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posted by martyb on Thursday August 16 2018, @08:20AM   Printer-friendly
from the but-lets-talk-about-their-aquaducts dept.

https://www.npr.org/2018/08/14/638462800/suspension-bridge-on-busy-highway-partially-collapses-in-genoa:

A long section of the towering Ponte Morandi Bridge completely collapsed in Genoa, Italy, on Tuesday, sending cars and trucks on the A10 highway crashing down below. Dozens of people died in the bridge failure, officials say.

As news emerged from the chaotic scene, the death toll fluctuated several times Tuesday. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said there were 22 dead, according to public broadcaster Rai News. But Italy's ANSA news agency has reported at least 37 people died, citing the fire brigade.

Workers have found bodies and vehicles in the massive amount of wreckage left by the collapse — and at least 11 people have been pulled from the rubble alive, Italian media report.

[...] The disaster struck shortly before noon, when one of the bridge's central pillars collapsed during a violent rainstorm. A witness told ANSA that lightning had struck the bridge before the collapse.

[...] The bridge was built in the late 1960s, at a length of more than 3,600 feet. It had recently been the subject of renovation and repair efforts. Italian roadway company Autostrade says the most recent work included consolidating the viaduct's base — a project that included installing a bridge crane.

Besides the obvious news value of this event, I'd be curious of any civil engineers or structural engineers could comment on the engineering behind such things. What causes these types of crumblings to happen, and exactly how reliable is infrastructure around the world?


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  • (Score: 2) by isj on Thursday August 16 2018, @07:22PM (1 child)

    by isj (5249) on Thursday August 16 2018, @07:22PM (#722441) Homepage

    Engineers do learn math but they also have the good sense to perform empirical tests

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  • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday August 16 2018, @07:47PM

    by bob_super (1357) on Thursday August 16 2018, @07:47PM (#722453)

    These days you get the computer to calculate the sway and tell you your margin.
    Then, at the end of construction, you drive a whole bunch of trucks onto your bridge and measure the flexing against the math.
    Nobody does destructive testing on full-scale expensive multi-year (and usually late) projects. Material science has made a lot of progress, and mechanical engineers and architects don't need to trigger a 7.0 quake to verify their margins.