Over 500 failures of bridge structures in the United States between 1989 and 2000 were studied. The age of the failed bridges ranged from 1 year (during construction) to 157 years, with an average of 52.5 years. The most frequent causes of bridge failures were attributed to floods and collisions. Flood and scour, with the major flood disaster in 1993, contributed to the frequency peak of bridge failures (almost 53% of all failures). Bridge overload and lateral impact forces from trucks, barges/ships, and trains constitute 20% of the total bridge failures. Other frequent principal causes are design, detailing, construction, material, and maintenance. Comparison made among three periods of similar studies (1977–1981, 1982–1988, and 1989–2000) revealed almost similar trends, with most failures occurring during the bridge’s service life. Also, human-induced external events occurred frequently in all three periods, but were most dominant in the first and third periods. Technological advances in information sys...

Analysis of recent bridge failures in the united states

A structural monitoring system comprises a plurality of modular, battery powered data acquisition devices which transmit structural information to a central data collection and analysis device over a wireless data link. The data acquisition devices each comprise mechanical vibration sensors, data acquisition circuitry, a digital wireless transmitter, and a battery for providing electrical power to the device. The central data collection device comprises a digital wireless receiver that receives data sent from the data acquisition devices, and a microprocessor for processing the data. A more powerful computer may be interfaced with the central device to provide more sophisticated analysis after a natural hazard or other extreme event. A methodology for operating the monitoring system is also disclosed.

A modular, wireless damage monitoring system for structures

Performance-based response evaluation of reinforced concrete columns subject to vehicle impact

Performance and sensitivity analysis of UHPFRC-strengthened bridge columns subjected to vehicle collisions

Response of shear-deficient reinforced circular RC columns under lateral impact loading

Information drawn from national engineering magazines, a nationally distributed newspaper, and a statewide newspaper in Kentucky is presented for 114 bridge failures in the continental U.S. Failures during the construction stage and bridges that were closed in order to avoid failure were not considered. Of the 35 bridge failures reported in the Kentucky newspaper, only one was reported nationally. The study of this literature indicates that the principal source of bridge failures in the United States involves ships, trains, trucks, and cars colliding with the structures. In Kentucky, trucks exceeding the posted weight limit appear to be the major cause. Due to the scattered nature of the information, the formationn of a new division of the Federal Highway Administration or the National Transportation and Safety Board should be considered, whose mission would be to gather data and identify potential deficiencies in bridge design and construction.

United States Bridge Failures, 1951–1988

The purpose of this paper is to collect and classify bridge failures that occurred in the United States from 1951 through 1988 The work reported herre is the first paurt of an ongoing research project on the lifeline design of bridges, whose objective is to investigate the feasibility of applying lifeline design to bridges "Lifeline design" is an established principle in the design and construction of buildings It requires that a structure be designed and constructed so that even if a critical component fails, the structure will not totally collapse; rather, the bridge will still carry its own weight plus a specified portion of the design live load There will be large deformations and cracking, but no loss of life; thus the name lifeline design The information contained in this article is drawn entirely from engineering magazines, one nationally distributed newspaper ( the New York Times), and one statewide newspaper ( the Louisville Courier Journal)

Bridge failures, 1951-1988

A review article: isogeometric boundary element analysis in engineering applications

Experimental investigation of the dynamics of slightly curved cantilevered pipes conveying fluid

An indirect boundary element method (BEM) based on isogeometric analysis (IGA) is proposed for 2D Helmholtz acoustic problems using virtual continuous sources placed directly on the problem boundary. The virtual sources form a virtual boundary identical to the main problem boundary. The proposed solution couples the CAD model with the analysis model by approximating both the CAD model and the virtual continuous sources with the same non-uniform rational B-spline functions (NURBS). Moreover, neither domain discretization nor truncation boundaries at the far-field are required. This solution creates only one coefficient matrix by directly arranging the linear system of equations. The solution follows a collocation scheme on the boundaries based on Greville abscissae with offsets wherever C0 continuity is encountered to permit an easy prediction for the normal directions and the free-terms at the collocation points required in the cases of Neumann and Robin boundary conditions. It allows us also to treat all integrals with standard Gauss quadrature points. Several numerical examples for exterior and interior acoustic problems are discussed to verify the proposed solution with comparisons to analytical solutions and previously published numerical results. These examples prove the robustness of the proposed solution even for high wavenumbers, in contrast to the previous attempts which implemented extensive investigations to find out the optimum place of the sources outside the domain producing minimum errors. Furthermore, no fictitious eigenfrequency problem is observed for exterior acoustic problems. 

A M Shaaban

Papers

United States Bridge Failures, 1951–1988

Bridge failures, 1951-1988

A review article: isogeometric boundary element analysis in engineering applications

Experimental investigation of the dynamics of slightly curved cantilevered pipes conveying fluid

Isogeometric indirect BEM solution based on virtual continuous sources placed directly on the boundary of 2D Helmholtz acoustic problems