In December of 1967, a Highway bridge that connected Point Pleasant, West Virginia and Kanauga, Ohio collapsed into the Ohio River (Silver Bridge Collapse). When the failure occurred, all vehicles traveling fell with the bridge. With the outrageous number of fatalities and injuries, one of the most important transportation routes had been demolished (Silver Bridge Collapse). In 1928, The American Bridge Company designed the Silver Bridge as a two-lane eye-bar suspension bridge. It measured at 2,235 feet in length and was specifically structured by the American Society of Civil Engineers (Silver Bridge Collapse). The bridge was named the “Silver Bridge” because it was the first aluminum painted bridge in the nation. It was designed with a twenty-two-foot roadway and one five-foot sidewalk (Silver Bridge Collapse). The Silver Bridge was also the very first eye-bar suspension bridge built In the United States. When the bridge collapsed, all the vehicles fell into the Ohio River. There were so many people who were severely injured and some who had lost their lives. It was a devastating event for the people who commuted back and forth on this bridge. Some who saw the bridge collapse said that it looked like the bridge fell like deck of cards (Silver Bridge Collapse). Imagine the horror people had to go through to try and understand what had happened that afternoon. The cause of the collapsed bridge was unknown …show more content…
at the time and had to be thoroughly inspected. Some people in West Virginia claimed to have heard a Sonic Boom at the time of the collapse, but there was not an aircraft capable of producing a boom to cause the bridge to collapse (Silver Bridge Collapse). After numerous theories on how the bridge collapsed such as a “Sonic Boom” and “The Curse of the Cornstalk,” investigators came to a unanimous agreement for the cause of failure. The heat-treated carbon steel eye-bar broke through the eye, placing stress on all other aspects of the bridge (Silver Bridge Collapse). Stress Corrosion cracking and corrosion fatigue played an important factor in the destruction of the bridge. Stress corrosion cracking is when the formation of brittle cracks add stress to the material causing it to corrode. Corrosion fatigue and combined action of repeated stress aided to the collapse as well (Silver Bridge Collapse). Although The Silver Bridge collapsed, there were positives that came from it.
Bridge routines and in-depth inspections were put into place after the collapse to prevent another disaster (Silver Bridge Collapse). Engineers are now more informed about corrosion and how it affects the materials bridges are made out of. With increased knowledge, the quality of structures have improved and can now withstand all forms of corrosion and stress (Silver Bridge Collapse). The Silver Bridge was never rebuilt due to the stress and devastation to the
community.
“Following an inspection in 1965, some $30,000 in recommended repairs was completed. Two more inspections were done in the summer of 1967” (Silver). After about forty years from being built, the silver bridge needed repairs that obviously were expensive. Several inspections were made, but a problem still occurred with the collapse. Heather L. Salasky states that “The fracture was due to the development of a flaw over the course of the life of the bridge resulting from stress corrosion and corrosion fatigue.” The eye-bar was corroded due to the weather and the corrosion caused a fracture of the eye-bar. “When the lower side of the eye-bar failed, all the load was transferred to the other side of the eyebar, which then failed by ductile overload. The joint was then held together only by three eye-bars, and another slipped off the pin at the center of the bearing, so the chain was completely severed” (Wikipedia). There was much pressure caused by the collapse on the lower side of the bridge that the upper side of the bridge collapsed right after. The bridge could not handle the weight caused by collapse that the
The film “When the Levees Broke” of spike lee is a four part series covering the events that took place before and after the devastation of Katrina on New Orleans and its residents. In August 2005, New Orleans was struck by Hurricane Katrina. People were unprepared for the disaster. As the city was flooding, levees safeguard failed the city, which caused the city to go underwater. In the film, part 1 shows hurricane Katrina and it’s impact. The flooding, rescue efforts and people trying to survive the disaster. Part 2 shows the aftermath with people that were evacuated waiting for help to come to the city. It was a very slow response to help and everyone was just waiting. Part 3 shows how people started to recover. Many hoped to return to their
The book The Bridge on the Drina written by Ivo Andric is a very fascinating novel of religious, folk tale and executions that describe how political issues and religious ethnics caused a big debate in the town of Visegard. The bridge is built for the people inhabited within the junction of the Drina River and Rzar River where it creates a triangular land scenery. It eventually connects Sarajevo and Stambul together. The bridge at first is described as bringing hell to the people who live along the area until they see the beauty that the bridge creates for the area and for the people who use it daily in their lives.
“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” written by Ambrose Bierce, is about a man named Peyton Farquhar, who was being hung at the Owl Creek Bridge. This story takes place in the American Civil War era in Alabama where the Union army declared, “they would hang any civilian caught interfering with the railroad, its bridges, tunnels or trains.” Bierce uses many different themes in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” but his standout, and most important, themes are man vs. himself, the battle, triumph over adversity, love conquers all, and death.
The Tacoma Narrows Bridge is perhaps the most notorious failure in the world of engineering. It collapsed on November 7, 1940 just months after its opening on July 1, 1940. It was designed by Leon Moisseiff and at its time it was the third largest suspension bridge in the world with a center span of over half a mile long. The bridge was very narrow and sleek giving it a look of grace, but this design made it very flexible in the wind. Nicknamed the "Galloping Gertie," because of its undulating behavior, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge drew the attention of motorists seeking a cheap thrill. Drivers felt that they were driving on a roller coaster, as they would disappear from sight in the trough of the wave. On the last day of the bridge's existence it gave fair warning that its destruction was eminent. Not only did it oscillate up and down, but twisted side to side in a cork screw motion. After hours of this violent motion with wind speeds reaching forty and fifty miles per hour, the bridge collapsed. With such a catastrophic failure, many people ask why such an apparently well thought out plan could have failed so badly?(This rhetorical question clearly sets up a position of inquiry-which iniates all research.) The reason for the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge is still controversial, but three theories reveal the basis of an engineering explanation. (Jason then directly asserts what he found to be a possible answer to his question.)
givin' me the willies the way you walk down the streets I mean it?" I
In this failure analysis report the topic of choice that will be addressed is the engineering failure of the 1940 Tacoma Narrows Bridge in the U.S.A state of Washington that collapsed in the November 1940 due to its structural design not being aerodynamic, which caused the phenomenon called aeroelastic flutter to occur. The report will address the type of failure the 1940 Tacoma Narrow Bridge is classified under and strategies to mitigate the problem. The report will also discuss the reason for its failure and the ramification it had on financial and social aspects, and through failure analysis, how engineers and scientist were able to identified the problem an...
Steel cables were used to make the bridge stronger, longer and much larger than any bridge previously.
built, and after half the livestock and people had left the dry area, the bridge collapsed,
I found that making bridges out of popsicle sticks can give you further knowledge on what a strong bridge has to consist of. It has to consist of symmetrical sides and properly connected parts. in real life as well. I also thought that making the bridge in the computer was very interesting. This caught my attention because I understood that sometimes real life bridges are done under a budget. Therefore, bridges must be with some cheap materials compared to other more stronger and expensive materials. I also, thought that using various materials can determine the strength of a bridge. In reality, there are different types of metals that are built in a bridge. Such as steel, iron, or even stoned bridges. Some metals are stronger than others and this is what I learned from creating the popsicle stick bridge and creating it in the
A view from the bridge was written by Arthur Miller in 1955.It is set in Brooklyn in the city of New York in a place called Red Hook. Here there is a great emphasis on Italian migrant families. At that time people where coming from Sicily and they where running away from a life of poverty. Mainly it was the men who moved to America to find a well paid job and then send the money they made to their families back in Sicily.
...wind is an example of a possible disaster under such conditions. There is no bridge which can serve all purposes. For example, the arch bridge (fig.1) and the beam bridge (fig.2) may be unsuitable for very long spans but they are more appropriate for railways and short spans.
We learned about three types of bridges- the Pratt, Warren and K-Truss, as well as each of their advantages and disadvantages. We also learned about arch bridges in a general sense and their advantages and disadvantages. We also researched substructures and superstructures, and how they played into bridge design. From our research we effectively narrowed down an efficient design for our bridge that we knew would meet the requirements for the project. In a broader sense, we learned a lot about the careful planning and calculations that go into making a large construction project such as this one. We will carry this knowledge into other similar projects in our future, knowing how diligent we should be in order to successfully create construction
steel is widely used as a building material. it is because of its mechanical properties, ease and speed of construction and design simplicity. it is extremely easy to adjust or to extend to an existing structure constructed of steel by simply welding or bolting new steel pieces to the existing structure. and it will still give the structure the same amount of strength. structural steel has a wide amount of properties which suit different requirements which are weldability, ductility, strength and corrosion resistance. the extra feature of steel is that it will not break either, when met in contact with excessive load(s).
When you ask people around the world “Which bridge is the most famous?” most of their answers will certainly be “Golden Gate Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge or Bosphorus Bridge”. It can be explained why these are famous as the following sentences. These bridges are known most by people because of TV and cinema. Directors have noticed the beauties of these bridges and they wanted to use them in their movies and TV series. They are definitely right these bridges are engineering marvel. They are designed perfectly maybe that is the most efficient reason why they want to ornament their TV series or movies with these perfect designs. In here it is going to explained how these bridges was built, how engineers designed them and how they are still survived and famous.