"F或原因不明。”

这些是上周使用的单词国家运输安全委员会董事会认为,去年致命的行人桥梁在迈阿密造成的关键设计错误背后的“原因”时,正在寻求“原因”。

The bridge, a 174-ft-long concrete truss, was to provide a crossing over a busy road for pedestrians at Florida International University. In its report, the NTSB stated that its investigators could not find another single-truss concrete structure built anywhere in the world.

在完成之前,预制结构在道路上倒入位置五天后,它崩溃了。

该结构由总部位于塔拉哈西(Tallahassee)的Figg桥工程师设计,有一排的对角线和垂直线,连接了桁架的底部和弦,其行走表面和较窄的顶部,并用作树冠。连接到桁架底部的电缆的塔是增加了一些稳定性,但没有明显的承载能力。它将主要是出现。

Since the collapse, engineers have speculated about the wisdom of designing such a novel structure and the complications of analyzing it.

“这甚至不是普通的桁架,”一位要求不被识别的工程师。他指出,桁架中心中的一排对角线的角度异常,增加了结构的奇异外观,但任何分析都变得复杂。

Figg Bridge工程师将其归咎于其在设计建造合同下工作的承包商归咎于崩溃,并声称该公司在将结构付诸实践的同时引入了负载。FIGG还声称,承包商未能遵循失败节点上混凝土粗糙的设计指令,这将有助于抵抗剪切力和在桥北端的最后一个对角线上进行剪切力和混凝土井喷。当崩溃发生时,该末端的最终连接尚未在短时间内进行,裂缝在该地区扩散。

Shear force demand calculated by FIGG under its fixed support model, said NTSB, was the lowest produced by the four different models made by the engineer (see story text below).
2019年10月的NTSB介绍幻灯片

The structure fell as a crew was re-tensioning a rod running through the last diagonal at the north end, according to instructions prepared by FIGG. The hope was that that would stop the spreading cracks. Importantly, the NTSB found that the plan for re-tensioning the bridge structure—a remedial action ordered by FIGG's engineer of record, Denney Pate—was undertaken without having been reviewed and approved by an engineer, as it should have been.

此外,调查人员还指出,FIGG,建筑工程和检查公司Bolton Perez&Associates;佛罗里达州的工程师和佛罗里达国际大学都有权关闭道路。

基于精细的分析,FIGG声称粗糙的混凝土将避免悲剧,并产生了对对角线数11向外推动的必要性。

NTSB在很大程度上拒绝了这一理论。虽然指出承包商未能使桥的某些部分变得粗暴,但NTSB得出结论这种粗暴可能不会阻止结构崩溃,并指出:“桥梁仍然是不足的,可能会失败。”此外,NTSB发现:“当需要故意粗糙的表面以实现桥梁设计的假设时,FIGG桥工程师的建设计划不一致。”

Also, FIGG blames the peer review firm it hired and paid, and which state engineers allowed to do the work, for failing to analyze the nodes in its peer review.

The origins of the collapse are likely to be studied for years, says another engineer.

Aashto-LRFD代码的桥梁设计指南主要与钢结构说话,并且没有具体的混凝土桁架桥指南。NTSB在其建议中要求将此类指南添加到AASHTO-LFRD代码中。

But engineers are supposed to make accurate calculations even when there is no specific code to lean on.

沃尔什(Walsh)是其他著名的NTSB桥和隧道调查的资深人士。他上周在华盛顿特区的听众说,Figg选择了从设计师为该项目创建的四个不同模型之一获得的关键节点的需求价值低的价值:已完成的两跨跨桥的二维模型;运输过程中主跨支撑的二维模型;仅在南码头和塔码头支撑的主跨度的三维模型;主跨固定支撑的三维模型已更改为复制已完成的条件。

沃尔什说:“尽管完成了最大力的两个跨度模型,但由于无法解释的原因,FIGG设计专门为主跨度简单和固定的支持模型使用了结果。”


低估的剪切界面需求

The result was an underestimation of shear interface demand at different nodes varying from 41% to 91%, measured in kips, said Walsh.

在接受崩溃探测的采访中,NTSB的研究人员简要介绍了如何做出设计决策。他要求FIGG的一位工程师Manuel Feliciano解释他如何决定使用哪种软件来建模桥梁结构的不同方面。费利西亚诺回答说,他使用了使用LUSAS设计分析软件生成的模型来生成界面剪切计算的力效应。

“对于有关节点设计的问题,我们依靠LUSAS模型,因为我们认为这将代表 - 将更好地表示该局部区域与LARSA模型,”这是对另一种类型的结构设计软件的引用。

社“was more general,” said Feliciano, and its model “had all the PT bars and all the tendons.”

答案似乎满足了发问者。