Civil Engineers don't "cut and paste" .
We weld,bolt and rivet or the bridge tends to fall down.
Doesn't work too well on a computer. :-)
Some have even been known to design suspension bridges with chain-link cables instead of multi-stranded cables -- then the bridges do fall down. Sorry, that was low hanging fruit . . .
Chain bridges go back to the early-mid 1800's
Surprised you know about them.
Oh,wait,never mind.
My knowledge of them only goes back to 1967!
Boom! Silver Bridge reference for $2000 Alex
Hate to get all technical,but I will. :-)
The Silver Bridge wasn't "chain link cables" .
It was what was called an "eye beam suspension bridge".
The Silver bridge collapse is one of the examples they use in design classes to teach the importance of redundancy for safety.
The problem with "eye beam" and for that matter Wrought Iron Chain bridges, is no redundancy.
One pin,beam or link fails,you can lose the whole bridge.
Wire rope,solved those problems.
Lose one "strand" ,in a cable,no problem.
In fact,when they were making wire rope out of wrought iron,before steel,it wasn't uncommon for some strands to break.
When they first started using wire rope,a lot of engineers didn't trust it.
So they made the cables much larger then they needed to be.
When I was in grad school we got a chance to look at the cables and anchoring for a couple of suspension bridges.
You don't realize just how massive they are,still you're standing next to them.
Years ago my dad worked for the NY/NJ Port Authority.
He was doing a "triangulation" survey.
He had to set up a transit at the top of one of the towers.
He told us standing at the top of the bridge tower,and looking down the bridge's cable, was one of the most exciting but scary things he ever had to do when he worked there.
Last Edited: 1/28/2020 6:56:42 AM by rpbobcat