers state-of-the-art and state-of-the-practice for bridge engineering worldwide. Countries covered include Canada and the United States in North America; Argentina and Brazil in South America; Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Macedonia, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, and Ukraine in the European continent; China, Indonesia, Japan, Chinese Taipei, and Thailand in Asia; and Egypt, Iran, and Turkey in the Middle East. The book examines the use of different materials for each region, including stone, timber, concrete, steel, and composite. It examines various bridge types, including slab, girder, segmental, truss, arch, suspension, and cable-stayed. A color insert illustrates select landmark bridges. It also presents ten benchmark comparisons for highway composite girder design from different countries; the highest bridges; the top 100 longest bridges, and the top 20 longest bridge spans for various bridge types including suspension, cable-stayed, extradosed, arch, girder, movable bridges (vertical lift, swing, and bascule), floating, stress ribbon, and timber; and bridge construction methods.

This is a state-of-the-art reference, an exchange of innovative experience, creative thinking and industry forecasts. This volume presents the proceedings of the fourth international conference in this series based in the Asia Pacific region, in Kuala Lumpur in October 2005 and is applicable to all sectors of the bridge engineering community. BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE AND FUTURE PERFORMANCE The Institution of Civil Engineers has collaborated with internationally renowned bridge engineers to organise three successful conferences to celebrate the enormous achievements made in the field of bridge engineering in recent years. As a discipline, bridge engineering not only requires knowledge and experience of bridge design and construction techniques but must also deal with increasing challenges posed by the need to maintain the long-term performance of structures throughout an extended service life. In many parts of the world natural phenomena such as seismic events can cause significant damage to force major repairs or reconstruction. Therefore, it is appropriate that the first plenary session of this conference is entitled Engineering for Seismic Performance. READERSHIP This compilation of papers will benefit practising civil and structural engineers in consulting firms and government agencies, bridge contractors, research institutes, universities and colleges. In short, it is of importance to all engineers involved in any aspect of the design, construction and repair, maintenance and refurbishment of bridges.