Failures
The Tecoma Narrows Bridge
The Bridge was
originally completed in mid 1940's. It had been open to
traffic for only a few months. Passengers that used the
bridge noticed that it had a slight twist to it. The
nickname "Galloping Gertie" was given to the
bridge shortly there after. The bridge actually was
twisting in a torsional movement. This movement was
induced by wind. The wind caused vibrations that the
bridge was not designed to handle.
The Tecoma Narrows
Bridge moving fromthe wind.
On November 7, 1940 the
winds reached 42 mph. The city officials closed the
bridge down because they noticed the bridges movement
increased with the wind. The bridge that was not designed
to take the torture the wind put on it, failed. The
movement from the wind tore a 25 foot section of pavement
and the cables holding them, to the water.
View the bridge
actually moving in a short video clip.
The clip is a short
250 frames, taken from the famous footage of the bridge
falling down.
It shows the torsional movement, and the last remaining
car left on the bridge.
This is the bridge today. After researching the mistakes made previously, they have built a very Rigid Bridge.
The New Bridge.
Hyatt Regency Hotel Walkway Disaster
On July 17, 1981, the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas
City, Missouri held a Tea Party and dance. With many
party-goers standing and dancing on the suspended
walkways, connections supporting the ceiling rods that
held up the second and fourth-floor walkways a cross the
atrium failed.
The aftermath of the walkways falling.
Both walkways collapsed onto the crowded first-floor
atrium below. The Forth-floor walkway was suspended over
the second-floor walkway. The walkway for the third-floor
was offset and clear of the other two, so it remained
standing . 114 people died, and over 200 were injured. To
this day it is the United States' most devastating
structural failure, in terms of loss of life and
injuries. Immediately after the accident everyone wanted
to know who was to blame. It was narrowed down to the
firm that designed the walkway and the contractor who
built it. Both neglected certain responsibilities. The
designer (G.C.E. International, Inc., a professional
engineering firm) detailed a difficult structure to
build. So the contractor (Havens Steel Company) changed
the original detail to suit an easier way to construct
the walkway. The original design was too week and would
not have passed Code if it had been properly inspected.
But the way they were built subtracted their load
capacity by half. And failure was just a matter of time.
This is how the walkway was built. The original design
was to have a continuous bolt travel strait to the next
landing.
The Tecoma Narrows Bridge
Failure.Conn:Moore,Kristen S.
Retrieved October 20, 1998 from the World Wide
Web:http://www.math.uconn.edu/kmoore/tacoma.htm
Tecoma Narrows Bridge Failure.Smith, Doug. Retrieved October 20, 1998 from the World Wide Web:http://www.civeng.carleton.ca/Exhibits/Tacoma_Narrows/DSmith/photos.htm
Engineering Ethics, The Kansas City Hyatt Regency Walkways Collapse. Photographs by Dr. Lee Lowery. Retrieved November 10, 1998 from the World Wide Web: http://ethics.tamu.edu/ethics/hyatt/hyatt2.htm
The Kansas City Hyatt Regency Walkways Collapse(1992, June). Department of Philosophy and Department of Mechanical Engineering Texas A&M University. Texas: Retrieved November11, 1998 from the World Wide Web:http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/users/j/jherkert/hyatt.htm