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This is a really thorough article that explains the reasoning behind the design of the bridge and looks at multiple reasons why the bridge collapsed. I found th
by tristanj 9y ago
This is a really thorough article that explains the reasoning behind the design of the bridge and looks at multiple reasons why the bridge collapsed. I found the animated concept video of what the completed bridge would look like very illuminating [0]. I've never seen a bridge made of concrete/rebar designed like this before. Novel designs are more likely to fail than tried and tested ones; if they built the bridge in a more conventional style I doubt it would have collapsed. Innovation is not always free.
[0] http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/west-miami-dade/article206092509.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/w...
- cryptonector 9y agoPer-AvE, it's not that the design was necessarily bad. AvE thinks the proximate cause was that the installation plan was changed on-site due to the sort of changed circumstance that the designers didn't know about. See the videos (I posted links already below/above).
- function_seven 9y agoRight. I think you could say that the unusual design contributed to the failure, if only because the on-site changes were made using assumptions that would have worked on a more conventional design. It's kind of like batteries. It used to be that you'd want to discharge battery cells completely before recharging them. This was true for Ni-Cad cells. With newer Li-ion cells, doing this is actually dangerous. It's not necessarily the chemistry's fault when an over-discharged cell starts a fire later on, but if you substitute a new design, you'd better cover the new rules with the implementation people.