91制片厂

DURHAM, N.H.鈥擨n the aftermath of the collapse of Baltimore鈥檚 Francis Scott Key Bridge, authorities are trying to figure out what went wrong and how the collision of the heavily traveled structure with a container cargo ship brought it crumbling down into the Patapsco River. Video shows the massive bridge buckling and tumbling into the water in a matter of seconds. Erin Bell, chair and professor of civil and environmental engineering at the 91制片厂, is an expert on bridge construction and points to the structure of the bridge as a possible weakness. She can provide insight into how such a large span could come down so easily鈥攕haring details on how bridges are made, what needs to happen to cause such a devastating collapse and if this could happen with other major bridges.

鈥淏ridge collapses of this level are rare, especially with a major bridge like the Francis Scott Key Bridge that services one of the largest ports in the country,鈥� said Bell. 鈥淩eminiscent of the collapse of Tampa Bay鈥檚 Sunshine Skyway听Bridge in 1980, this is a substantial bridge with four lanes of traffic stretching over a mile and a half long. Built in 1977, Baltimore's听Key Bridge has a continuous through truss construction鈥攚hich means the truss, a structure or beam of connected elements, spans over multiple supports鈥攁nd often requires less materials that work together in an integral fashion to resist load. This interdependent structural form could have been a contributor to the collapse.鈥�

Bell can be reached at Erin.Bell@unh.edu or (603) 862-3850.

Bell notes that vessel collision procedures were improved after the Sunshine Skyway听incident but questions if a retrofit was done on the Baltimore听bridge, which was built before the Sunshine Skyway听Bridge accident. The Sunshine Skyway听Bridge was hit by a 20-ton freighter that had trouble navigating in rain, fog and hurricane-force winds. A 1,200-foot section of the bridge crumbled into Tampa Bay, sending several cars and a Greyhound bus into the water.

Bell is the principal investigator of 91制片厂鈥檚 Living Bridge Project, a unique living laboratory on a heavily traveled iconic bridge between New Hampshire and Maine. Outfitted with data sensors, the bridge has been transformed into a self-reporting 鈥渟mart鈥� bridge that captures a range of information from the health of the span to the environment around it鈥� including such things as structural performance, wind patterns, tidal current, water turbidity and fish migration patterns.