5 ms·

The Fall of Galloping Gertie

41 points by anarbadalov 7y ago

blakesterz 7y ago
This is from 2007, which is apparently the year they opened Sturdy Gertie's new twin bridge. Sturdy Gertie replaced Galloping, after Galloping galloped into the water.
- hadlock 7y ago
  I lived a mile from this bridge pretty much my whole life, I've never heard it called Sturdy Gertie, it's always just been "the narrows bridge", not "the narrows", "the narrows bridge". Fun facts, the wreckage of the original bridge is in a couple hundred feet of water, and a bunch of red-orange pacific giant octopuses live in the wreckage as if they were a network of caves. I think I read somewhere that the concrete pedestals that the towers sit upon, are nearly 200' tall. The part you can see above the water is about as tall as the part below it.
  - Gaelan 7y ago
    About three miles from the bridge here, never heard anything other than “narrows bridge” (or just “the bridge”) either. Crazy seeing something so close to home on HN!
NikolaeVarius 7y ago
Article would have been better by linking the wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacoma_Narrows_Bridge_(1940) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacoma_Narrows_Bridge_(1940)
RandallBrown 7y ago
This article says that engineers failed to take into account resonance, but that's not actually why the bridge failed. It was due to aeroelastic flutter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroelasticity#Flutter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroelasticity#Flutter
- asfarley 7y ago
  Are you sure flutter isn’t a type of resonance? The Wikipedia article uses terminology highly suggestive of resonance (positive feedback).
Pfhreak 7y ago
The Tacoma Narrows Bridge disaster has been covered a million ways to date. If you are looking for analysis (and grim humor) about engineering disasters big and small, I strongly recommend checking out Well There's Your Problem, whose videos are here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPxHg4192hLDpTI2w7F9rPg/videos https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPxHg4192hLDpTI2w7F9rPg/vid... I'm not at all affiliated with it, but it's something that I found super interesting. (Along with the authors other series where he uses Cities Skylines to demonstrate city planning politics, https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwkSQD3vqK1S1NiHIxxF2g_Uy-LbbcR84 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwkSQD3vqK1S1NiHIxxF2... and where he recreates Philadelphia in Cities Skylines starting back in pre-colonial times and discussing the history, social environment, and engineering along to the modern day, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vln5Ri4Zpgo&list=PLwkSQD3vqK1Q4BP-itzN6gMpJBTsfPucy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vln5Ri4Zpgo&list=PLwkSQD3vqK... )

41 points by anarbadalov 7y ago

This is from 2007, which is apparently the year they opened Sturdy Gertie's new twin bridge. Sturdy Gertie replaced Galloping, after Galloping galloped into the water.

hadlock 7y ago
I lived a mile from this bridge pretty much my whole life, I've never heard it called Sturdy Gertie, it's always just been "the narrows bridge", not "the narrows", "the narrows bridge". Fun facts, the wreckage of the original bridge is in a couple hundred feet of water, and a bunch of red-orange pacific giant octopuses live in the wreckage as if they were a network of caves. I think I read somewhere that the concrete pedestals that the towers sit upon, are nearly 200' tall. The part you can see above the water is about as tall as the part below it.
- Gaelan 7y ago
  About three miles from the bridge here, never heard anything other than “narrows bridge” (or just “the bridge”) either. Crazy seeing something so close to home on HN!

NikolaeVarius 7y ago

Article would have been better by linking the wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacoma_Narrows_Bridge_(1940) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacoma_Narrows_Bridge_(1940)

RandallBrown 7y ago

This article says that engineers failed to take into account resonance, but that's not actually why the bridge failed. It was due to aeroelastic flutter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroelasticity#Flutter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroelasticity#Flutter

asfarley 7y ago
Are you sure flutter isn’t a type of resonance? The Wikipedia article uses terminology highly suggestive of resonance (positive feedback).

Pfhreak 7y ago

The Tacoma Narrows Bridge disaster has been covered a million ways to date. If you are looking for analysis (and grim humor) about engineering disasters big and small, I strongly recommend checking out Well There's Your Problem, whose videos are here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPxHg4192hLDpTI2w7F9rPg/videos https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPxHg4192hLDpTI2w7F9rPg/vid... I'm not at all affiliated with it, but it's something that I found super interesting. (Along with the authors other series where he uses Cities Skylines to demonstrate city planning politics, https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwkSQD3vqK1S1NiHIxxF2g_Uy-LbbcR84 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwkSQD3vqK1S1NiHIxxF2... and where he recreates Philadelphia in Cities Skylines starting back in pre-colonial times and discussing the history, social environment, and engineering along to the modern day, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vln5Ri4Zpgo&list=PLwkSQD3vqK1Q4BP-itzN6gMpJBTsfPucy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vln5Ri4Zpgo&list=PLwkSQD3vqK... )