Pedestrian Bridge Collapse and Failure Analysis in Giles County, Virginia
Publication: Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 28, Issue 4
Abstract
A pedestrian suspension bridge over Walker Creek near Route 749 in Giles County, Virginia, partially collapsed in October of 2008, causing 10 people to fall into the creek below. The failure occurred when one of the anchors holding a suspension cable fractured. This paper presents the investigation of the failure, including a structural analysis of the bridge to determine cable forces, material property testing of the fractured anchor, laboratory testing of a different anchor from the bridge, and a simple strength evaluation of the anchor under combined axial force and moment. Based on the results of the study, it was concluded that the anchor should not have failed carrying the loads on the bridge on the day of failure. The anchor failed in brittle fracture because of a local defect in the material at the perimeter of a corrosion pit on the surface of the anchor hook. The structural analysis and laboratory testing indicated that the material around the defect was at yield before fracture initiation. The material flaws significantly influenced the bridge failure after yielding and inelastic deformation of the anchor material at the inside of the hook radius occurred.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The methods, findings, and data presented in this publication are those of the authors and investigators and not necessarily those of the State of Virginia Department of Transportation.
References
ASTM. (2007). “Standard specification for anchor bolts, steel, 36, 55, and 105-ksi yield strength.” F1554-07a, West Conshohocken, PA.
Bapat, A. V., Cousins, T. E., Dymond, B. Z., and Roberts-Wollmann, C. L. (2009). “Giles County, VA pedestrian bridge collapse and failure analysis.” Final Contract Rep., Virginia Transportation Research Council (VTRC), Charlottesville, VA. 〈http://virginiadot.org/news/resources/Statewide/GilesCountyFailureAnalysisReport.pdf〉 (Jan. 31, 2013).
Barsom, J. M., and Rolfe, S. T. (1987). Fracture and fatigue control in structures, 2nd Ed., Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.
Boresi, A. P., and Schmidt, R. J. (2003). Advanced mechanics of materials, 6th Ed., Wiley, Hoboken, NJ.
Hibbeler, R. C. (2002). Structural analysis, 5th Ed., Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.
Virginia Dept. of Transportation (VDOT). (2007). “Structure inspection report 0359000-000000000008509.” Structure and Bridge Division, Central Office, Richmond, VA.
Wright, W. J. (2012). “Steel bridge design handbook: Bridge steels and their mechanical properties.”, Henningson, Durham, and Richardson (HDR) Engineering, Pittsburgh, PA, 49.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 28 • Issue 4 • August 2014
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 4, 2012
Accepted: May 14, 2013
Published online: May 16, 2013
Published in print: Aug 1, 2014
Discussion open until: Oct 12, 2014
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.