Minus River Bridge Case Study

Words: 1413
Pages: 6

Mianus River Bridge
Collapse

Sean McAllen, Stephen Peterson, Thomas McCarthy, Stephen Lauro, Marco Castro
Sakulich
CE 1030
26 April 2017

Table of Contents

Abstract---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------pg.3

Introduction----------------------------------------------------------------------------------pg. 3

Methodology Section-----------------------------------------------------------------------pg. 4

Literature Review---------------------------------------------------------------------------pg. 4

Conclusions----------------------------------------------------------------------------------pg. 6

Bibliography---------------------------------------------------------------------------------pg.
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The bridge collapsed due to the incomplete and lousy inspection of the bridge. It is sad that the state of Connecticut had to suffer casualties as a result of the lack of funding toward our inspection and maintenance of our bridges. Thus, the state funneled more money and tax dollars to support our bridges and are currently successful in their efforts today.
Introduction

The Mianus River Bridge, located in the Cos Cob neighborhood of Greenwich, Connecticut, was built in 1958, and designed as a six lane bridge, part of I-95/ Connecticut Turnpike. On June 28th, 1983, shortly after midnight, one hundred feet of the deck of the bridges northbound span collapsed. Two cars and two tractor-trailers fell into the Mianus River during the collapse, killing three people and injuring three others. The context in which caused the bridge to collapse was water build up along the pin bearings that supported the bridge. The inadequate drainage was caused by the deliberate blocking of storm drains when road workers failed to unblock them after performing construction on the bridge. The water build up caused rust to form on the pin bearings which weakened the structural integrity of the section of the bridge. This collapse is important to look at since it showed the how poor of a job the state of Connecticut did on their maintenance
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An upper pin is attached through the two half-inch thick web of the girder of the cantilever arm and a lower pin is attached through the two half-inch thick web of the girder of the suspended span. The hangers are held in place by thin locking caps.” (Grimes et. al. 1). The location of the pin and hanger is called a “fracture-critical” point, meaning that if there is a failure at this point, then a large scale failure is likely to occur. Ten years prior to the collapse, construction was being done on the bridge, where it was repaved, causing storm drains to be covered. This prevented storm water from properly draining, leading to corrosion of the caps to the pin and hanger. This allowed the hanger to slip off of its pin. This doubled the load on the other pin and hanger. Due to this and heavy use, a fatigue crack developed in the pin. At the time of the collapse the pin broke allowing the hanger to separate, allowing the entirety of the span to