Scotland's Forth Road Bridge may not be the most beautiful bridge over the Firth of Forth, but it is an incredible feat of engineering and is integral to the economy of the entire area. However, rust is threatening to destroy the cables that suspend the road. This free course uses video to explore the issues associated with the potential demise of this great bridge.
Course learning outcomes
After studying this course, you should be able to:
understand the basic structural issues of the Forth Road Bridge
give examples of how engineers are trying to alleviate the wear and tear on the bridge.
Fascinating. The placement of microphones inside the structure recording the snapping sound of broken cables that have been destroyed by rust is one method of perpetual monitoring of the bridge cable deterioration. A dilemma for scientists and council planners working against time to make decisions that are best for the community who use the bridge. Options of closing it mean a 40 mile round trip detour and it appears there are toll fees that would be lost. Options of pumping dry air into the cables to try to stop further deterioration is one concept but if the bridge has already lost 10 per cent of it's cable strength at the time of filming, how long does it take for the dry air pumping solution to work and how much would it cost and who would pay for it? This was a very thought-provoking course : )