A case study of the collapse of interstate 35W Mississippi River bridge

Xiaotong Zhang

doi:10.1117/12.2619862

22 December 2021 A case study of the collapse of interstate 35W Mississippi River bridge

Xiaotong Zhang

Proceedings Volume 12058, Fifth International Conference on Traffic Engineering and Transportation System (ICTETS 2021); 120583P (2021) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2619862
Event: 5th International Conference on Traffic Engineering and Transportation System (ICTETS 2021), 2021, Chongqing, China

Abstract

The collapse of the Interstate 35W Mississippi River Bridge became a significant warning to the world. Although this event is tiny compared to the collapse Sunshine Skyway Bridge in California, it is still an example of infrastructure failure that caused 13 people lost their lives. This work begins by discussing the information about Interstate 35W Mississippi River Bridge. It then describes this accident happened on 1st August 2007 and the reasons for this bridge collapse in details. Subsequently, there are two basic factors caused the failure of this bridge are both demonstrated: the corrosion of metal members and the U10 gusset plate design error. Because corrosion and rust have many similarities so there is a test which testing the rust of four iron nails in a week time and the results from test would find out the reasons for metals become weaker after got rusted or corroded. Also, I used a formula for calculating bending allowance to set an experiment to test the bending angles in the same type of material. The results taken from the experiments help the engineers to find a more safe and scientific way to protect the structure and prevent the failure of the bridge.

Citation Download Citation

Xiaotong Zhang "A case study of the collapse of interstate 35W Mississippi River bridge", Proc. SPIE 12058, Fifth International Conference on Traffic Engineering and Transportation System (ICTETS 2021), 120583P (22 December 2021); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2619862

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