Tag Archive for: genoa bridge collapse

Bridge building and safe design

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Build a bridge. Get over it.

 

Bridge building and safe design

Over the past few months, bridge construction and safety has been a hot topic – from the tragedy of the Genoa Bridge collapse, to the opening of the longest sea bridge in the world, bridge design is pushing the bar higher and higher. Here’s a snapshot of the recent articles on safe design of bridges.

World’s longest sea bridge opens

Feat of engineering or bridge of death? Designed to withstand earthquakes and typhoons, the world’s longest sea bridge opened in October, connecting Hong Kong to the mainland of China.

  • $20 billion project.
  • 55kms in length.
  • 18 deaths during construction.

So is it worth it? Full article: ABC News.

Artificial Intelligence for Bridges

New technologies are being developed to provide 24/7 structural health monitoring (SHM) of large structures including bridges, dams and buildings. These systems are now providing at call information on structural health and alerting owners to maintenance needs or other potential hazards and risks.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge is being fitted with 2400 sensors to monitor its structural health – to detect damage caused by traffic, wind, temperature, vibration and extreme events. Relying on advancements in technology is great, but this doesn’t reduce the role that the designer has to play in the design and construction of safe structures.

Full article: Queensland University of Technology News.

Record-breaking bridge spans

UK engineers say they’ve created novel bridge designs that could make 5km long spans possible. The engineers have identified bridge concepts that require “the minimum possible volume of material” to create longer bridge spans.

Can they go too far? Is this a bit of a stretch?

Full article: Create Digital.

The Genoa Bridge Tragedy

On 14 August 2018, a viaduct – a major motorway, constructed in the 1960s in the north of Italy, collapsed, killing 43 people. Cars, trucks and people dropped suddenly, crashing to the ground 150 metres below. Sounds surreal in this day and age. But it did happen.

Read more.

 

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Duties of designers under safe design legislation

Safe Design Australia are a team of work health and safety consultants and risk managers that operate throughout Australia and New Zealand to help designers meet their work health and safety legal duties in relation to safe design.

We understand that good design is important and believe that safe design can be achieved without compromising the design intent. Our clients include architects, building designers, developers, design and construct companies, principal contractors, engineers and local government.

Need more info, contact us.

Genoa Bridge Tragedy

Genoa Bridge Tragedy: Who’s responsibility is it?

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The Genoa Bridge Tragedy. The question of responsibility.

 

The Genoa Bridge Tragedy: On 14 August 2018, a viaduct – a major motorway, constructed in the 1960s in the north of Italy, collapsed, killing 43 people. Cars, trucks and people dropped suddenly, crashing to the ground 150 metres below. Sounds surreal in this day and age. But it did happen.

Once the initial shock subsided and emergency efforts completed, the attention turned to questioning – just how did this happen?

A “cable-stayed bridge”, the design featured two pretensioned concrete cables used on both sides of the pillar.  According to an article on Archinect.com, the design, “subject to corrosion, it may have made the bridge, which required constant maintenance as an essential traffic hub, vulnerable to collapse.”

An engineer who worked for the company that constructed the bridge claims that the bridge’s supporting piles weren’t built with anti-seismic materials and did not have the capacity to support the weight of heavy traffic.

As reported on News.com, the engineer that designed the bridge “warned four decades ago that it would require constant maintenance to remove rust given the effects of corrosion from sea air and pollution.”

The power of hindsight

Again, hindsight rears its ugly head with a raft of finger-pointing and mismanagement claims. Ultimately a formal investigation into the Genoa Bridge Collapse will look at a range of possible causes including materials used, wear and tear, heavy traffic, structural flaws, poor maintenance budgets and other problems. It raises an important topic for conversation and action.

The considerations for design components of structures spans well beyond the initial construction and ready for use stage. It shows the importance of understanding lifetime usage, maintenance and ease of access, the sustainability and resilience of materials to the elements, and long-term maintenance budgets.

And, ultimately asks the question. “Who’s responsibility is safe design?”

 

Do you know your responsibilities under safe design legislation?

For more information about the principles of safe design, responsibility for safe design, and safe design in practice, contact us.