Engineers Collapse 120-foot Bridge to Study Behavior, Safety
Engineers at the Ferguson Structural Engineering Laboratory successfully collapsed a 120-foot bridge with an intentionally fractured girder. The test was part of a research project to determine the collapse vulnerability of twin box girder bridges in the event of a complete fracture of one of the girders. Structural engineers consider these bridges "fracture critical" because they are expected to collapse if one of their girders fractures. The Texas Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration funded the research. For more information, visit the Cockrell School of Engineering.