2.

9 Lessons learned

Steel is one of the most commonly used building material in construction. Steel is an alloy

made up of a combination of various varying amounts of elements such as Carbon and Iron as

the majority constitutional elements but Silicon, Phosphorus, Copper and Manganese may be

added to create an operational and robust alloy. Steel has vast benefits over other building

materials because it has high strength, ductility, stiffness but it also has its drawbacks in that

steel is prominently vulnerable to weathering by water and other chemicals eventually lead to

let-down of steel (Thomson et al, 2016).

Steel structures also undergo fracturing where physical parting of steel occurs into dualistic

parts or maybe formation of voids and cracks in steel joining materials. Fracture may occur in

terms of:

1. Ductile Fracture: this is caused by stresses either compression stress or tension stress

on steel (Patterson et al, 2018).

2. Cleavage Fracture: it occurs at grain boundaries and is also referred to as brittle

fracture. It has three components start, growth and micro cracks nucleation.

3. Intergranular fracture: occurs mostly in steel castings and ingots depending on the

chemical conformation of the structure in the steel material (Patterson et al, 2018).

4. Linear elastic fracture: occurs in two stages nucleation of cracks and growing of

cracks. Increase in the concentration of stresses in the steel also increases with

increase in the length and extent of cracks thus increase in the event of fracture (Fuller

et al, 2018).

It is important to note that when dead loads are concentrated they may cause an increase

in stresses on steel bridges thus may lead to collapse of bridges. This can be attributed to
an increase in the daily traffic volume and flow data of vehicles on the I-35W Bridge

((Howard et al, 2015).

The design of bridges is one of the most critical reasons as to why steel bridges collapse

therefore the choice of span length, number of piers, choice of the bridge type and

materials used to construct a bridge should be critically analysed to avert collapse of steel

bridges (Walsh et al, 2016).

It is also a matter of great concern that the criteria of engineering process as well as

construction process be taken into great concern as the serviceability of bridge design is

being computed. The effect of buckling, stresses due to both tension and compression

should be carefully calculated and not underestimated. The design of buildings based on

safe design and not just economical aspect of design should be considered. The

importance of checking on the allowable working stress loads and connections on the

bridge should be computed thoroughly to avoid buckling and the collapse of bridges.

Bridges collapse also as a result of failure that occurs during the erecting stage of the

bridge construction cycle. A classic example occurred during the buckling failure of the

Fourth Danube Bridge in Austria. High regions of high moment caused buckling during

the cantilever construction method of bridge erection. There was sagging during the day

due to exposure to sunlight but in the evening tension occurred due to the cold. The

buckling occurred when the bottom flanges of the box-girders failed. The designers

wrongly designed the in-service loads with tension loads instead of compression loads.

The design of bridges should be in a stout and safe manner so that the public outlook on

the engineering career can be upheld.

The design of bridges to carry pedestrians, vehicles, trains and other live loads safely can

be complicated due to the multifaceted nature of the loads and behaviour of the bridge.
 The oversimplification of the loading criteria as well as the dynamic physical and

structural behaviour of the bridge may lead to tragic results. These failures may be termed

as in-service failures but can be categories into four types:

1. Flaws as a result of design.

2. Flaws as a result of inadequacy of the building materials.

3. Flaws due to overloading on the bridge.

4. Flaws resulting to issues in maintenance of the bridge.

Flaws as a result of design.

The use of unique designs and newly discovered construction materials may lead to

unexpected outcomes in terms of design and construction of bridges as well as unanticipated

loads due to static and vibrant behaviour. The longest train bridge in the world in 1878 was

the Tay Bridge and in the year 1879 it collapsed when a train ferrying mail was crossing and

75 individuals were killed. The designers forgot to include the effect of wind loads in the

design. They assumed that the open-truce lattice work allowed wind to pass through but this

was however not the case because the passing train transferred the wind load towards the

structure hence causing the collapse of the bridge. The piers were also narrow and could not

carry the lateral thrust and this lead to the failure of the bridge into the deep water. The bridge

was also constructed with defective joints and they later cracked due to fatigue and finally

collapsing of the bridge occurred. The collapse of the Tay Bridge in Scotland emphasised the

problematic nature of tall structured constructed in areas with heavy and strong winds. This

taught design engineers that importance of checking the stability and the effect of load

combinations when designing and constructing bridges as well as the effect of fatigue in

bridges constructed with iron.

The effect of the dynamic nature of wind loads on bridges was also however underestimated

during the design and construction of the Tacoma Narrow Bridge. The static nature of wind

loads on suspension bridges should be calculated as well as the emphasis on the need for

wind tunnelling test of suspension bridges. The bridge after collapsing was rebuilt with a

wider bridge deck and deeper bridge girders so as to safeguard the much need stiffer design

particularly against torsion forces.

The effect of the full-depth cracking in more than one bridge girder was among the reasons as

to why the Hoan Bridge in Wisconsin was repaired. The spoiled span were demolished and

the bridge was taken out of service immediately when they noticed the cracking had started to

develop. The oblique bracing attached to the bridge girders near the tension flange developed

cracks and experienced stress levels larger than the nominal yielding stress for steel in the

bridge girder’s web by over sixty percent. The problematic effect of stress would have caused

a collapse of the bridge as fractures would have become more brittle and lead to failure of the

bridge girders.

The need for retrofitting after the opening of bridge should be done. This can be highlighted

by the lessons learnt from the Millennium Bridge in London though it has never shrunken.

Retrofitting was done due to the large displacements experienced by the oscillations hence

the need for the addition of Tuned Mass Dampers and a viscous damper.

Flaws as a result of inadequacy of the building materials.

The choice of bridge construction material may influence if the bridge will collapse or not.

Bridges were formally constructed using forged iron, then wrought iron and finally wrought

iron was superseded by low-carbon structural steel. Problems associated with the production

of member joining from structural steel have been linked with the collapse of bridges. The

member joining associated with bridge construction include welding, riveting and bolting
members. . Problems associated with the responses from structural steel have been linked

with the collapse of bridges. Responses associated with the behaviour of structural steel in the

construction of bridges include fracturing, fatigue and corrosion. This problems have resulted

in the failure of bridges and have also taught us the need for quality assurance and control

during the fabrication of the construction materials. The enforcement of building standards as

well as choice of strong and stern construction materials and the specifications related with

construction of bridges should be enforced. The importance of maintenance and inspection of

bridges during all the construction cycles should be emphasised heavily.

Flaws due to overloading on the bridge.

Load resistance is very important in structural design but the load resistance of bridges should

resist load design for safety to be taken into account. The redistribution of loads on the

alternate load paths should be emphasised so that performance should be taken for. The

feature of designing bridges so that performance is achieved is known as redundancy or

robustness. Bridges should be design and constructed to resist the effect of overloading. The

failure on the bridge’s gusset plate caused the failure of the trusses of the Grand Bridge,

Cleveland in 1960. Issues concerning the undersizing of the gusset plates also caused the

collapse of the I-35 W, Minnesota in 2007. The redesigning and cross-checking of the design

load capacities and strength should be calculated for the adequate performance of steel brides.

Flaws resulting to issues in maintenance of the bridge.

Lack of maintenance of bridges causes bridges to collapse. The repair and maintenance of

bridges is needed when bridge members are degraded by adverse weather conditions,

exposure to harmful chemicals, aging. Maintenance and repair is also needed when bridge

connection members experience unexpected motion and therefore alter the projected

relocation of internal reactions and forces. Strength degradation of steel is caused by

corrosion of steel and hence increasing the possibility of bridge collapse. Scouring of bridge

foundation piers should also be inspected and the bridge repaired and protected from the

effect of scouring.

Extreme Weather and Natural Conditions

Extreme loads caused by adverse natural events such as cyclonic typhoons, storms,

hurricanes and tornadoes, floods, tsunamis, earthquakes can be difficult to measure for during

the design cycle of bridge construction. Other unpredictable events such as colliding of

vehicles and vehicles catching fires under bridges or close to bridge piers can be foreseen but

their loading effect can be catastrophic in nature.

 References

Thomson, R. M. “Structure of Solids,” Fracture: An Advanced Treatise, vol. 1, New York:

Academic Press, 2016, pp. 2‐96. 22

Patterson, Richard L. “Experimental Observations of Dislocations,” Fracture: An

Advanced Treatise, vol. 1, New York: Academic Press, 2018, pp. 184‐239. 23

Fuller, R. W., et. al., 2018 “Failure analysis of AISI 304 stainless steel shaft,” Engineering

Failure Analysis, number. 15, pp. 835‐846.

Hill, Howard J., et. al., 2015. I‐35 Bridge over the Mississippi River: Collapse

Investigation. Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc. WJE No. 2007.3702.

Walsh, Dan, et. al., Bridge Design Group Chairman Factual Report. National

Transportation Safety Board. 23 Oct 2016. File ID: 404013. 28