ADVANCED COURSE IN ENGINEERING DESIGN WITH AFRICAN

ACADEMY

TITLE : RESEARCH ON BRIDGE FAILURE

NAME : NEMBAHE ANZANI
SUPERVISOR : Mr. PHIRI
CO-SUPERVISOR : Mr. GREEN
 TABLE OF CONTENTS:
 Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………
 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………...
 Literature review…………………………………………………………………....
Abstract.
Failure of the bridges in transportation system, is one of the most initial component across the
world which occur in different ways. The load-bearing capacity of the bridges must be inspected
and maintained to ensure they meet and comply with national standards to defeats and
withstands against human errors or natural disasters. Lack of knowledge on how large structural
member of the bridge behaves in compression, tension and shearing, produce weak production
that cause bridges to collapse when force are applied within a matter of a second. The analysis
of this investigation is to minimize and overcome the collapse of the bridges as it has been
experienced to be the major challenge in the field of engineering. Learning engineering lessons
from the bridge collapse, provide safety and reduce accident injuries, fatalities and loss of
economy in repairing the damages by proposing techniques that are proper for structural
condition. The study of this topic is to identify the initial events that occur to the collapse of the
bridge by collecting data, so that comprehensive report may be published to the nation and
moreover, to learn lessons from particular incident.

Introduction.
Bridges have been established thousands of years ago to be the most significant components of
transportation system. People have always been transporting themselves and their goods from
one place to another ever since then. So during their movements, they’ll approach rivers, valleys
or mountains, which become a problem to pass from one point to another. Way-back in 7th
century, the hunter gathers tribes used to cross rivers by throwing stones into the water to create
a routine, where stones becomes obstacle rising above the stream that makes a perfect footing
for a person to cross the river, making stones to be formed in a natural occurrence that led to be
the course of the bridge in history. Trees were also cut down and being used as a bridge to pass
river, making timbers and stones to be the oldest materials used to create bridges. During ancient
period, arch structures were found in Egypt in 4000 BC. The ancient roman used their perfect
stones to construct an arch bridge, and they founded it not necessary to place mortar on stones
as the bridges they used to construct became stable once they place a keystone to hold stones
together. Wood plank were also used, beginning with only a deck girder across a stream or valley
for small bridges and short term period to support normal weights. In 17 th century, the
introduction of iron material bridges were established. The material was not as efficient as stone
and was not strong enough for long span bridges. In 1781, the first famous cast iron arch bridge
was built in England by Thomas Prichard which is still in use this days. In 1800, cast iron material
were manufactured in large quantities, that made John Rennie to build three bridges over the
river Thames in period of 10 years . During that econ civilization, there was lot of failure in iron
arch bridges and the structures were being taken to be unsafe. Railroad iron bridges were
neglected in terms of maintenance and trains were becoming heavier. In 1879, this caused the
world longest span famous Tay Bridge to collapse. The event occurred when train was moving
crossing the bridge. The towers in the high girder collapse and led to train to fell into the water,
killing 75 people and injured more while they were trapped in freezing water. The disaster
shocked the world and led to the change in bridge design, construction and inspection. In 19 th
century, the applied of mathematics started to be used in the designing of bridges. Steel material
have been found to be much stronger than iron. It became a reliable bridge material which
withstands high strength especially in cable for suspension and cable-stay bridges. Concrete died
with the ancient Rome. However, James Parker patented Roman cement during 18 th centuries. It
was replaced by Portland cement later. Concrete and steel, founded to be much stronger when
combined together. Early in 19th centuries, introduction to reinforcing, pre-stressing and post-
tension concrete with steel began. The two materials created ultimate composite material for
compression and tension. The first pre-stressed concrete bridge were built in 1927 by Franz
Dischinger in Alsleben Germany. Today, steel and reinforced concrete has become staple in
bridge design around the world even though we are still experiencing errors in the design of
bridges.

Literature review.
Investigation estimates that 90% of through-truss bridges in Washington state have experiences
over-height load strikes over a period of 10 years. The I-5 Skagit River Bridge collapse due to over-
height load strike which is the severe outcome. The oversized container truck (which is the initial
causes of the bridge to collapse) had a maximum clearance vertical height of 4.8m, which exceed
the height of the impacted right edge of the bridge sway frame (4.7m). The Washington state
department of transportation (WSDOT) inspection report, discovered that the northbound
direction of span 5 had some evidence of an over-height load strike. During the incident, the pilot
vehicle driver didn’t alert the oversized container truck driver about vehicle clearance on the
bridge as the pole hits the above components of bridge structures. The oversized container truck
strikes at the first sway frame of the bridge, applying force transvesley to the structure, resulting
in deformation of vertical trusses member and buckling, which causes some span members (U3-
U5W AND L4-U4W) to lose their load-carrying capacity which resulted in collapse [1].
The I-35 bridge concrete deck comprised 70% of the total self-weight of I-35 Bridge when first
opened for traffic. It increases the self-weight by more than 20% when it underwent number of
repair and during its service life. The I-35 bridge collapse instantaneously during concrete deck
repair. Tons of gravel, sand and water trucks were placed on the main bridge span, while the
traffic loading was lightened by the construction-accommodating closing of half of the traffic
lane. Concrete bridge deck, the traffic loading, construction materials and equipment transferred
the weight of the bridge to the ground through settlement of piers. During the process of weight
being transferred to bridge concrete trusses, the gusset plate went to plastic deformation that
exceed beyond the safety factor and some of the connection failed. The failure of the connection
at gusset plate (node U10) associated with separating between the chord truss member
U9/U10W and the diagonal truss member L9/U10W resulted in collapse of structure. The
investigation analysis report, elaborates that the gusset plate in node U10 were designed
incorrectly. The design of gussets were supposed to be 1 inch thick in order for them to remain
elastic with an acceptable factor of safety. Instead, they were 0.5 inch thick [2].
Bridges are regarded as one of the most component of transportation system. Failure of the Tax-
wash Bridge which is located east of City Palm springs on highway 10, occurred due to flooding
resulting from heavy rain. The two constructed bridges structure that carries traffic crossing the
bridge, had a length of about half of the width of the flood path. The rain water channel under
the Tax-wash Bridge that was directing the flood water to the bridge, it made an “S” curve turning
right and then left before going under the bridge. During that incident, the thunderstorm
developed quickly for 24 hours period over southeast California which also affected the area
where the Tax-wash Bridge is located. 17cm rain fell over a span of bridge for only 6 hours,
resulting in causing large amount of flood rush under the bridge. The flow velocity (8m/s) of flood
pressure at the right abutment of the bridge, washed away the infill soil which were used to
support the abutment and left the abutment of the bridge unsupported resulting in its collapse
[2].
The east coast of Japan was attacked by Tohuku tsunami where more than 250 coastal bridges
were washed away and loss of worth US$235 billion. Itatsu Ohashi Bridge, which is one among
those affected bridges, suffered extensive damage where some of the bridges decks were
washed away by the tsunami force. The Tohuku tsunami was produced by a 9.0 Richter
magnitude earthquake that reaches depths of 24.4 km, making it to be the fourth-largest
earthquake recorded. The Utatsu Ohashi Bridge, which consist of 12 spans with pre-stressed
simply supported girders, some of its decks were separated from each other while other decks
were washed away in a slide manner. The behavior of this analysis was caused by the deck
geometry, surrounding topography, water waves speed (>3,13m/s) and the amount of trapped
air between the girder deck during motion of water. The trapped air causes additional uplift force
where the slab deck became unstable at the trapped air height of 75% and 100% of the girder
clear depth. At the height of 100% of the girder clear depth, the slab decks started to lose its
stability and was washed way at a lateral force of 630KN as analyzed by applied element method
software (AEM) [4].
In recent years, accidents of the bridges have occurred in china. The Yangmingtan bridge accident
were caused by the activities of people. The initial cause of the incident was the over-loaded
truck that was supervised by the Yangmingtan bridge operational management office, who
supervised the over-loaded truck to cross the bridge by paying fine instead of reducing the load.
The over-loaded truck travelled across the bridge with a maximum load of 4x105 kg, triggered the
bridge which have a maximum load-carrying capacity of 1x105 kg. This led to the bridge being
subject to uneven stress and overstress in various parts which caused the collapse of the bridge.
Analysis investigation of the bridge, elaborates that the operational management office who was
responsible for the maintenance of the bridge, had not done any other routine maintenance in
the two years of the bridge being in use before it collapse. The design company lack of enough
support and connection part was not strong enough for the stress applied and the original
proposal was changed to save money. The construction company, shortened the construction
time which sacrificed safety, to decrease their cost and improve profitability. The project
supervision company, carried out hazard identification and control were very poor throughout
the project life cycle. Regard to the design, the presents Chinese standards for load-carrying
capacity is inadequate. Poor design was caused by lack of suitable standards [5].
Bridges sometimes fails due to various stages of construction and service. The Chauras lattice
truss girder bridge in Uttarakhand, India, collapse during the repair while casting of the deck slab.
Research report elaborates that the bridge which consisted 190m long with three span
(40m+110m+40m), before repair service took place, its chord members at gusset plates
withstands high compressive stress as it was prevented against buckling by the rivet and there
was no lifting reaction at abutments support under self-weight of the bridge. During the incident,
the casting of the bridge deck started from the mid portion of the 110m span of the bridge
towards the right pier. When concrete was placed at 52.5m from the mid of the of 110m span, it
lifted up 40m end span gradually from abutment and that caused the strength of this member to
be affected by residual stress, initial low and accidental eccentricities of load . The applied load
affected the compressive stress in member U13U14 to go beyond 72 yield stress in thick plates,
which was in far excess of the 30 limit. Thus led to top chord compression member to buckle
resulting in collapse of the bridge without any warning claiming six lives with it [6].
The I-10 bridge (10 twin bridge), which was built over Lake Pontchartrain between new Orleans
and Slidell L.A, has generated a great interest among hydrologist and structural engineers when
it collapsed while nearby bridges suffered little or no damage during Hurricane Katrina. The 10
twin bridge, which was 2.6m above mean high water level, was rendered completely unusable
when the low causeway and the navigation channel was attacked by storm surge generated by
Katrina. It was determined that air was trapped beneath the deck of the bridge and causeway
suffered significant damage that led to 38 span from the eastbound bridge and 20 span from
westbound bridge to collapse into the water. Hydrostatic analysis was conducted on laboratory
using a box facing downwards on open side to illustrate the role of air trapped beneath a bridge
deck. Air became trapped inside the box when the water level rose above the level of the open
side of the box. When the box reaches a value of 55%, the affective gravity of the box became
zero and the box floated on the surface of the water. For the I-10 Bridge, the value of each bridge
deck was estimated to be 70% during effective loss of gravity load which led to the bridge deck
floating on the surface of the water. After air trapped beneath bridge deck escaped, the space
filled with water and the bridge deck landed again on the piers but in a different transverse
location. Two nearby bridges sustained the effect of the storm. The U.S 11 Bridge had holes in
the middle of every span that allowed air to escape. Railway Bridge suffered a small portion
washed away and the design of the railway bridge makes it difficult to trap air beneath the slab
[7].
Typhoons and earthquakes are major natural disasters that are prior exposed in the East of Asia
at Taiwan. Bridges that crosses the Da-chi River in central Taiwan, are subjected to threats by the
rivers with steep slope gradient and rapid flow during floods associated with typhoons. Houfeng
Bridge, is one among the bridges that has collapsed in the typhoon floods event in 2008. Before
the event occur, the agency had identified 40 bridges to be repaired and 10 among of those 40
bridges, needed reconstruction immediately. Critical bridges at high risk of collapse during floods
were still open for traffic even they were considered extremely scour-critical. The Houfeng Bridge
firstly survived the typhoon episode occurred in July 2008. In September, same floods at a level
of 204.27m above mean sea level (MSL) pelted Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rains
resulting in collapsing of 6 bridges (including Houfeng Bridge) with 8 vehicles buried by landslide,
claiming 7 lives and 14 people injured. The da-chi river is regarded as the third longest river in
Taiwan and it approaches the bridge at an angle of 15 0. Record elaborates that in 1994, pipeline
was originally constructed beneath a river bed at a depth of 7m. In 2005 typhoon Haitang and
Matsa, scour took place resulting in the exposure of pipeline and foundation of pier 2. The
directorate general of highways (DGH) had launched a lot of concrete armor units to strengthen
the extreme scour critical. Since Houfeng Bridge opened for traffic, natural hazards contributed
to the collapse of the bridge by a direct influence on long-term river bed degration. In 9 years
period, the bed degration caused exposure to the caissons and total bed degration was recorded
at 4.51m 2008 [8].
Typhoons, in the south of Korea was 26.7 per year over the past period of 30 years from 1971 to
2000. However, the typhoon maemi occurred in 2003 was the worst disaster which damaged the
old Gupo Bridge. The old Gupo Bridge was built to cross the Nakdong River that have floodplain
with insufficient flood-conveyance capacity during typhoons. The design of flood discharge to
protect against bridge pier scour was used at Gupo Bridge which was recommended by the city
of Busan. During the event of typhoon maemi, the Nakdong riverbed was damaged from
extremely rainfall precipitation combined with a severe typhoon surge. The maximum water level
recorded at Gupo Bridge was 5.06m and the peak discharge reached 13.000m3/s resulting in the
collapse of 1.06km long Gupo Bridge span after the loss of 19th pier. The pier collapsed due to
high flow velocity of floods and bridge pier scour. After the accident, three design plans were
proposed to protect and retrofitting the Gupo Bridge. Plan 1 with sheet piles and riprap to protect
bridge piers against scour was recommended, but doubled the cost of plan 3. Plan 2 was
eliminated and later after deliberation, plan 3 was selected by the city of Busan in 2006 [9].