Why do some bridges withstand catastrophic events?

Researchers from several Spanish universities have uncovered the hidden mechanisms that explain why some bridges, specifically steel truss bridges, resist collapse when hit by catastrophic events, and how they can even withstand loads greater than those they can withstand under normal conditions.

These "hidden mechanisms" have been revealed by researchers from the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) (eastern Spain) and the University of Vigo (northern Spain), who have compared the functioning of iron bridges to spider webs, which are capable of adapting and continuing to trap prey even after being damaged and losing some of their threads. They published the results of their work today in the journal Nature .

Engineer and researcher José Miguel Adam, from the UPV's University Institute for Concrete Science and Technology Research, explained that The construction of iron bridges was very common between the late 18th and early 20th centuries, and has noted that many of them are still in service and fully operational, especially on railway lines.

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Adam, coordinator of the 'Pont3' project, explained to EFE how, when carrying out tests in laboratories, they found that latent resistance mechanisms were activated, revealing their robustness, and how they simulated more than two hundred failures of different elements until they confirmed that the bridges "resisted much more than we expected, because mechanisms were activated that we were previously unaware of." Natural events are becoming increasingly intense and unpredictable.

Bridges are critical elements of transportation networks, and their collapse can have very serious consequences, including fatalities and economic losses that can reach millions. euros for each day of closure, the Polytechnic University stated in a press release issued today.

Belén Riveiro, a researcher at the University of Vigo's Center for Research in Technologies, Energy, and Industrial Processes, emphasized in the same article the importance of ensuring that these structures do not collapse due to local failure, given the increasingly intense and unpredictable natural events and environmental changes that are accelerating bridge deterioration.

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Until now, it was unclear why some initial failures in certain elements propagate disproportionately in some cases, while in others they barely affect the functionality of these structures. However, researchers have uncovered the secondary mechanisms that allow these structures to be more resilient and not collapse.

Their findings, they asserted, provide new insights into the design of safer bridges in the face of extreme events and will also serve to improve monitoring, evaluation, and reinforcement strategies for existing bridges, or to redefine the robustness requirements for iron structures.

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José Miguel Adam has specified that his findings reveal which mechanisms or parts of a new bridge would need to be worked on in greater detail to be activated in the event of a potential local failure, and in the case of existing bridges, where attention or inspections should be focused, or which elements should be reinforced to activate these latent resilience mechanisms.

In his view, this technology would even allow the restoration of many bridges that are currently in disuse or extend the useful life of thousands of structures, many of which were built more than a hundred years ago and could continue operating safely if the appropriate reinforcement measures discovered through this work are implemented.

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