Tacoma Narrows Bridge

The Tacoma Narrows Bridge was designed for a wind speed of 100 miles per hour and a static wind pressure of 30 pounds-force per square foot but unfortunately the bridge failed at a wind speed of less than half and a static wind pressure of one-sixth (Delatte, 2009). This phenomenon raises a big question mark on how this is possible. At first, resonance was suspected to be the main cause of the bridge failure (The New York Times, 1940). After some proper research and thorough investigations by engineers

The Tacoma Narrows Bridge, was also known as the Galloping Gertie, was one of the most famous cause study of structure failure in the world. The idea for constructuring of the bridge came up in the date back to 1889 with a Northern Pacific Railway proposal for a trestle. Then after a few yerars of concreted and construction with the cost of over 6,400,000 dallors, the bridge was been build and became the third longest and the most flexible suspension bridge in the world of its time of 1900s with

The Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington State had taken three years to complete its building process. It experienced a terrible fate as it collapsed only four months after final construction. During its short existence only vertical vibrations of the bridge were noticed, and the bridge became famously known as “Galloping Gertie” due to the swaying of the roadway under high wind conditions. A positive correlation was observed between the wind’s speeds and the bridge’s vibrations in certain tests,

works of art, known as bridges, are some of the most complex structures people design. With absurdly complicated bridges, like the Lucky Knot Bridge in China, to an everyday bridge that you would see in North Carolina, engineers everywhere must go through the same process of making sure these bridges are safe and secure. The dedication and amount of hours that go into deciding the structure, what addons will overall make the bridge itself stronger, and what makes these bridges economical checks to

Tacoma Narrows Bridge One of the most influential engineering discoveries in the past century was the ill-fated Tacoma Narrows Bridge. “Galloping Gertie” as she was known to local residents, the massive Washington state suspension bridge shook, rattled and rolled its way into the history books. Legendary in its time, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge held many records and drew tourists from around the world in its short life. However, the famous bridge is not known for its creative engineering

The Collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge 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

Suspension bridges were important before 1940 and are still important today. Major cities such as San Francisco, and Manhattan both have a suspension bridge. Suspension bridges are,” a bridge having a deck suspended from cables anchored at their extremities and usually raised on towers” (dictionary.com). Due to the fact that suspension bridges are not completely supported throughout the length of the bridge, past bridges were unsafe. For example, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge was a suspension bridge opened

Executive Summary 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. (Blaschke 2015) Introduction Tacoma Narrows Bridge was opened to the public on July 1st 1940 after being in construction

CAUSES OF FAILURE OF BRIDGE Deck Vibration Since the well-known bridge, Tacoma Narrows Bridge was destroyed in 1940 the designers and owners started to concern more about the stability of bridge deck. For short-and long term of monitoring the deck, the instruments of geophysical are increase used which are; 1. accelerometers and tilt meter 2. strain gages Figure1: Tacoma Narrows Bridge with severe vibration Figure 2: Tacoma Narrows Bridge after collapse due to wind fluttering

for a site expansion. Tacoma Bridge Collapse Brief Description of the Disaster The Tacoma Narrows Bridge (aka “Galloping Gertie”) was opened to traffic on July 1, 1940 and was built to link Tacoma to the Gig Harbour. The Tacoma Bridge was built with a light design which made it very sensitive to high winds. It lacked the ability to resist the winds but rather swayed and vibrated with the wind direction (Britton, n.d.). Due the harmonic phenomena, the swaying of the bridge worsened (Britton, n.d