Failed Bridges

Gilt immer noch, dass ein Bauwerkseinsturz der beste Lehrmeister für den Fortschritt des Bauens ist? Oder, anders formuliert: Ist Bauen dann, wenn wir das Bewährte verlassen und Neues wagen, "Experimentieren"? Über die Ursache von Schadensfällen und Einstürzen, die oft mit dem Verlust von Menschenleben verbunden sind, wird nicht gern öffentlich gesprochen. Aber aus Fehlern kann man lernen. Die Lehren und Erfahrungen aus den Schadensauswertungen führen zu mehr Sicherheit und oft zum Innovationsschub. Die Kenntnis der Schadensursachen ist Voraussetzung für ihre zukünftige Vermeidung. Mit diesem Buch liegt eine systematische Zusammenstellung von über 400 Versagensfällen vor, die in besonderer Weise betrachtet werden: Sie werden nach dem Zeitpunkt ihres Auftretens im Lebenszyklus der Brücke, z. B. im Bauzustand oder im Betrieb, und nach den Schadensereignissen, z. B. Anprall oder Erdbeben, geordnet. Die wichtigsten Ursachen sind: menschliches Versagen, mangelnde Aussteifung, Materialversagen oder Überlastung. Es werden vorwiegend Brückeneinstürze, die in der Literatur wenig oder nach dem Urteil des Verfassers nicht vollständig oder nicht zutreffend behandelt sind, ausführlich analysiert. Mit Akribie gesammelt, kompetent und exzellent aufgearbeitet und mit Mut präsentiert, ergibt dies eine unverzichtbare Erkenntnisquelle für jeden Bauingenieur in der Praxis und für das Studium. Ein Katalog von Regeln wurde erstellt. Seine Beachtung kann helfen, Fehler bei Entwurf, Planung und Ausführung zu vermeiden.

Sponsored by the Water Resources Engineering (Hydraulics) Divsion of ASCE. This collection contains 75 papers and 321 abstracts presented at conferences sponsored by the Water Resources Engineering (Hydraulics) Division of ASCE from 1991 through 1998. The collection contains many new and expanded versions of the original papers and is designed to assist the practitioner with the concepts in evaluating stream instability and scour at bridges. Topics include: history of bridge scour research; bridge scour determination; stream stability and geomorphology; construction scour; instrumentation for measuring and monitoring; field measurement; computer and physical modeling of bridge scour; scour at culverts; and economic and risk analysis. One important paper contains 384 field measurements of local scour at piers made by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Discusses "the safety concepts which form the basis of modern bridge design and assessment codes" and "the background work carried out in the development of the new UK bridge and route-specific traffic loading requirements, and the proposed whole life performance-based assessment rules" -- Preface.

Bridge Maintenance, Safety, Management, Life-Cycle Sustainability and Innovations contains lectures and papers presented at the Tenth International Conference on Bridge Maintenance, Safety and Management (IABMAS 2020), held in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan, April 11–15, 2021. This volume consists of a book of extended abstracts and a USB card containing the full papers of 571 contributions presented at IABMAS 2020, including the T.Y. Lin Lecture, 9 Keynote Lectures, and 561 technical papers from 40 countries. The contributions presented at IABMAS 2020 deal with the state of the art as well as emerging concepts and innovative applications related to the main aspects of maintenance, safety, management, life-cycle sustainability and technological innovations of bridges. Major topics include: advanced bridge design, construction and maintenance approaches, safety, reliability and risk evaluation, life-cycle management, life-cycle sustainability, standardization, analytical models, bridge management systems, service life prediction, maintenance and management strategies, structural health monitoring, non-destructive testing and field testing, safety, resilience, robustness and redundancy, durability enhancement, repair and rehabilitation, fatigue and corrosion, extreme loads, and application of information and computer technology and artificial intelligence for bridges, among others. This volume provides both an up-to-date overview of the field of bridge engineering and significant contributions to the process of making more rational decisions on maintenance, safety, management, life-cycle sustainability and technological innovations of bridges for the purpose of enhancing the welfare of society. The Editors hope that these Proceedings will serve as a valuable reference to all concerned with bridge structure and infrastructure systems, including engineers, researchers, academics and students from all areas of bridge engineering.

Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. Reliability models for combinations of extreme events -- Chapter 3. Calibration of load factors for combinations of extreme events -- Chapter 4. Conclusions and future research -- References -- Glossary of notations -- Appendixes.

TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 354: Inspection and Management of Bridges with Fracture-Critical Details explores the inspection and maintenance of bridges with fracture-critical members (FCMs), as defined in the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials' Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) Bridge Design Specifications. The report identifies gaps in literature related to the subject; determines practices and problems with how bridge owners define, identify, document, inspect, and manage bridges with fracture-critical details; and identifies specific research needs. Among the areas examined in the report are inspection frequencies and procedures; methods for calculating remaining fatigue life; qualification, availability, and training of inspectors; cost of inspection programs; instances where inspection programs prevented failures; retrofit techniques; fabrication methods and inspections; and experience with fracture-critical members fractures and problems details.

A multidisciplinary and accessible introduction to humanity’s favorite structure: the bridge. Whether you are a student considering a career in civil engineering and transportation planning, a public official interested in the future of infrastructure, or a person who simply cares about bridges, this book offers an accessible and illustrated introduction to the most beloved feature of our built environment. Learn about engineering basics: the forces that bridges must resist to stay aloft and the principles by which engineers decide which types of bridges make sense at which sites. Find out how engineers protect bridges from their greatest threats—the earthquakes, floods, and other hazards that can cause catastrophic damage. Moving from engineering to planning, learn how we decide whether a bridge is worth building in the first place, learn about controversial features of cost-benefit analysis, and about the transportation models by which planners forecast bridge effects on traffic patterns. Investigate a sometimes intractable problem: why a project often creeps along for a decade or more to get from initial studies to the day the ribbon is cut, undergoing vast cost escalations. Also explore the environmental impact of bridges, and the meaning of a “sustainable bridge,” and whether bridges could once again be built, like ancient Roman ones, to last a thousand years. “Authoritative, comprehensive, and fun to read, this book is for everyone interested in bridges, from the lay reader to the techie who likes to see how things work. It also will serve as an excellent companion to beginning design students in architecture and engineering, and it should be on the shelf of civil engineers, architects, and contractors, too.” — Robert E. Paaswell, City College of New York “This work will help educated but nonspecialist decision makers to appreciate the complexity of bridge design, construction, and maintenance in making decisions that impact bridges.” — Niraj Verma, Virginia Commonwealth University

"A bridge shouldn't just fall down," Senator Amy Klobuchar said after the August 1, 2007, collapse of the Minneapolis I-35W eight-lane steel truss bridge, which killed 13 motorists, injured 145, and left a collective wound on the city's psyche and infrastructure. On her way to a soccer game with a fellow teammate, Kimberly J. Brown experienced the collapse firsthand, falling 114 feet in her teammate's car to the Mississippi River. Although terrified, injured, and in shock, she survived. In this sobering memoir and exposé, Brown recounts her harrowing experience. In the aftermath of the disaster, Brown became both an advocate for survivors and an unofficial whistle-blower about decaying infrastructure. She details her investigation and correspondence with Thornton Tomasetti engineers, including the false official account of the collapse and the eventual revelation of its real causes. In addition, she chronicles the ongoing decay of America's bridges and the continuing challenges faced by leaders to address infrastructure problems across the country. After nearly a decade of research into the collapse and her active and ongoing recovery from psychic and physical injuries, Brown shares her experience and answers the questions we should all be asking: Why did this bridge collapse? And what could have been done to prevent this tragedy?

Maintenance, Safety, Risk, Management and Life-Cycle Performance of Bridges contains lectures and papers presented at the Ninth International Conference on Bridge Maintenance, Safety and Management (IABMAS 2018), held in Melbourne, Australia, 9-13 July 2018. This volume consists of a book of extended abstracts and a USB card containing the full papers of 393 contributions presented at IABMAS 2018, including the T.Y. Lin Lecture, 10 Keynote Lectures, and 382 technical papers from 40 countries. The contributions presented at IABMAS 2018 deal with the state of the art as well as emerging concepts and innovative applications related to the main aspects of bridge maintenance, safety, risk, management and life-cycle performance. Major topics include: new design methods, bridge codes, heavy vehicle and load models, bridge management systems, prediction of future traffic models, service life prediction, residual service life, sustainability and life-cycle assessments, maintenance strategies, bridge diagnostics, health monitoring, non-destructive testing, field testing, safety and serviceability, assessment and evaluation, damage identification, deterioration modelling, repair and retrofitting strategies, bridge reliability, fatigue and corrosion, extreme loads, advanced experimental simulations, and advanced computer simulations, among others. This volume provides both an up-to-date overview of the field of bridge engineering and significant contributions to the process of more rational decision-making on bridge maintenance, safety, risk, management and life-cycle performance of bridges for the purpose of enhancing the welfare of society. The Editors hope that these Proceedings will serve as a valuable reference to all concerned with bridge structure and infrastructure systems, including students, researchers and engineers from all areas of bridge engineering.