Yeah it would be impossible to build a bridge without extensive design conforming to AASHTO and a thorough 3rd party review.
Pedestrian bridge collapses at FIU
- Thread starter Cyclones_R_GR8
- Start date
Yeah it would be impossible to build a bridge without extensive design conforming to AASHTO and a thorough 3rd party review.
I'm going to guess that the installation was planned this way. The bridge was not supposed to be placed in service until 2019 from what I read.
Story on the bridge from Saturday:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/west-miami-dade/article204506084.html
They would have had geotechnical exploration way ahead of the time before putting a shovel in the ground. It appears to be a superstructure issue, not a substructure issue at this point. Scary stuff.
That's what I figured. I'd guess something construction-wise was amiss, especially if they had gotten behind schedule and were trying to catch up and missed something.
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
I also am no engineer, but it seems like you'd have to expect the concrete deck to bow and dip down with no suspension to hold it up.
In other words, this seems easy to predict and really indefensible.
In other words, this seems easy to predict and really indefensible.
With suspension/post tensioned bridges of that nature....the game these days is to maximize efficiency and push things to the limits. So if the design or construction is a little off, it can cause a domino affect.
On the news they said there are 8 vehicles trapped beneath the rubble. Now they are scrambling to get heavy equipment down there to try to start cleaning up.
Well you don't have to be an engineer to figure this problem out. WTF.
Pretty strange. What was moved into place looks like an artistic expression of a stylised truss but those models make it look like a suspension.
Anyway, for something to collapse during construction like this is a major fuckup.
Anyway, for something to collapse during construction like this is a major fuckup.
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This makes no sense. I don't know how this could possibly happen in todays world. Honestly, Its sad but someone will need to pay the price for not getting it done right on a college campus.
As a bridge engineer, this is the stuff of my nightmares.
Reading this article more and more, I think the macro design is just fine. That model in the picture could have been one solution, but it appears the final solution was a large truss. My guess is the problem is in the details, I just don't know if it was a design flaw or construction flaw.
If you think about it, skywalks go 100+ feet sometimes and they're basically just huge trusses more or less that rely on tension/compression force transfer through its members.
There is a time lapse video. I posted it on the first page of this thread.
That's why I got into building design out of college
Now I do construction structural engineer. Most of what I design is only temporary!
If I mess up at work, the HR system goes down, or worst case, payroll is wrong. If you mess up... eesh.
It was still going to be a cable stayed bridge in its final state. You can see the cable connection points on top.
Helps to have video. One of my co-workers did some quick thinking just after the I-35 collapse and grabbed and saved the footage of the collapse that had been captured by our security cams.
