The Structure of the Millennium Bridge
Introduction
In June 2002 the Millennium Bridge was opened to the public. This was
going to be an extraordinary day for engineers as new designs and
structures had to be used to keep to the specifications of the job.
Although with most bridge structures there is always a degree in
movement, the Millennium Bridge had large groups crossing the bridge
at one moment in time, this then caused a greater than expected
sideways movement. This made people feel uncomfortable and even sick
walking across the bridge. So on June 12th the bridge had to be shut
for further investigations into why the sudden movements had occurred.
For this assignment we have to investigate the construction of the
Millennium Bridge, explain the causes of failure and the method used
to stabilize the bridge.
Geography of the Area
The Millennium Bridge is situated on the Banks of the River Thames,
London. Within London the Thames is one of the main tourist sites and
business settlements, it is a very expensive and modern area of
London. It is near the Tate Modern and the Globe Theatre which are
high tourist based areas which get visited throughout the year. There
are many other bridges built along the Thames but none of them
specifically for foot and as this part of London is being regenerated
a new bridge is needed. The areas foundations have clay found in the
soil which means that when it dries out it goes very solid and
brittle, but as the bridge is being built on a river bank the soil
never dries out fully so is quite damp and slippy.
Reasons for the Bridge
As a new millennium is seen once in many hundreds of generations
within a family,
England wanted to achieve many projects to celebrate the new
millennium. The Millennium Bridge, Dome and Eye were all projects in
which were happening around London. The area in which the Eye and
Bridge were going to be situated were in an up and coming regenerated
“It was designed with a twenty-two foot roadway and one five-foot sidewalk” (Silver). The silver bridge is a very long bridge. “An eye-bar is a long steel plate having large circular ends with an "eye" or hole through which a pin is used to connect to other eyebars (to make a chain) or to other parts of the bridge.” according to Richard Fields. The whole bridge was built using the eye-bar suspension.
The Jericho Covered Bridge in Kingsville, Maryland was built in 1865 and restored in 1982. The bridge is 100 feet long and cased in cedar planks and timber beams. Legend has it that after the Civil War many lynchings occurred on the bridge. Passersby were supposedly captured on the bridge and hung from the upper rafters. The bridge is very close to my house and I have driven over it several times. The storyteller, age 19, also lives a couple minutes away from the bridge. He has lived in Kingsville, Maryland his entire life. He recalled a dramatic story he had heard from his older brother involving the haunted bridge.
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At the time of its construction in 1929, the Ambassador Bridge was the largest spanned suspension bridge at 564 meters until the George Washington Bridge was built. It was an engineering masterpiece at the time. The total bridge length is 2,286 meters and rises to 118 meters above the river. Suspension cables support the main span of the Ambassador Bridge and the main pillars under the bridge are supported by steel in a cantilever truss structure. In total, the McClintic-Marshall masterpiece is comprised of 21,000 tons of steel. The immense socio-economical impact that the Ambassador Bridge has on transportation and trade is imperative for daily interaction between the Un...
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People who thinks of Thornton Wilder primarily in terms of his classic novella “Our Town,” The Bridge of San Luis Rey will seem like quite a switch. For one thing, he has switched countries; instead of middle America, he deals here with Peru. He has switched eras, moving from the twentieth century back to the eighteenth. He has also dealt with a much broader society than he did in “Our Town,” representing the lower classes and the aristocracy with equal ease. But despite these differences, his theme is much the same; life is short, our expectations can be snuffed out with the snap of a finger, and in the end all that remains of us is those we have loved.
The 14-year construction of this urban landmark that stretched across the East River was completed in May of 1883. This was not only a bridge; it stood for many significant symbols. During this time period, the industrial aspects of things were at its peak and this represented the strength of the industry. Also it symbolized the use of immigrant workers and how much time and effort they put into making this bridge. Twenty seven men died while creating this bridge and that is something that most people forget when looking at the bridge, people risked there lives while giving a society that people needed. Not only that but it took tons and tons of steel and iron in order to complete this bridge and it was part of the steel and iron boom. This landmark led to the rise o...
1. The Marco Polo Bridge Incident marked the beginning of further Japanese expansion in China. In the July of 1937, the Japanese conducted training without a notice, and the startled Chinese and the Japanese exchanged fire. One Japanese soldier from the small squabble was missing, and the Japanese accused the Chinese of taking him captive, demanding a full search of the area. The Chinese denied it, offering one soldier to accompany their thorough search of the area.
In her essay,”Importance of the Golden Gate Bridge,” Stephanie Stiavetti suggest that “It maintained this point of pride for nearly 25 years until the Verrazano- Narrows Bridge was built in New York in 1964. Today, this historic San Francisco landmark holds its place as the second largest suspension bridge in the country, behind Verrazano Narrows.” Back then, experts thought that it would be impossible to build a bridge across the tides and currents in that area because strong currents and tides would make construction extremely difficult and dangerous. The water is over 500 feet deep in the center of the channel, and along with the area's strong winds and thick fog, the idea of building a bridge there seemed nearly impossible. Despite all of the problems of building a bridge across the Golden Gate, Joseph Strauss was named as lead engineer for the project. Construction began January 5, 1933, and in the end cost more than $35 million to
In today’s society, women are empowered, independent, and have freedom on their parts to live their life freely. This is definitely a positive aspect of the modern day society, however, this may not be how it always was. Travelling back in time, to the Red Hook community of Brooklyn, circa 1950s, we are able to see the societal expectations of a women at the time through Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge. The two female characters, Catherine and Beatrice, play crucial roles in the play and are essential to the tragic storyline of Eddie and his downfall. However, Arthur Miller has skillfully been able to show the lives and societal expectations of the women at the time, and to portray how women should not be treated. Both Catherine and Beatrice face different particular issues, but in the end are treated similarly as women. First, we shall look at Catherine and Beatrice and their individual parts in the story. After this, the portrayal of women and femininity in Red Hook at that time will be explored in reference to Catherine and Beatrice.
built, and after half the livestock and people had left the dry area, the bridge collapsed,
The Tower Bridge, completed in 1894, is a combined suspension-bascule-draw bridge that spans the Thames River of London, England. Breaking ground in 1884, the bridge strongly embodies Victorian art design, with classical British influences and aspects of the Christian Church. The bridge has since become a symbol of London and the nation itself, being a famous tourist destination for those visiting the United Kingdom, whilst standing as a persona of the massive leap in bridge design and engineering.
For this bridge its fall was inflicted by an unknown patron. One who’s identity or existence we never see verified. The record of the fall is short in the story described as only being for a moment. Then the bridge was finally introduced to “the sharp rocks which had always gazed up at me so peacefully from the rushing water”. Rocks gazing peacefully? This is almost as absurd as a bridge turning around. An action that the bridge itself cannot seem to believe it is doing. This attempt by the bridge was his final effort before his fall. I cannot even picture how a bridge would turn around and attempt to look on his back. The question that comes to my mind is how can a bridge see what’s on his back? If this book is trying to make us believe that this bridge is a human, or has human like qualities. Then how flexible a person is this bridge? Because I know very few people who can see whats on their back. Especially without turning so much that anything on their back would fall off. So is this bridge so inflexible that it breaks itself by turning around or is it trying to buck off its attacker unintentionally? This answer is never answered due to the story ending shortly thereafter this scene. With the short fall of the bridge onto the sharp rocks it had stared at for the entirety of its life. The events before and during the fall of the bridge was the main issue I had with my thesis that the bridge was