The I-35W Bridge, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was a bridge that opened in November of 1967 and was designed by Sverdrup & Parcel and Associates, Inc. The bridge had a truss arch design that spanned a total distance across the Mississippi River of 1907 feet. Also, the bridge was a deck truss which means the roadway was located on top of the truss itself. With a total of 4 piers, 2 on either side of the Mississippi River, that supported the bridge, the I-35W Bridge crossed the Mississippi River in 3 main spans; the longest span, which was located directly above the river, was 458 feet long. On August 1, 2007, the I-35W Bridge collapsed and sent the 80+ vehicles on the bridge into the Mississippi River.
The reason for the collapse was
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In other sections of the bridge, gusset plates got as thick as 1 3/8”. A thicker plate should have been used on joints like the U10 joint. The designer of the bridge made an error in the design analysis when calculating the thickness of each gusset plate needed for each joint.
The design error along with a few other factors led to the collapse of the bridge. When the bridge first opened, the traffic deck had 2 lanes of traffic going in each direction for a total of 4 lanes. However, in 1998, the bridge was renovated so that there were 4 lanes of traffic going in each direction for a total of 8 lanes. Along with a few other bridge renovations, the weight of the bridge was significantly increased. Also, the rush hour traffic and the construction vehicles located on the bridge for repairs during the day of collapse added a considerable amount of weight too.
Under these circumstances, the center span of the bridge collapsed and fell into the Mississippi River. All four gusset plates at the U10 nodes fractured since they were inadequate in strength for the demand being exerted on to them. When these first gusset plates fractured, other gusset plates started to fracture and break too because the design of the bridge was non-load-path-redundant. In other words, if one piece, such as the U10 gusset plate, failed, then the whole bridge would fail too. The U10 gusset plate fracture led to a sequence of events that sent the I-35 Bridge down into the Mississippi
This spectacular bridge is 8,981 feet, or 1.7 miles, long. The total weight of the bridge is about 887,000 tons. The two towers stand 726 feet above the water and 500 feet above street level. They weigh
The city made notifications not initially planned out and ultimately adding more dead load of the bridge which led to the collapse under too much load the bridge was intended to take. They also added railings to the bridge that did not meet current safety standards in 1998. By replacing them, it added more load to the bridge. During their last renovation of the bridge before the collapse, more concrete was going to be added. They chose to use mixing truck to pour concrete, but Minnesota specifications said that pouring of concrete was to be done on site and mixing trucks could not be used on state bridges. The company's actions to place trucks all over the site to pour their concrete while specifications said that concrete was to be mixed on site without trucks, shows how the actions taken by the company was not morally right in considering state regulations. Bridge construction inspectors determined that the concrete specifications meet required standards and consequently they determined that it was okay to place the materials on the bridge for the
He was also a designer of iron-clad gunships, a riverboat captain, and a salvage operator. “The design of the bridge did not use the popular form of construction, the truss, or even the newer suspension system. Instead used the ancient Roman arch for support” (Museum Gazette 1). Eads constructed the ironclad steamboat, the shallow-draft boats, and the first sand pump of its time. It removed the sand and silt from the bottom more effectively and easier. The original sand pump was a rope and bucket. Eads salvage company was the most successful company on the river. He also designed a surface boat, the submarine to go to the bottom of the river and retrieve sunken cargo from barges. Eads used a cofferdam to build the Western abutment and had to dig through 6o years of metal scraps. Spring floods and tornadoes affected the work on the bridge for moment at a time. The best way to build the bridge was to use a caisson to make the foundation at the bottom of the river in 80 feet of mud and 12 feet of bedrock. “The caisson was a huge rectangular box made of wood and sheeted in iron panels and stiffened with girder plates” (Bennett 111). The only way to keep water from coming into the caisson was to pump in air to equalize the pressure. The caisson had a stone foundation built around it, and then it was slowly start to sink to the bottom of the river. It had seven airlocks, where the
In the small town of Waco, Texas who would have thought it was once well known for the structure of a bridge, the Waco Suspension Bridge to be exact. Up until 1870, the Brazos River was just a simple river that had no special meaning to it. The land around it was empty, occasionally you would find cattlemen pushing their cattle across stream, but that was only because you could not find one bridge that spanned the eight hundred miles of river flowing through Central Texas. This caused a serious transportation issue for merchants and travelers. It became clear that a better means of crossing the river was necessary.
Ten miles up from the navigation lock, they thought the sediments were firmer so they dug into a piece of dry ground and built what looked like an incongruous, waterless bridge. Five hundred and sixty-six feet long, it stood parallel to the Mississippi and about a thousand yards back from the water: between its abutments were ten piers, framing eleven gates that could be lifted or dropped, opened or shut like
In the middle of nowhere, in that vast expanse of trees, lies The Bridge. Nobody knows it as any other name. It stretches across the Dead River, just sitting there waiting for someone new to find it. At one time it was driven over constantly, a way of travel for the inhabitants who are crazy enough to live out there. But now it is just there, a giant chunk of metal, rusting away into nothing. Occasionally it is used for things like fishing, or as a
The report debates the Tacoma narrows bridge failure and the different theories of how it came about, using information about what type of bridge it is and the forces acting on it before and during the collapse. It also discusses ways in which the failure could have been avoided, from changes in the design to modifications to the bridge after its construction.
Most of the city 's major roads were heavily damaged with the only route out of the city being Crescent bridge. The I-10 Bridge suffered severe damage; scaffolding was broken off from the bridge, and some were totally severed and fell into the lake below. (Des Roches) The Superdome sustained significant damage, including two sections of the roof when waterproof membrane had been
In the late 19th century, the transportation demands of Quebec and other provinces success in transportation like Montreal’s success in railways led to proposals for bridging the St. Lawrence River. Quebec Bridge has a long story behind it, a bridge that was proposed first back in 1852 but it was not complete until 1919. It collapsed two times in this duration once in 1907 killing 75 workers and second time in 1916 killing 13 workers. In this report I will emphasize on the first collapse.
Sometimes the wind would not be perpendicular, in which the oscillation of the bridge was less, but there was still some oscillation. On November 7th, 1940, the Tacoma Bridge collapsed because the oscillation of the bridge became extreme. The oscillation of the bridge was caused by a wind speed of 42 mph (HistoryLink.org). After, approximately, an hour of a corkscrew like motion, the bridge collapsed into Puget Sound. This marked a huge turning point in the design of suspension bridges from that point in time to current time.
The bridge was built in the year of 1928. It joined Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and Gallipolis, Ohio. Mothman was spotted hanging onto the side of the bridge before the collapse. The bridge collapsed into the Ohio River
In Washington, the Interstate 5 bridge, which crossed the Skagit River, collapsed last month. The damage of this accident included two cars broke and three persons injured. According to officials, the bridge fell into the river after the large truck hit a beam. The bridge had a risky condition called facture critical. The U.S has a lot of bridges; however, nearly two thousand bridges were built between the middle of 1950s and the 1970s, so those ones are obsolete bridges. In addition, back then, the government cut corners in bridge buildings to cost reduction. Although gas and diesel taxes attempted to allocate to restored the bridge, the government cloud not collect money enough to repair the bridge because people began to use efficient vehicle.
In the past construction also took less time. One reason for this is that safety regulations were not nearly as strict then as they are now. It was understood 80 years ago that any major construction project would come with the loss of life. According to Lisa Vorderbrueggen from Contra Costa Times, for every $1 million to be spent on a project regarding high steel work, there would be one death. In total the bridge cost was $77 million (equivalent to about $1.3 billion in current dollars) and resulted in 24 deaths (Vorderbrueggen).
During the construction, two half-spans being assembled 50 meters above ground level had a misalignment of 4.5 inches or 114mm in camber. It was suggested by John Holland & Constructions to use a kentledge to weigh down the higher section of bridge. It so happened that they had ten, eight tonne concrete blocks on site. These were placed halfway along the higher span to
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