Re:Longest pedestrian suspension bridge opens in Portugal
by kens on Sunday May 02, 2021 @01:02AM
(#27012497)
I read the same claim on Usenet about 30 years ago and researched it. My conclusion was that soldiers break stride to avoid nasty oscillations, but I couldn't find any actual collapses. There was one bridge that was claimed as a collapse from people marching on it, but it was actually very high winds that caused the collapse.
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Re:Longest pedestrian suspension bridge opens in Portugal
by LeoPanthera on Sunday May 02, 2021 @02:03AM
(#27012694)
Well, London's Millennium Bridge did not collapse, but it did sway alarmingly when crowds of people walking on it were forced into resonance, resulting in the immediate closure of the bridge before it could be fixed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Bridge,_London#Reso...
Re:Longest pedestrian suspension bridge opens in Portugal
by cameronh90 on Sunday May 02, 2021 @05:29AM
(#27013669)
And even now people still call it the “wobbly bridge”.
Re:Longest pedestrian suspension bridge opens in Portugal
by juhatl on Sunday May 02, 2021 @03:32AM
(#27013070)
Apparently an incident took place in 1831 where a bridge collapsed under soldiers marching, but the Wikipedia article [1] notes that "The conclusion of the investigation was that the vibration caused by the marching precipitated the bolt's failure, but it would have failed eventually anyway".
There's more interesting information on synchronization and bridges on Veritasium's video, The Secret of Synchronization [2].
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broughton_Suspension_Bridge [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-_VPRCtiUg
Re:Longest pedestrian suspension bridge opens in Portugal
by pomian on Sunday May 02, 2021 @07:48AM
(#27014414)
That video link about synchronisation is very interesting. Thankyou.
Synchronization of bridges, hearts, lightning bugs, metronomes, sailing clocks. Cool
Re:Longest pedestrian suspension bridge opens in Portugal
by jfk13 on Sunday May 02, 2021 @05:40AM
(#27013717)
The Albert Bridge in London even has signs to remind soldiers to break step:
https://www.londonremembers.com/memorials/albert-bridge-troo...