construction Construction are processes involved in delivering buildings, infrastructure, industrial facilities, and associated activities through to the end of their life. It typically starts with planning, financing, and design that continues until the a ...

, cross bracing is a system utilized to reinforce building structures in which diagonal supports intersect. Cross bracing is usually seen with two diagonal supports placed in an X-shaped manner. Under lateral force (such as

wind Wind is the natural movement of atmosphere of Earth, air or other gases relative to a planetary surface, planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heatin ...

seismic activity An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

) one brace will be under tension while the other is being compressed. In steel construction, steel cables may be used due to their great resistance to tension (although they cannot take any load in compression). The common uses for cross bracing include bridge (side) supports, along with structural foundations. This method of construction maximizes the weight of the load a structure is able to support. It is a usual application when constructing earthquake-safe buildings. Cross bracing can be applied to any rectangular frame structure, such as chairs and bookshelves. Its rigidity for two-dimensional grid structures can be analyzed mathematically as an instance of the grid bracing problem. Cross bracing may employ full diagonals, or corner bracing or knee bracing. The idea of cross bracing is also applied to sport ram-air parachutes to improve their structural integrity.

Mining tunnels

To add rigidity to the construction of

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

tunnel A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ve ...

s, the cross-beam connecting between arches is also a type of cross brace. They are often tubular and modified on the ends with

clips CLIPS (C Language Integrated Production System) is a public-domain software tool for building expert systems. The syntax and name were inspired by Charles Forgy's OPS5. The first versions of CLIPS were developed starting in 1985 at the NASA Joh ...

or apertures for screw fastening. They serve as a

stiffening Stiffening is any process that increases the rigidity and structural integrity of objects. Stiffening is used in crafts, art, industry, architecture, sports, aerospace, object construction, bookbinding, etc. Mechanics In mechanics, "stiffenin ...

element for the

stability Stability may refer to: Mathematics *Stability theory, the study of the stability of solutions to differential equations and dynamical systems ** Asymptotic stability ** Exponential stability ** Linear stability **Lyapunov stability ** Marginal s ...

of a design. This brace could also be an ordinary cross-section wooden cross-beam, or even a board. Cross bracing can be seen in situations like flooring, where cross braces are put between floor joists in order to prevent movement. It is also commonly used for ship making in order to stand against heavy winds or

extreme weather Extreme weather includes unexpected, unusual, severe weather, severe, or unseasonal weather; weather at the extremes of the historical distribution—the range that has been seen in the past. Extreme events are based on a location's recorded weat ...

References

{{reflist Building engineering Underground mining