The collapse of Tacoma Narrows Bridge: a piece to the puzzle

Jens Honore Walther; D. S.  Christensen; M. G.  Malthe; M. Roenne; Henrik Juul Spietz; A. Larsen; S. V. Larsen

The collapse of Tacoma Narrows Bridge: a piece to the puzzle

Jens Honore Walther, D. S. Christensen, M. G. Malthe, M. Roenne, Henrik Juul Spietz, A. Larsen, S. V. Larsen

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Abstract

On Nov. 7th 1940 the newly constructed Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapsed due to excessive torsional oscillations caused by the formation and shedding of large coherent vortices. The subsequent wind tunnel tests conducted on both section- and full bridge models concluded that the bridge should have collapsed at a wind speed corresponding to approximately half of the wind speed at the day of the collapse. This discrepancy questions our understanding of the phenomena responsible for the failure of the bridge. The present study aims at clarifying this "mystery" by considering historical records made available by the US coast guards, and by performing wind tunnel tests and detailed numerical ow simulations.Our findings indicate that the discrepancy is caused by an until now unnoticed yawed wind direction relative to the bridge, which was present at the day of the collapse.

Original language	English
Publication date	2017
Number of pages	1
Publication status	Published - 2017
Event	70th Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics (DFD17) - Denver, United States Duration: 19 Nov 2017 → 21 Nov 2017

Conference

Conference	70th Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics (DFD17)
Country/Territory	United States
City	Denver
Period	19/11/2017 → 21/11/2017

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title = "The collapse of Tacoma Narrows Bridge: a piece to the puzzle",

abstract = "On Nov. 7th 1940 the newly constructed Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapsed due to excessive torsional oscillations caused by the formation and shedding of large coherent vortices. The subsequent wind tunnel tests conducted on both section- and full bridge models concluded that the bridge should have collapsed at a wind speed corresponding to approximately half of the wind speed at the day of the collapse. This discrepancy questions our understanding of the phenomena responsible for the failure of the bridge. The present study aims at clarifying this {"}mystery{"} by considering historical records made available by the US coast guards, and by performing wind tunnel tests and detailed numerical ow simulations.Our findings indicate that the discrepancy is caused by an until now unnoticed yawed wind direction relative to the bridge, which was present at the day of the collapse.",

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The collapse of Tacoma Narrows Bridge: a piece to the puzzle. / Walther, Jens Honore; Christensen, D. S. ; Malthe, M. G. et al.
2017. Abstract from 70th Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics (DFD17), Denver, Colorado, United States.

Research output: Contribution to conference › Conference abstract for conference › Research › peer-review

TY - ABST

T1 - The collapse of Tacoma Narrows Bridge: a piece to the puzzle

AU - Walther, Jens Honore

AU - Christensen, D. S.

AU - Malthe, M. G.

AU - Roenne, M.

AU - Spietz, Henrik Juul

AU - Larsen, A.

AU - Larsen, S. V.

PY - 2017

Y1 - 2017

N2 - On Nov. 7th 1940 the newly constructed Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapsed due to excessive torsional oscillations caused by the formation and shedding of large coherent vortices. The subsequent wind tunnel tests conducted on both section- and full bridge models concluded that the bridge should have collapsed at a wind speed corresponding to approximately half of the wind speed at the day of the collapse. This discrepancy questions our understanding of the phenomena responsible for the failure of the bridge. The present study aims at clarifying this "mystery" by considering historical records made available by the US coast guards, and by performing wind tunnel tests and detailed numerical ow simulations.Our findings indicate that the discrepancy is caused by an until now unnoticed yawed wind direction relative to the bridge, which was present at the day of the collapse.

AB - On Nov. 7th 1940 the newly constructed Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapsed due to excessive torsional oscillations caused by the formation and shedding of large coherent vortices. The subsequent wind tunnel tests conducted on both section- and full bridge models concluded that the bridge should have collapsed at a wind speed corresponding to approximately half of the wind speed at the day of the collapse. This discrepancy questions our understanding of the phenomena responsible for the failure of the bridge. The present study aims at clarifying this "mystery" by considering historical records made available by the US coast guards, and by performing wind tunnel tests and detailed numerical ow simulations.Our findings indicate that the discrepancy is caused by an until now unnoticed yawed wind direction relative to the bridge, which was present at the day of the collapse.

M3 - Conference abstract for conference

T2 - 70th Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics (DFD17)

Y2 - 19 November 2017 through 21 November 2017

ER -

The collapse of Tacoma Narrows Bridge: a piece to the puzzle

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