Why bridges collapse

Why bridges collapse

Read a civil engineering article about why bridges fall to practise and improve your reading skills.

Do the preparation task first. Then read the text and do the exercises.

Preparation

Reading text

Some of the biggest and most expensive transportation projects in the world have involved building bridges. Bridges are crucial links that carry cars, trucks and trains across bodies of water, mountain gorges or other roads. As a result, they are one of the most important aspects of civil engineering and are subject to intense scrutiny, especially when they collapse.

Bridge collapses can be tragic events, leading to loss of life and serious property damage. That's why bridge engineers, designers and builders must always take their jobs very seriously. The best way for them to prevent these accidents is to understand why bridges collapse in the first place. Understanding bridge collapses can lead to major changes in the design, construction and safety of future building projects. The following are main reasons why bridges fall.

Fire

Historically, more bridges were made of wood and were much more susceptible to fire. This was particularly true of old-fashioned train bridges, where the spark created by the steel wheels and steel tracks could sometimes cause a bridge to catch fire and burn to the ground.

During construction

A large number of bridge accidents occur during the construction of the bridge itself. These accidents are often due to an error made by the engineers, such as a miscalculation. The bridge collapses under its own weight, and this can be deadly for the workers on it at the time.

Earthquakes

Earthquakes damage all structures, including bridges. Luckily, this kind of collapse is relatively infrequent, especially with modern bridges. Engineers have learned to design bridges in earthquake zones on areas that are much more resistant to movement.

By defect

Some bridge collapses are mysteries, and engineers only realise why after they conduct a complete investigation. In some cases, this could happen because inferior-quality material was used in the construction, or because of a defect in a key piece of the bridge. In other cases, the bridge was designed only to support a certain amount of weight and no more.

Boat or train crash

Both of these kinds of accidents are extremely rare, but boats and trains can cause a bridge to collapse for different reasons. With trains, it's the velocity of the impact that can bring a bridge down. With boats, it's the very large mass they have that can bring about the collapse, even if they are moving very slowly when it occurs.

The best way to avoid bridge failures is to plan for them. Modern technologies that can detect structural weakness, safer working environments and better designs can all help to reduce these terrible accidents.

Discussion

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Submitted by AlexandrosDZ on Thu, 06/08/2020 - 23:05

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I had the chance to visit the "city of bridges" Constantine , in northestern algeria ,it was named so in the honnor of roman emperor constantine the great , it's situated at an elevation of 640 m above the sea level , and it's famous by its seven bridges that crosse a deep gorge called "rhumel river" which sarround all the city of canstantine creating a natural fortress.

Submitted by antinaoki on Sat, 25/07/2020 - 07:20

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I know the London Bridge, because of the song, it goes: london bridges falling down falling down. it was a catchy song so that when we were in kindergarten all of the child used to sing this song happily. But we didn't know whats the meaning of the lyrics, we were happy for people dying in the accident. Kind of ironic and funny tho.

Submitted by UK01 on Fri, 10/07/2020 - 17:28

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I know 2 bridges which ı can give you information about .First one is golden bridge that is located in California,If ı am not wrong.Secondly, one of the three bridges of Istanbul which combines the continentals of Asia and Europe.
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Submitted by OlaIELTS on Thu, 07/05/2020 - 03:08

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They includes Tower Bridge , London Bridge, Lokoja Bridge in Nigeria and so on.

Submitted by DW on Mon, 04/05/2020 - 08:51

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Actually, I can only think about two bridges – one of them is the Tower Bridge and the other one is the London Bridge. Both of them are in London. But I have never visited them before, I hope I can have the opportunity to visit them soon!

Submitted by Fikymaulana on Mon, 13/01/2020 - 06:07

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The tower bridge in london is the famous bridge which I want to visit. Its classy. I haven't visit it yet but I have seen it on sherlock holmes movie. The place where Blackwood died hanging on the bridge.

Submitted by Shahzad7412 on Mon, 02/09/2019 - 17:00

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I think english understanding is difficult thing. But I can easily understand english in this site and solve it.my interest developing in english through this site.

Submitted by Ol4ik on Fri, 31/05/2019 - 18:48

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I don't know anything about the most famous bridges in the world, but the most wide-known bridge in my city is Leningradskii bridge. There is a memorial of memory about issues in Leningrad during the second World War on this bridge. It is average bridge that is approximately 500 meters length.