Engineer Reacts to Baltimore Bridge Collapse

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  • čas přidán 3. 04. 2024
  • Structural engineer explains what went wrong with the bridge collapse.

Komentáře • 1,3K

  • @janzwendelaar907
    @janzwendelaar907 Před měsícem +13345

    This is true, as an engineer, I hate seeing my stuff get unengineered

    • @fanmrsmartdonkey
      @fanmrsmartdonkey Před měsícem +384

      Rapid unplanned disassembly is not preferred when it comes to engineering marvels...

    • @minimarbles5727
      @minimarbles5727 Před měsícem +94

      When your level 3 sentry gets destroyed by that crit sticky…

    • @matthewcaimbeul8722
      @matthewcaimbeul8722 Před měsícem +61

      As an architect I hate drawing up plans then being told they need a new plan.

    • @KPT437
      @KPT437 Před měsícem +12

      @@matthewcaimbeul8722so true!

    • @growlinglucario7922
      @growlinglucario7922 Před měsícem

      ​@@minimarbles5727SENTRY DOWN!

  • @StopToBreathe
    @StopToBreathe Před měsícem +4403

    to some people in the comments, not all accidents are preventable, therefore minimizing the damages is the only way to go.

    • @DoggyBingBong
      @DoggyBingBong Před měsícem +24

      THIS ONE WAS IF IT WASNT FOR INDIANS
      Edit: at least I know what a toilet is saar

    • @Skylancer727
      @Skylancer727 Před měsícem +192

      ​@@DoggyBingBongwhat does being Indian have to do with the ship losing power spontaneously? In fact the captain immediately called the port authority to shutdown the bridge when he lost power. They did everything right, sometimes machines fail.

    • @siskanotanexibisionist562
      @siskanotanexibisionist562 Před měsícem +11

      Yep, thats why insurance exist.

    • @maximilian672
      @maximilian672 Před měsícem +72

      @@Skylancer727 I'd actually go a step further: everything we build fails eventually.

    • @5150_Designs
      @5150_Designs Před měsícem +13

      ​@@Skylancer727 Did you watch the ship actually lose power and hit the bridge? The ship literally turned INTO the pillar holding up the bridge. If the last turn didn't happen, they would have gone right under! There was also no tug boats for THIS SPECIFIC REASON!

  • @TenApplesforTime
    @TenApplesforTime Před měsícem +7562

    While this is a better design, people in the comments are kinda clueless. Complaining about a bridge not being prepared enough to get hit by a giant rig is about the same as complaining that the World Trade Center not being designed to be hit by a plane. There's things we can do to mitigate damage but there was no reasonable expectation that it would ever take this kind of impact.

    • @grudgebearer1404
      @grudgebearer1404 Před měsícem +155

      Maybe...
      But think this way, Ukrainian special services tried to blow up Crimea Bridge three times and got small sections of it.
      One Ukrainian boat captain took this with a single strike

    • @somaday2595
      @somaday2595 Před měsícem +365

      @@grudgebearer1404 You don't think either of the 2 Kerch Strait bridge main spans would collapse if the Dali were to hit one of the main piers?

    • @jimmiefitzgerald4961
      @jimmiefitzgerald4961 Před měsícem +282

      Exactly that boat weighed 116800 tons and the bridge only weighs about 8000 tons so it is 14.5 times as heavy

    • @augustuslunasol10thapostle
      @augustuslunasol10thapostle Před měsícem +51

      @@somaday2595 lmao dali hitting kerch would probably send the entire russian high command crazy

    • @Colin_Boecker-Grieme
      @Colin_Boecker-Grieme Před měsícem +140

      The two towers weren't in the airways. That bridge was in a place where boats went through everyday.

  • @markosmywords9202
    @markosmywords9202 Před měsícem +1067

    In all fairness, it’s a big ass boat

    • @katrinat.3032
      @katrinat.3032 Před měsícem +62

      Really! I didn’t understand how big the bridge and the boat were until I saw a tugboat in the water next to them. It blew my mind.

    • @AmericasAnimals
      @AmericasAnimals Před měsícem +10

      Facts

    • @mayamanign
      @mayamanign Před měsícem +12

      Ship

    • @chefssaltybawlz
      @chefssaltybawlz Před měsícem +32

      That’s what a lot of these weird commenters don’t get. It’s a SHIPPING vessel. The boat alone has astronomical weight plus all the containers? Sad situation all around.

    • @marcariotto1709
      @marcariotto1709 Před měsícem +20

      Nobody even thought of ships that big back in 76 let alone built one.

  • @SaintFlyer57
    @SaintFlyer57 Před měsícem +2499

    Perfect example of assign your system a failure point or the system will assign one for you

    • @fuji4128
      @fuji4128 Před měsícem +17

      true!

    • @farhanmaulanailhamsyah6543
      @farhanmaulanailhamsyah6543 Před měsícem +87

      Who would have thought that a bridge being hit with an ocean freighter with enough momentum to cut through reinforced concrete like butter would be considered a failure point

    • @nexiuz2233
      @nexiuz2233 Před měsícem

      @@farhanmaulanailhamsyah6543anyone who thinks about what goes under said bridge would think that

    • @rchaykovskiy
      @rchaykovskiy Před měsícem +65

      @@farhanmaulanailhamsyah6543wait, you don't expect your bridge to be hit by an ocean freighter?

    • @cyrolocker1229
      @cyrolocker1229 Před měsícem +66

      @@farhanmaulanailhamsyah6543I’m not an engineer but it sounds like the point of the video wasn’t that the bridge shouldn’t have collapsed. But more that a better designed bridge would have only allowed a part of it to collapse using said progressive collapse and possibly save a portion of the bridge and the people on it

  • @RSorrows
    @RSorrows Před měsícem +193

    I came to the comments because I wanted know what those toys are. I didn't expect the mild controversy. This kind of breakdown in communication is fascinating to me.
    People are missing a simple but key idea of your thesis. There's no way for the video to address the confusion after-the-fact, so people are left to extrapolate increasingly incongruent arguments. Left to their own devices, the number of responses with imperfect counterpoints creates a recursive loop that eventually makes the entire discourse collapse.
    As a communication engineer, this is our worst nightmare: Seing our thesis collapsing after one misconstrued assumption.

    • @ninjaduck3534
      @ninjaduck3534 Před měsícem +14

      So you're saying that Hitler would build a better bridge? Wow.

    • @ninjaduck3534
      @ninjaduck3534 Před měsícem +6

      But yeah that is a neato bridge model kit!

    • @lorenkingham5968
      @lorenkingham5968 Před měsícem +5

      ​@@ninjaduck3534Who
      said anything bout Hitler
      Y' IgnoRANTs is Showin' You gotta be a HATER !!

    • @michaelvenezia9673
      @michaelvenezia9673 Před měsícem +3

      i see what you did there

    • @chuknukbubs6322
      @chuknukbubs6322 Před měsícem +8

      Now this is a comment I can agree with amongst all these armchair engineers waffling about load capacity in the comments. Your statement is a testament to your education.

  • @bobblum5973
    @bobblum5973 Před měsícem +31

    I found (and bought!) an interesting book, _To Engineer Is Human,_ which explains the balance engineers make between various factors. Safety, reliability, intended usage, the costs to build and maintain it, designed lifetime, and more. It gives real world examples.
    The Francis Scott Key Bridge was built in the 1970s, I believe, and had functioned fine until this event, about 50 years. It could have remained in use for many more years, with proper maintenance. Yes, there was a risk of something like this happening, but it was always there. Have cargo ships gotten larger since the bridge was built? Has the amount of shipping traffic under it increased? Should an improved protection barrier around the bridge piers been installed long ago? I would think yes to all those.

    • @davido3026
      @davido3026 Před měsícem +1

      Excellent

    • @bobblum5973
      @bobblum5973 Před měsícem +3

      I need to remember to get the book's details and post them here!

  • @crazyguy_1233
    @crazyguy_1233 Před měsícem +164

    Hopefully they integrate different methods of construction into the new one so that if a collapse happens it’s only in one part and not everything. Nobody ever builds something expecting for a situation to happen. A bridge isn’t designed to be hit by a ship, a building isn’t designed to be hit by a plane, and a civilian ship isn’t designed to hit an iceberg. Accidents happen the best we can do is improve the designs so that if or when another similar accident occurs it won’t be as severe.

    • @Bertinator-nm9ld
      @Bertinator-nm9ld Před měsícem +9

      I'd bet that there are a fair number of bridges like this, where the designers actually did consider impact by a large ship. This just doesn't appear to have been one of those.
      Considering the situation doesn't mean you design to withstand it entirely. Like this video says, a design change made by considering potential impact with a boat could be building a progressive failure mode, into the bridge.

    • @tadferd4340
      @tadferd4340 Před měsícem +5

      Newer bridges are a different design. Typically cable stay bridges.
      This bridge was quite old and the design type was more typical then. It probably should have both, had better passive protection, and been in the process of being replaced.

  • @Borknesshas1
    @Borknesshas1 Před měsícem +806

    The bridge also isnt meant to be hit with fully loaded ocean freighters

    • @badmoose01
      @badmoose01 Před měsícem +66

      Doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be considered as a failure mode.

    • @alekonicolacakis7002
      @alekonicolacakis7002 Před měsícem +89

      @@badmoose01 way too expensive for something that is relatively unlikely to happen

    • @orlock20
      @orlock20 Před měsícem +9

      While true, another major bridge was almost taken out for the same reason. My guess is that there will be massive guards preventing a ship from hitting the supports of major bridges.

    • @mranderson9553
      @mranderson9553 Před měsícem +56

      @@orlock20 no guard will stop that amount of force, at least not at a reasonable price

    • @totally_not_a_bot
      @totally_not_a_bot Před měsícem +31

      ​@@orlock20That's kinda like saying you should gaurd a spaghetti bridge against bowling balls. Good luck.

  • @notamouse5630
    @notamouse5630 Před měsícem +61

    Of course, the real problem with the design was a lack of concrete and earth barrier islands adjacent the main traffic spans of the bridge. That would have permitted a massive boat to hit the bridge without damage surpassing $10M to the bridge. Sure the boat might run aground, but the boat and cargo should be insured for that.

    • @zombiesoul-eater741
      @zombiesoul-eater741 Před měsícem

      bridge they are currently building near me in south Texas -- they are doing the exact opposite- they are dredging the canal to make it deeper so massive international oil tankers can go through without risk of scrapping the bottom

    • @garyszewc3339
      @garyszewc3339 Před měsícem +12

      ​@@zombiesoul-eater741that's not what he's talking about. It has nothing to do with the depth of the water. The bridge should have protective barriers in front of the structure. The boats would hit them, when they're not in the middle of the deep channel.

    • @rowdyproudy2242
      @rowdyproudy2242 Před měsícem

      Engineers will crawl over 100 virgins just to fuck over a plumber

    • @jokerkiller900
      @jokerkiller900 Před měsícem +11

      Unfortunately brigs that size can go a awfully long distance being grounded before they stop and that bad boy was full up on cargo that’s a lot of weight to stop with normal barriers

    • @JABN97
      @JABN97 Před měsícem

      @@garyszewc3339speaking in general:
      - building such protective islands will impact the currents around the bridge. That might influence the safety of ships sailing beneath the bridge.
      - It may also affect deposition of sediment in the main channel, making it less wide or deep or requiring constant dredging.
      - making the bridge wider and/or higher is not always feasible because of various constraints (physically possible to build, affordable within budget allocated for build & maintenance, space on the landslide for the road & bridgehead to go up/down within traffic regulations.
      I don’t have specific knowledge on this subject, but in general building bridges is a complicated affair with many factors to consider. Engineering a bridge for any scenario is possible, but to do so for all scenarios and within time & budget allocations is where the difficulties are.
      It is, for 1 example, possible to build a bridge able to withstand level 9 earthquakes, but would you do so for every bridge in Germany where very few earthquakes happen? No of course not. Nor do you engineer a bridge to withstand avalanches when in Manhattan, but you do when designing for the Rocky Mountains. Context, constraints and risk assessment

  • @demonicturtl1235
    @demonicturtl1235 Před měsícem +67

    I once designed a bridge at school it was a competition with all math classes and my design was within budget and regulations and could hold a new born baby we were the best bridge in the school and I was so proud it's still standing to this day in my friends closet

    • @perwestermark8920
      @perwestermark8920 Před měsícem +17

      Ah - good place to protect it from ships.

    • @davidt01
      @davidt01 Před měsícem +8

      You tested your bridge with a new born baby??

    • @demonicturtl1235
      @demonicturtl1235 Před měsícem +7

      @@davidt01 no we used cans but the weight was equivalent to a new born baby

    • @mzdrizzle
      @mzdrizzle Před měsícem +11

      I appreciate this new unit of measurement

    • @cu9.11
      @cu9.11 Před měsícem +2

      New born baby? Like 4kg?

  • @ronaldschild157
    @ronaldschild157 Před měsícem +30

    Thank you for going through all the effort building this model and explaining it for the layman's understanding. I will be looking closer at bridges I use a lot closer now and in the future.

    • @tpd1864blake
      @tpd1864blake Před měsícem +1

      I did some civil engineering study in the past and once you notice that every single bridge everywhere in the world is built out of nothing but triangle shapes in the support structures, you’ll never unsee it. The reason they’re built out of triangles is because they don’t pivot and collapse under compression

  • @joshuahenson4812
    @joshuahenson4812 Před měsícem +36

    What people miss, is that while yes, if the spans were independent the failure is minimized, however by making the segments continuous over the supports, the forces in the truss members are GREATLY reduced. Without that reduction, the bridge would have been 2-3 times as tall to handle the extra load. It should also be noted that this bridge was 3 spans, so you would have lost 2/3 of the bridge anyway.

    • @robertfourie9159
      @robertfourie9159 Před měsícem +4

      Finally someone who actually understands structures.

    • @tadferd4340
      @tadferd4340 Před měsícem +3

      To a point you are correct. The bridge is a product of its time however. We have newer bridges that would have the same span while having the partial failure modes.

  • @Vodki157
    @Vodki157 Před měsícem +105

    So you prefer shear connections over moment connections. Architect here, i was working on a building where we were demanding shear connections but got moment because the rigidity of the joints contributes to the load transfer and you can use smaller sections/ less metal to achieve the same structure. So im assuming the choice of connections in this bridge came from saving material

    • @mbok29915
      @mbok29915 Před měsícem +18

      structural engineer here: yes. its an efficiency thing. fixed end connections are 6 times as strong as cantilever connection, and about 1.5 times that of simply supported connections

    • @user-fl6tq1pf6j
      @user-fl6tq1pf6j Před měsícem +20

      Toxicologist here,
      Cool

    • @joshuahenson4812
      @joshuahenson4812 Před měsícem +12

      Structural Engineering PhD here. That's exactly right, trusses that are continuous over the supports (moment connections in the span), see a huge reduction in the axial stresses of your tension chord.

    • @MoltenSamurai
      @MoltenSamurai Před měsícem +14

      Internetologist here, I concur 🧐

    • @tragicmagic
      @tragicmagic Před měsícem +4

      Civil engineering PhD here, yeah basically that. After all better to prepare than to be in despair! 😁

  • @rainerNSR7
    @rainerNSR7 Před měsícem +3

    People need to really appreciate the honesty of when someone says, not if but when it fails because nothing is meant to last forever and never take anything for granted

  • @AustralianAviator
    @AustralianAviator Před měsícem +3

    We have an example of a bridge that has the ‘progressive collapse’ design in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. The Tasman Bridge that spans the Derwent River was hit by a ship in 1975, and one of its pylons was taken out. The bridge is still standing today because of this design and with a reinforced section where the pylon used to be.

  • @yewo.m
    @yewo.m Před měsícem +10

    I find it very interesting. So sometimes you have to make some parts weaker in order to make the whole structure stronger

  • @somaday2595
    @somaday2595 Před měsícem +975

    Cantilevered design. Efficient, and not the worst nightmare. Better to spend the money on prevention such as more and more capable dolphins and skirts.

    • @pham3383
      @pham3383 Před měsícem +49

      Cargo vessel is usually weight 200 thousand tons ,or heavier, i'm not a structural engineer, but that mass floating at 15 to 20kmph should inflict a lot of force

    • @robster7787
      @robster7787 Před měsícem +54

      ⁠​⁠​⁠@@pham3383 Well I am a mechanical engineer so I’m dealing with dynamic loads more often.
      Depending on how fast that ship was going, it would probably have enough force to tank through the dolphins or skirts.
      However, its partially the whole reason why we research what kind of ships are moving under that bridge so that we can design them to handle those impacts. At best, we would need to minimize damage if prevention isn’t possible.

    • @protoman1214
      @protoman1214 Před měsícem +31

      ​@@robster7787unfortunately this bridge was designed at a time when ships were no where near this big and heavy.

    • @WimsicleStranger
      @WimsicleStranger Před měsícem +26

      @@protoman1214Even if it was it still wouldn’t survive a hit like this. The only way it would be possible to tank a hit from a several hundred thousand ton vessel is if they made the pile dozens of meters thick in diameter at the base of the support column…

    • @protoman1214
      @protoman1214 Před měsícem +7

      @@WimsicleStranger I'm not gonna argue with that. I merely pointed out what I did in response to a comment saying bridges should be engineered with consideration of what types of ships will pass underneath.

  • @aidanatkinson7717
    @aidanatkinson7717 Před měsícem +52

    I mean honestly it was an older bridge built on a budget. To have the multiple columns of support everyone’s talking about your going to need Atleast 2 more pillars. That bridge is specifically spaced to allow certain size vessels through. Adding 2 more big ass pillars will certainly have an impact on the size in the harbor. Btw I drive i95N to 395 into the city almost everyday. Hell I live in Baltimore.

    • @gordonlove5121
      @gordonlove5121 Před měsícem +2

      It'd be kinda weird if you drove that everyday and lived in Kansas.

    • @greeceuranusputin
      @greeceuranusputin Před měsícem +2

      ALL bridges are built on a budget. There's talk about building structures to protect the supports but I think just piling dredge spoils there would do the job. Maybe a short wall next to the channel to hold back the sand/soil.

    • @tadferd4340
      @tadferd4340 Před měsícem

      ​@@greeceuranusputinBridges are typically protected in both ways. Depth control to stop ships by having them run aground and concrete bridge dolphins to literally imbed into the hull and stop ships.

    • @whtblueberry6388
      @whtblueberry6388 Před měsícem +1

      My condolences for your location of residence

    • @dragonballhomie4353
      @dragonballhomie4353 Před měsícem

      The Indian crew present in the ship actually informed authorities before collision to minimise lives lost then why racism was spread against them?

  • @Legenerale69
    @Legenerale69 Před měsícem +106

    This is my new favorite channel! Love the explanations and visuals

  • @Hydra-cy3yg
    @Hydra-cy3yg Před měsícem +14

    As a structural engineer in college he’s absolutely right as the bridge was made to uniformly distribute the load across in the event of something like this, except the force exerted on the bridge was much greater. It absolutely could have been fully prevented with a different support design however, it would have cost more and would have been seen as unnecessary.

    • @cspmz9323
      @cspmz9323 Před měsícem

      Plus the non-rigid connection may not work for the length of unsupported span needed for the channel.

  • @focusedallday5620
    @focusedallday5620 Před měsícem +3

    We have a similar concept in Data Engineering called “decoupling”. When a data pipeline goes down we want 1 part of it to go down, not the entire thing. This makes it easy to trouble shoot. Stay Focused!

  • @Alucard-gt1zf
    @Alucard-gt1zf Před měsícem +110

    Ultimately its not the bridges fault at all though
    The ship was the one that broke down, and i can bet there are very few bridges which can survive being hit by a fully loaded modern day cargo ship head on
    And anyway, the whole thing didnt collapse, only the cantilever section did, theres still loads of road still standing

    • @zypherus6876
      @zypherus6876 Před měsícem +11

      Most bridges today would most likely be able to resist being destroyed like that. A lot of infrastructure nowadays are designed in a way so that if one part of a building,bridge, ect. gets completely destroyed or damaged the rest will still stay standing. There are entire classes dedicated to design and calculating safety factors. If a bridge is on support away from collapsing then it probably has a very low safety factor

    • @Alucard-gt1zf
      @Alucard-gt1zf Před měsícem +20

      @@zypherus6876 and that's exactly what happened here, even though the cantilever section collapsed all the flyover sections leading up to that section are still standing

    • @pluto8404
      @pluto8404 Před měsícem +4

      cargo ships cant bend steel beams. It was a controlled demolition.

    • @personthing88
      @personthing88 Před měsícem +6

      @@pluto8404 ahh yes a tin foil hat
      look at the physics behind it
      say the ship was about 86*10^3 tonnes (assuming it was empty) and only going at 1 m per second (very slow)
      the ship would have hit the bridge with
      86,000,000 N of force WAY enough to destory a bridge - using P=mv (Mass in KGs and V in m/s)
      Now the actual weight of the ship was 116*10^3 tonnes and going at 16.2 kmph (or 4.5 m/s)
      so the ship hit the bridge with 522,000,000 N of force
      the Kenetic Energy of the ship (assuming it was loaded to 1.16*10^6 tonnes or 1.16*10^9 Kgs)
      KE = (1/2)*m*v^2 = (1/2)*1.16*10^8*4.5^2
      = 1.1745*10^9
      or about 1/2 a tonne of TNT
      edit: fixed calculations and explained them a bit better

    • @Mo-ig4gy
      @Mo-ig4gy Před měsícem

      Hello brother :)

  • @jeffrymilton1093
    @jeffrymilton1093 Před měsícem +1

    Outstanding demonstration and explanation.

  • @doyoueatrocks
    @doyoueatrocks Před měsícem +4

    How often do architects watch their structures collapse

  • @Whenyouarent
    @Whenyouarent Před měsícem +3

    Nice demo! Very informative!

  • @washuotaku
    @washuotaku Před měsícem +25

    But... there are still parts of the Key Bridge that are still up, which was not the cantilevered part.

    • @archgirl7797
      @archgirl7797 Před měsícem +10

      not a lot of it was left standing.
      The bridge collapsed across multiple piers despite only one pier being taken out. The guy in the vid is explaining that this is not good and is less safe. Ideally, much less of the bridge would have collapsed in one go.

    • @coyote_foxtrot
      @coyote_foxtrot Před měsícem +2

      The parts that are up are the ramps that rise to the bridge deck and those structures are pretty independent to the truss span.

    • @Lee-wj9lw
      @Lee-wj9lw Před měsícem +1

      Right. The boat took out 1 support collapsing the 2 spans connectwd to that support.
      Also, a red span collapsed connecting to 1 of those 2 spans.
      So only 3 of the ~15 spans collapsed.

  • @GrabbaBeer
    @GrabbaBeer Před měsícem +1

    I’m not even a structural engineer and I knew this just from playing the bridge builder game 💁🏼‍♂️

  • @WabuhWabuh
    @WabuhWabuh Před měsícem +6

    Yes, this is same concept as boats. where you want sections incase one is compromised the other sections can hold it up.
    i forget what term i used to describe it but it is basically single support vs multisupport

    • @josephnyirongo4889
      @josephnyirongo4889 Před měsícem +1

      “Redundancy” that’s the term you’re looking for here.

    • @WabuhWabuh
      @WabuhWabuh Před měsícem

      @@josephnyirongo4889 no...

    • @MarioMonte13
      @MarioMonte13 Před měsícem

      ​@@WabuhWabuh watertight bulkheads?

  • @aegisofhonor
    @aegisofhonor Před měsícem +4

    there was a lot of problems with this bridge, the spans were too narrow, they allowed far too large of ships to go under far too narrow of spaces, there was almost no margin of error or any large ship going under that bridge; it was doomed.

  • @aurorauplinks
    @aurorauplinks Před měsícem +1

    I appreciate this example, great lesson, thanks

  • @KaioKenneth4
    @KaioKenneth4 Před měsícem +2

    Dude, your diorama explains it perfectly 🧠

  • @draketurtle4169
    @draketurtle4169 Před měsícem +4

    Counterpoint: are we actually expecting a giant humanoid hand to slam down on our bridges?

  • @leogaskell3138
    @leogaskell3138 Před měsícem +231

    Show me a bridge with a 1200 foot span that will not collapse when one of the main supports is removed!

    • @hellohaveagoodday
      @hellohaveagoodday Před měsícem +56

      I think he just did ngl

    • @OmikronTitan
      @OmikronTitan Před měsícem +65

      @@hellohaveagooddayI think he smashed down on a 1 foot concept model.

    • @hellohaveagoodday
      @hellohaveagoodday Před měsícem +52

      @@OmikronTitan you want him to build a bridge of that size just to prove himself right?

    • @Hewesesm
      @Hewesesm Před měsícem +71

      ​@@OmikronTitan The physics apply to larger structures as well. The Baltimore bridge was probably built the other way because of limited budget

    • @Hewesesm
      @Hewesesm Před měsícem +5

      Probably several bridges in the world. The baltimore bridge was probably built this way because of a limited budget

  • @rachelreneer56
    @rachelreneer56 Před měsícem +1

    Interesting and educational. Thanks for explaining the different designs of bridges.

  • @nvrnlumby3
    @nvrnlumby3 Před měsícem +1

    Bridge engineer chiming in: the bridge collapsed because the pier was struck by a big ol boat. It failed in exactly the manner it was designed to. This is a great example of why we no longer design fracture critical bridges, and incorporate a lot more redundancy to our designs. In some circumstances a lack of redundancy is inevitable, like all truss bridges, but we add significantly more protection than the engineers of the 70’s. Don’t hit our bridges with boats. Or excavators….

  • @freshenuf1
    @freshenuf1 Před měsícem +18

    I'm no engineer but, even at 79 yrs old, common sense told me that the bridge SHOULD NOT HAVE COLLAPSED ALL AT ONCE!

    • @mh-60t
      @mh-60t Před měsícem +5

      That's why you aren't an engineer, and instead lonely on youtube at 79

    • @theopinionisthighqualityopinio
      @theopinionisthighqualityopinio Před měsícem +3

      What makes you think that being on YT equates to being "lonely"? You're here. I'm here. I'm certainly not lonely. "Old" and "lonely" have two completely different definitions, but you know that already, don't you?? 😉

  • @zerumsum1640
    @zerumsum1640 Před měsícem +19

    The bridge's design was sound, and it would have been fine if the ship hadn't taken out an entire pier.
    This design was used due to the requirement for ships to fit underneath, and while the failure mode isn't ideal, it's pretty hard to avoid this when you have to raise a bridge deck so high without any supports in the middle.

    • @hernancortez5865
      @hernancortez5865 Před měsícem

      Yes the problem is that the structure isn’t supposed to feel horizontal forces accept for the wind. The only thing that could prevent this to put concrete rods in the water in front of the pillars or a little artificial island, this is how we do it in germany. Its a security factor named „drunken Captain“.

    • @zerumsum1640
      @zerumsum1640 Před měsícem

      @@hernancortez5865 Yep. Why such things were not implemented is the real question here. It's a very basic idea, but would have saved lives and a whole lot of money.

    • @tadferd4340
      @tadferd4340 Před měsícem +1

      Modern designs would partially collapse. It's why you don't see new bridges using this trus design anymore.

  • @earlmccoubrey7580
    @earlmccoubrey7580 Před měsícem +2

    Nice explanation and demo. Thanks for preparing this.

  • @voiceofreason9238
    @voiceofreason9238 Před měsícem

    The excellent teacher here demonstrated his points visually in less than a minute in a way this non-engineer could understand. Good stuff.

  • @ParkerClements-jb3cu
    @ParkerClements-jb3cu Před měsícem +261

    It sounds like the city had 2 choices and went with the one that had less zeros.

    • @ApertureAce
      @ApertureAce Před měsícem +18

      It's a federal highway

    • @Flexsan
      @Flexsan Před měsícem +8

      Yeah they should have built a tunnel instead.

    • @robster7787
      @robster7787 Před měsícem +13

      @@ApertureAce The premise of cost still applies. The government still chose the best price.

    • @protoman1214
      @protoman1214 Před měsícem +40

      Price is always a consideration. It's literally the biggest challenge in Engineering. Making something strong using the least amount of materials. My structural engineer professor used to say any fool can make something strong, but an engineer can design something beautiful, functional, strong and minimal.
      Designs and safety standards are also relevant to their era. It's all a balance of purpose, environment, available materials, etc etc.
      The joint stiffeners are literally more materials which equals more money. The design was probably standard for it's time.
      Implying the government picked an inferior design to save money is ignorant.

    • @h2o2630
      @h2o2630 Před měsícem +2

      Can’t remember the name of a bridge that collapsed in South Korea way back in the day, the construction company embezzled funds and used poor quality materials, so it was a rush job and cheaply build but I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t see the same thing when the big report comes out.

  • @Nightstick24
    @Nightstick24 Před měsícem +4

    Nobody designs a bridge to get hit by 200,000,000 pounds at 8 knots. That’d be like designing every single house to be able to withstand a meteor landing on it…

  • @tw8464
    @tw8464 Před měsícem

    Thank you for explaining this to us laymen. Appreciate the engineers who work hard on these problems and think of contingencies

  • @salvatorecorleone1008
    @salvatorecorleone1008 Před měsícem +1

    They’re saying it could cost over $20 to repair! 😨

  • @alexs_toy_barn
    @alexs_toy_barn Před měsícem +6

    As a mechanical engineer, aka the enemy of structural and civil engineers, I'd want my designs and structures to collapse under an unintended use/load/scenario as opposed to its typical scenario. No civil engineer is gonna design a bridge that's strong enough to survive getting hit by a massive cargo ship, so why would they feel it as a nightmare scenario if that happens and the bridge collapses? If the bridge collapses because a bird landed on it, I'd be much more scared and shocked as an engineer.

    • @villagemagician1320
      @villagemagician1320 Před měsícem

      why enemy of structural and civil engineers are they??

    • @alexs_toy_barn
      @alexs_toy_barn Před měsícem +2

      @@villagemagician1320 it's a joke that we build the weapons and they build the targets. It's a friendly rivalry, at least at my college that I went to

    • @gabrielsatter
      @gabrielsatter Před měsícem

      Exactly. The guy is making a cool demonstration, but what is ultimately the point of this video? It's damn near click bait for conspiracy theorists.
      It was built that way because it fit the parameters that were called for.
      It's like these guys won't be satisfied unless the moved the whole freaking river, or something, 😆.

  •  Před měsícem +49

    Yes and no, this is the principle that governs the design of buildings. With bridges progressive collapse is considered on a case by case basis. For seismic design the bridge columns may be the pin points so that in the event of collapse the bridge deck remains safely intact giving people a chance to drive off safely. The biggest issue with this bridge was the lack of safety system around the piers and the lack of a pilot boat to guide larger boats. Look at the images of the crash and you can see the boat is much bigger than the bridge itself

    • @pugilist102
      @pugilist102 Před měsícem +9

      I thought there was a pilot captaining the ship. It was the loss of power, steering that caused the accident.

    • @protoman1214
      @protoman1214 Před měsícem +4

      This^
      I feel like he probably has a longer version of this video where he elaborates on the pros and cons of different designs.
      People saying the bridge was poorly built to save money don't know what they are talking about. It's important to note he doesn't actually say it is poorly built or designed but that this specific design was susceptible to this specific impact.

    • @Tindog81476
      @Tindog81476 Před měsícem +10

      @@protoman1214 Agreed it's also important to remember also this bridge was built in the 1970s they didn't have the same technology we do today, and ships have gotten SO MUCH BIGGER than they were. It wasn't cheap... just not the best design. The point of the video is good engineers expect failure, just if you have failure don't make it a total failure.

    • @protoman1214
      @protoman1214 Před měsícem +7

      @@Tindog81476 Yes I have mentioned that in other conversations about this bridge. Many point out that "it should be designed with possible impacts in mind" but they all don't seem aware of the fact that ships were no where near this big when it was built.
      There is a lot of misinformed people who also keep pushing conspiratorial ideas about this collapse.

    • @Tindog81476
      @Tindog81476 Před měsícem

      @@protoman1214 True true ships have gotten a lot bigger than 1970 by a lot, and there are a lot more of them too... but I must I also say... conspiracy!
      After all, it was ALIENS that destroyed the bridge... they cut the power, and moved the ship to crash into the column... yeah and it's all because of the current politicians. Because they are all aliens too! I know because I've seen a spaceship once and the politicians all look like aliens! Also the bridge wasn't real it was AI! The ship was actually a ship from 1700s that was teleported to crash into the bridge... that's why it's a British ship, it's revenge for America participating in the civil war! MUAHAHAHAH! ;)

  • @tzhstudios2030
    @tzhstudios2030 Před měsícem

    crazy how a simple difference changes everything, thank you!! I learn something new everyday

  • @stevenpolleys341
    @stevenpolleys341 Před měsícem

    Thank you for answering the questions that a lot of us had. I stand properly educated.

  • @MA-kt8ly
    @MA-kt8ly Před měsícem +9

    No best design, just tradeoffs

    • @juemean5824
      @juemean5824 Před měsícem

      Trade of for what? That whole segment was 366 meters long. It was even longer than the length of MV Dali. The designer must have dreamed to side drift through the bridge with a cargo ship. 😂

  • @indieramus349
    @indieramus349 Před měsícem +5

    Murphy’s law at its finest. Given enough time and rare enough circumstances, all structures will fail. We can only insure that failure is the least damaging and the most easily repairable it can be.

  • @anthonypettit3713
    @anthonypettit3713 Před měsícem +2

    As a prevention of the support structure being struck a barrier should have been built to be able to devert even the biggest ship so it could never had the chance to make contact with a support structure

  • @amymccoy8964
    @amymccoy8964 Před měsícem

    Thank you for the clear and concise explanation for what happened to the Francis scott key bridge

  • @kameritekato6242
    @kameritekato6242 Před měsícem +12

    And also it's cheaper to fix one segment rather than rebuild an entire bridge

    • @archgirl7797
      @archgirl7797 Před měsícem +8

      if a bridge partially collapsed like that, it would still be very damaged in the left over standing sections, just not to the point of collapse.
      It would be crazy to just rebuild the collapsed section. You would be left with a very unsafe bridge. They would disasemble the left over bridge and start from scatch to ensure a safe new structure.
      The point of avoiding a full collapse is to try to prevent loss of life in the event of a collapse. Not to save the bridge itself.

    • @ZenMuff1n
      @ZenMuff1n Před měsícem +1

      Not really. The cleanup woulda been easier and maybe there would be a safe distance for the crew on the bridge to retreat to. But such an enormous stress would put the entire bridge into question regardless of the damage done. Kinda like when cars get into a collision not bad enough to see the damage, but making vehicle not worth fixing.

  • @PaulOfTarsus777
    @PaulOfTarsus777 Před měsícem +10

    Did I miss something? The cargo ship dropped out of the sky? Because as a structural engineer, you'd know direction of force is important, as well as weight and speed.

    • @owgdj
      @owgdj Před měsícem

      It lost control and hit the bridge

    • @PaulOfTarsus777
      @PaulOfTarsus777 Před měsícem

      @owgdj Oh, you precious, sweet summer child. First off......sarcasm. Second, it was a "joke" (kind of not) to how he slammed his hand down to demonstrate how one (or more) sections of the bridge might fall if hit. I was speaking to how the cargo ship hit a support pillar from the side with incredible weight at a relatively moderate speed, as opposed to how his hand came down on the bridge from above (ship falling out of the sky bit) with relatively very high speed and weight

    • @yaltschuler
      @yaltschuler Před měsícem +4

      @@PaulOfTarsus777 Why'd you need to be so condescending?

    • @PaulOfTarsus777
      @PaulOfTarsus777 Před měsícem

      @yaltschuler Cause being nice and/or kind doesn't work. I've done it for 45 years and this wonderful world of ours and the selfishness that infects it have shown me no one really cares, love is overrated at best, a joke at worst, and it's just more fun. Good for you?!

    • @juemean5824
      @juemean5824 Před měsícem

      @@PaulOfTarsus777stupid 😂 he was demonstrating the collapse of the segment on its own weight after the removal of the pillars….. you must had a fake degree….😅

  • @ricksomething
    @ricksomething Před měsícem +1

    I don't recall the ship falling onto the top of the bridge, but let me re-watch the video real quick.

  • @user-fc4tw8uw7z
    @user-fc4tw8uw7z Před měsícem +3

    Regarding Baltimore's bridge, it is not economically feasible to design the bridge against progressive collapse because it takes very expensive structural redundancy. Instead it was possible to provide Pier Protection and Warning Systems for Bridges Subject to Ship Collisions (T5140.19. February 11, 1983). The bridge was built 1977 and many similar bridges are waiting for such retrofit before similar disaster will happen again, Secretary of Transportation is incompetent and the US economy is deteriorating too.

    • @tadferd4340
      @tadferd4340 Před měsícem

      More modern designs will progressively collapse.
      You are correct that the bridge was poorly protected though.

  • @willy_larry
    @willy_larry Před měsícem +7

    And I thought my noodle bridge was awesome when it exploded after sitting a 53rd textbook on it compared to the rest of the class that had partial failures after about 10 books... I guess I lost after seeing this...

    • @Subreon
      @Subreon Před měsícem +2

      a rigid design takes more to fail, but once it does, oh boy does it ever fail. tactical weakspots are integral to masterful engineering

    • @13cowsonagrasshill93
      @13cowsonagrasshill93 Před měsícem +3

      I would say you did good. Your bridge was designed for one scenario. It succeeded really well for that scenario, and did not need to be designed to accommodate different scenarios.

  • @fatboyrowing
    @fatboyrowing Před měsícem +1

    Thanks for the explanation. Makes sense

  • @WookieGolgberg
    @WookieGolgberg Před 8 dny

    One of the best shorts ive ever seen

  • @pham3383
    @pham3383 Před měsícem +15

    I think the design is efficient
    Who would have thought there's gonna be a million tons cargo vessel ram to it?

    • @dianapennepacker6854
      @dianapennepacker6854 Před měsícem +8

      Yeah, people forget about the era of the bridge. It was built how many decades ago? 4 to 6?
      Engineers didn't imagine 2 million pound container ships losing power, and running into it straight on. No bridge is designed for that to be honest.
      Later on though the city could have added more prevention measures. Something to block ships from actually hitting the support.
      Yet we live. We learn. There is a risk in everything.

    • @Adamthebuilder
      @Adamthebuilder Před měsícem +4

      @@dianapennepacker6854your comment is the most useful one I’ve read so far! It’s the only one that says what really matters, that these bridges are not designed to be rammed by anything and more measures could have been taken to avoid all of this!

    • @dianapennepacker6854
      @dianapennepacker6854 Před měsícem

      @@Adamthebuilder Yeah when I heard the tonnage, and how it hit it. It suprised me that so many people were going after the engineers. No way they thought ships of that size, and speed would be traveling under it.
      Nor are bridges built to withstand something that massive to begin with. Simply put no one builds a bridge to get hit like that with such a massive ship on the main support structure.
      I'm sure there are ways to prevent it, but people don't want to pay the extra cost for such work.
      I bet some engineer within the last few decades saw some ship traveling under it, and tried warning someone, and they said he was crazy.

    • @demonfreeman3018
      @demonfreeman3018 Před měsícem +1

      The problem is that the entire bridge collapsed with only one pier removed. It doesn’t matter the engineers didn’t know a huge ship was gonna crash into it, they still should taken precaution for when a pier is removed.

    • @coyote_foxtrot
      @coyote_foxtrot Před měsícem +1

      The amount of energy applied to the system is not proportional to the amount of bridge destroyed. It’s not the amount of energy added to the system that matters but how the structure handles drastic changes to energy and transfer. A hairline crack that developed into a sudden failure of a pier would still cause the entire bridge to collapse.

  • @dnscud1
    @dnscud1 Před měsícem +45

    The only reason why the bridge collapsed was a 100000 ton ship. Period!!!!

    • @armvextheforgetful73
      @armvextheforgetful73 Před měsícem

      Gravity

    • @absolutelyanarhy8830
      @absolutelyanarhy8830 Před měsícem +4

      copium

    • @ericsmith5919
      @ericsmith5919 Před měsícem +2

      As WTYP would say, "Boat go bonk, bridge fall down."

    • @hamishadamson4628
      @hamishadamson4628 Před měsícem +8

      No disaster has a single cause. Look up the Swiss cheese model.

    • @dnscud1
      @dnscud1 Před měsícem +5

      @@hamishadamson4628 you’re right sir. It’s was a combination of the captain and crew for letting the ship move with known problems. The bridge was standing there for how many years? Ship and crew. Period

  • @tleezmatts8407
    @tleezmatts8407 Před měsícem

    Thanks! I was wondering about exactly this - .
    I appreciate your explanation.

  • @leandrolaporta2196
    @leandrolaporta2196 Před měsícem

    Excellent demonstration, thanks❤

  • @davidjones-vx9ju
    @davidjones-vx9ju Před měsícem +8

    don't blame the bridge

  • @IngotTeck
    @IngotTeck Před měsícem +4

    Great video and demonstration

  • @chuckg2016
    @chuckg2016 Před měsícem

    Great demonstration! 👍👍👍

  • @deliciouscrabmeet
    @deliciouscrabmeet Před měsícem +1

    Thank you for the information!❤

  • @grizzyprops8577
    @grizzyprops8577 Před měsícem +9

    This guy is soo underrated

  • @louisBrother1988
    @louisBrother1988 Před měsícem +3

    I thought they'd prefer the structures to not break 💀

  • @PrimationNation
    @PrimationNation Před měsícem

    Amazing explanation! Thanks for sharing

  • @tylerwilson8615
    @tylerwilson8615 Před měsícem

    This man just showed us how to be an engineer with legos

  • @charpayn1915
    @charpayn1915 Před měsícem +3

    dope video

  • @byugrad1024
    @byugrad1024 Před měsícem +8

    Good grief. The bridge was solid. The piers should have had ballards or dolphins. The design of the bridge without question was a good design. The design of its ability to withstand a huge-ass ship that didn't exist at the time the bridge was built that is what is in question. That responsibility fell on someone else other than the original structural engineer of this bridge. You sir, are not qualified to be making assumptions that are blatantly incorrect and ignorant. That bridge stood for nearly half a century until the unthinkable happened. No modern bridge would withstand that size of a container ship impact without proper pier protections. From golden gate, to mackinaw, to brooklyn. Just stop. Stop. Please. As a fellow engineer, you are embarrassing us and our field.

  • @kawaranai9743
    @kawaranai9743 Před měsícem +1

    Very interesting demonstration

  • @lzxty6024
    @lzxty6024 Před měsícem +1

    "As a structural engineer, we'd want it to at least"
    My brain: Collapse spectacularly

  • @neoneon5389
    @neoneon5389 Před měsícem +3

    Or you put concrete/stones in front of the support underwater so it does not get rammed by a ship.

    • @archgirl7797
      @archgirl7797 Před měsícem

      this definitely should have been there but, to be fair, it would take a monster of a slab of concrete or a literal mountain of rocks to stop that monster of a ship.
      It could have absorbed some of the force and maybe lessened the damage to the bridge. Maybe. I doubt it though.

  • @sammwich4160
    @sammwich4160 Před měsícem +5

    i was wondering why it crumbled like lego this was helpful thank you

  • @krissa9664
    @krissa9664 Před měsícem +1

    but it litterally did that, there was a clean break at parts of the bridge

  • @user-ow7qt1tb5s
    @user-ow7qt1tb5s Před měsícem +1

    Your voice is so soothing.

  • @cortanathelawless1848
    @cortanathelawless1848 Před měsícem +4

    I know the bridge was massive as was the ship but I'd expect bigger dolphins in a bridge thats around the biggest port, especially if you have such a risky design id expect a couple more yards of concrete surrounding them.

    • @OmikronTitan
      @OmikronTitan Před měsícem

      I'm curious how big they have to be since the force of the ship was on the scale of a rocket launch. I'm guessing it can be smashed up pretty good as long as it prevents a ship from hitting the main bridge support.

  • @tgayush1424
    @tgayush1424 Před měsícem

    Awesome demonstration,very impressed

  • @lilnate2552
    @lilnate2552 Před měsícem +2

    RCE needs to do a bridge review on that bridge

  • @chiranjeevihegde1808
    @chiranjeevihegde1808 Před měsícem

    Thank you so much❤gaining knowledge about structures

  • @Havok135
    @Havok135 Před měsícem +1

    People in comments saying the bridge should have been built stronger, but was built strong for its day, not the day of super cargo ships lol

  • @boomslangCA
    @boomslangCA Před měsícem

    Great explanation. I was surprised that the farthest span also gave way but this explains it.

  • @Satyr1971
    @Satyr1971 Před měsícem

    Excellent explanation, Thanx!

  • @joelb138
    @joelb138 Před měsícem +1

    I would have thought it would be too shallow where the bridge piers are. It should be designed where the ships run aground before they can hit the pier.

  • @bhornannawindeedeigh5007
    @bhornannawindeedeigh5007 Před měsícem

    Thank you for the visual explanation. I've been wondering about why it wasn't just one or two pieces. What a tragedy. 💔

  • @purplelavender15
    @purplelavender15 Před měsícem

    I love this visual explanation

  • @larryh968
    @larryh968 Před měsícem +1

    The section in the far right in the video doesn't seen like it should have fallen with this type of design when the middle section fell .I see it in other designs where the middle section falls the outer sections are dependent on the load of the middle. Just seems like the far right section and pillars should not be dependent on the middle section. Guess I would understand if I were an engineer.

  • @DaveScottAggie
    @DaveScottAggie Před měsícem

    This explanation was easy to understand.

  • @user-ie1gq5tw8z
    @user-ie1gq5tw8z Před měsícem

    The Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse is crazy 😢

  • @notinusemedia
    @notinusemedia Před měsícem

    Very nice explanation even a software or electronics engineer can understand without having to read all civil engineering concepts

  • @ronaldpellet854
    @ronaldpellet854 Před měsícem

    Cool demonstration !!

  • @arthurgomes8214
    @arthurgomes8214 Před měsícem +2

    Damn this was informative! I’ve been informed!

  • @tondriasanders6306
    @tondriasanders6306 Před měsícem

    This reminds me on the section of the deck that collapsed on the Oakland bay bridge versus the nimbus freeway that collapsed, in the ‘89 earthquake.
    A single section of the deck failed on the bridge. But the entire two tiered section of the freeway came crashing down.

  • @TheTugboatgirl
    @TheTugboatgirl Před měsícem

    The irony of the key bridge was that it won an engineering award

  • @unintentionallydramatic
    @unintentionallydramatic Před měsícem +2

    Cybertruck owners sweating rn

  • @LovSven2011
    @LovSven2011 Před měsícem

    excelent demonstration. Short and to the point

  • @Driven2Beers
    @Driven2Beers Před měsícem

    I just can't imagine how horrific this collapse would have been with bumper to bumper rush hour traffic. 😳