Suspension Bridges

Professor Filip C. Filippou Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of California, Berkeley

Verantius Pons Ferreus (Iron Bridge ca. 1600 AD)

Verantius Suspension Bridge (ca 1600 AD)

Interesting web sites and some references

http://www.firebirdz.net/tnb/, The Complete Tacoma Narrows Info Center http://www.iti.nwu.edu/links/bridges/disasters.html, Bridge Disasters http://www.ketchum.org/wind.html, Bridge Aerodynamics Why Buildings Fall Down by Matthys Levy and Mario Salvadori, paperback, WW Norton and Company Why Buildings Stand Up, The Strength of Architecture by Mario Salvadori paperback, WW Norton and Company

Menai Straits (1826)

579 ft

Clifton bridge (1830-1864), Bristol, England

702 ft

Brooklyn Bridge (1863), New York

1595 ft = 486 m

Brooklyn Bridge (1863), New York

Manhattan Bridge (1909), New York

1470 ft = 448 m

Manhattan Bridge (1909)

1470 ft = 448 m

Benjamin Franklin Bridge (Philadelphia) 1922-1926

1750 ft = 535 m

Golden Gate Bridge (1933-1937)

Depth/Span = 1/168

Deck depth = 7.6 m

4200 ft = 1280 m

Tower height: 748 ft (228 m)

Deck width = 27 m

Width/Span = 1/47

First Tacoma Narrows Bridge (opened July 1, 1940)

Main span: 2,800 ft (840 m)

Tower height: 420 ft (126 m)

Stiffening girder depth: 8 ft (2.4 m)

Deck width: 39 ft

Ratio of girder width to span: 1/72

Depth/Span = 1/350

Tacoma Narrows Bridge (economic constraints)

So the state scrapped its first design - $11 million - and turned to Leon Moisseiff. Moisseiff, a well-regarded designer and researcher, calculated that a considerably lighter deck -stiffened only by a thin plate girder, not a deep truss - would do, thus cutting the cost to only $6.4 million.

Tacoma Narrows (spinning the suspesion cable)

First Tacoma Narrows (spinning the suspension cable)

The disaster strikes on November 7, 1940

Franklin D. Roosevelt had just returned to the White House from Hyde Park having ust won an unprecedented third term as president of the United States.

At 10 am PST the wind velocity at the bridge was 42 mph. The bridge center rose and fell 38 times a minute with a 3 ft amplitude. Suddenly, the bridge started twistin violently ...

Galloping Gertie

Second Tacoma Narrows Bridge (1950)

Third Tacoma Narrows Bridge (2001-2005)

Third Tacoma Narrows Bridge

2800 ft

Severn Bridge (England) (1961-1966)

First suspension bridge with hollow box girder with aerodynamic profile

988 m

Humber Bridge (England)

Main Span 1410 m Deck width 28.5 m 1/47 Deck depth 4.5 m

Great Belt Suspension Bridge (Denmark) (1996)

Main Span 1624 m

Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge (Kobe Japan) (1988-1998)

Main span: 6,527 ft (1991 m)

Tower height: 927 ft (283 m)

Longest Suspension Bridge in the World

Name
Akashi Kaikyo Great Belt East Humber Jangyn Tsing Ma Verrazano Narrows Golden Gate Hoga Kusten Mackinac

Span
1991 1624 1410 1385 1377 1298 1280 1210 1158

Year
1998 1998 1981 1999 1999 1964 1937 1997 1957 1988

Location
Kobe-Naruto Route Halsskov-Sprogoe Kingston-upon-Hull Jiangsu (Yangtze river) Hong Kong (Lantau Island) New York City San Francisco Veda Mackinaw City, Michigan Kojima-Sakaide Route Japan Denmark U.K. China Hong Kong U.S.A. U.S.A. Sweden U.S.A. Japan

Minami (South) 1100 Bisan-Seto

Next: the Straits of Messina

Main Span: 3300 m = 10082 ft

eck width/span 1/55

Straits of Messina: Scylla and Charibde

3300 m