Initially people thought it was funny, eventually it was disastrous. Why did the Tacoma narrows bridge sway so violently in the breeze?
The Tacoma Narrows Bridge was one-of-a-kind - a new suspension bridge that was lighter than any before, and the third largest in the world.
The bridge opened in 1940, and was used by regular traffic. However, it soon became apparent that something was wrong – the bridge would sway violently, even in light breezes of up to 10 miles per hour.
Engineers were puzzled, but people were evidently unworried as the bridge became a tourist attraction. People would travel for miles just to drive over ‘Galloping Gertie’, as the bridge had been nicknamed.
Sadly, on November 7th 1940, the bridge finally collapsed into the water. See the collapse for yourself:
Engineers say that the bridge collapsed due to aeroelastic flutter - aerodynamic forces on an object coupling with a structure’s natural mode of vibration, which causes greater movement than would normally be expected. This means that the wind acting on the bridge would have magnified the vibration that occurred naturally.
As this ‘flutter’ took effect, the movements increased each time, as the wind pumped in more energy than the bridge could compensate for. Eventually the movement of the bridge (one side would ride up, the other side down, creating a ‘twisting’ effect) became too much for the bridge’s suspension cables, and they snapped.
Do you think anything like this could happen again, or do you trust that we have good enough safety systems in place to prevent these accidents from happening?
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