construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and ...

, 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 or

seismic activity An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...

) one brace will be under tension while the other is being compressed. In

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistan ...

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 A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such a ...

, 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.

Mining tunnels

To add rigidity to the construction of

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the econom ...

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

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 is a public domain software tool for building expert systems. The name is an acronym for "C Language Integrated Production System." The syntax and name were inspired by Charles Forgy's OPS5. The first versions of CLIPS were developed st ...

or apertures for screw fastening. They serve as a stiffening 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 ** Linear stability ** Lyapunov stability ** Orbital stability ** Structural sta ...

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.

References

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