What caused the FIRTH OF TAY bridge to fail?

The Tay Bridge Disaster

At approximately 7:15 p.one thousand. on the stormy night of 28 Dec 1879, the primal navigation spans of the Tay bridge complanate into the Firth of Tay at Dundee, taking with them a train, six carriages and 75 souls to their fate.

At the time, a gale estimated at Beaufort force 10/eleven was blowing down the Tay estuary at right angles to the bridge. The plummet of the bridge, but opened 19 months and passed safe past the Board of Trade, sent stupor waves through the Victorian applied science profession and general public.

The disaster is one of the virtually famous bridge failures and to date it is nonetheless 1 of the worst structural engineering failures in the British Isles. Detailed accounts of the disaster are given by Prebble(1) and Thomas(two). A fully revised new edition of David Swinfen'south(3)�book on the disaster has just been published. The book, utilising recent enquiry, addresses the�questions: What caused the disaster and who was to blame. In add-on, it examines the question of how many lives were lost.

The first Tay track bridge was completed in Feb 1878 to the design of Thomas Bouch. Bouch was responsible for the blueprint, construction and maintenance of the bridge. About of his bridges were lattice girders supported on slender cast atomic number 26 columns braced with wrought iron struts and ties, such equally the Belah Viaduct in the photograph to the correct. The building of the Tay bridge culminated in him beingness knighted. A mod account of the life and work of Bouch is by Rapley(17)

The Tay bridge was near two miles long, consisting of 85 spans and at the time was the longest bridge in the world. The spans carried a single rail track; 72 of these�were supported on spanning girders below the level of the track; the remaining xiii navigation spans were spanning girders higher up the level of the track (i.e. the train runs through a tunnel of girders).

These "loftier girders", as they were known, were 27 ft high with an 88 ft clearance above the loftier water mark. It was these spans which roughshod. Well-nigh of the girders below track level, all of which remained standing, were transferred to the present Tay rail bridge(7). At the time of the collapse Bouch was working on the design of the proposed Forth Bridge. In consequence, the design of the bridge was transferred to Benjamin Baker and Sir John Fowler.

A Courtroom of Inquiry was set up to try and ascertain the reason for the collapse of the bridge. The Court of Inquiry report (8) concluded that, "The fall of the span was occasioned by the insufficiency of the cross bracing and its fastenings to sustain the force of the gale." The Court of Inquiry indicated that if the piers, and in particular the wind bracing, had been properly constructed and maintained, the span could have withstood the tempest that night, albeit with a low cistron of safety - 4 to 5 was the norm at the time.

Sir Thomas Bouch was held importantly to blame for the collapse in not making adequate allowance for wind loading. He used a air current pressure of 10 lbsf/sq ft for the design of the Tay bridge. It is interesting to note that when working on the design of a proposed Forth bridge (1866) he used 30lbsf/sq ft(6). To this day, withal, in that location is yet speculation as to the fundamental cause and equally to whether or non the designer, Thomas Bouch, was to blame. A very readable account of the transcripts of the public enquiry is by Gren(18)

Autonomously from the results of the original Court of Inquiry, various theories have been put proposed to explicate the collapse. The picture shows the present Tay Rail bridge alongside the pier remains of Bouch's span. It is a very emotive site and provides a grim reminder of the disaster. The wrought iron girders which remained standing after the disaster were transferred onto the present bridge where they are even so in utilize today.

Researching the Tay bridge disaster has taken place over a period of 18 years resulting in 4 joint papers beingness published, three of which are bachelor for download from the References section below. For farther data, please contact Tom Martin.�

References

1. Prebble J. (1979) The High Girders. Penguin.

2. Thomas J. (1970) The Tay Bridge Disaster David and Charles, Newton Abbot.

iii. Swinfen D. (2016) The fall of the Tay Span, Birlinn Ltd.

4. Martin T. J. & MacLeod I. A. (1990) The Tay Span Disaster - a study in structural pathology, Developments in Structural Engineering, Along Rails Bridge Centenary Briefing, Spon.

5. Martin T. J & MacLeod I. A. The Tay rails bridge disaster - A reappraisal based on modern analysis methods, Proc. Instn Civ. Engrs, 1995 ,108, 77-83

6. Paxton R. (1990) 100 years of the Forth Bridge, Thomas Telford, London

vii. Paxton R. & Leslie J. Bright Lights, The Stevenson Engineers 1751-1971

8. Shipway J. Southward. (1989) Tay rail span centenary - some notes on its construction 1882-87 Proc. Instn Civ. Engrs Function 1, 86, Dec., 1089-1109

ix. Court of Enquiry (1880) Report upon the circumstances attending the fall of a portion of the Tay Bridge.

10. Dow W. M.�(1979) 'Destined for disaster', Scots Magazine, 275-186.

11. Lewis R. P. & Reynolds K. (2002) Forensic Engineering science: A Reappraisal of the Tay Bridge Disaster, reinvestigating the Tay Span disaster of 1879, Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, Vol 27, no 4.

12. Lewis R. P.� (2004) Tempus Publishing, Beautiful railway bridge of the silvery Tay. Reinvestigating the Tay Bridge disaster of 1879.

xiii. McKean C. (2006) Granta publications, Boxing for the Northward, The Tay and Forth Bridges and the 19th -Century Railway Wars.

14. Burt P. J. A.�(2004) The peachy storm and the fall of the Showtime Tay Bridge, Weather, Vol 59, no 12.

xv. Martin T. J & MacLeod I. A. The Tay track span disaster revisited, Proc. Instn Civ. Engrs, 2004 ,157, 187-192

xvi. Cameron Southward. (2002), Colourpoint Books, Decease in the North Channel: The Loss of the "Princess Victoria", January 1953,

17.� Rapley J. (2007), Tempus Publishing, Thomas Bouch, the builder of the Tay Bridge.

18. Gren Andre (2006) Siver Link Publishing, The Span is Downward: The Tay Bridge Disaster of 1879 every bit Reported in transcripts of the Public Inquiry.

19. Lumley Robin (2013) The History Printing.�Tay Bridge Disaster: The People's Story.

twenty. Martin T. J & MacLeod I. A. The legacy of the Tay Bridge collapse, ISIS Periodical of Engineering Vol. 157.2018 ,108, 27-31

Permission to reproduce the� paper: Martin T. J & MacLeod I. A. The Tay rail span disaster - A reappraisal based on modern analysis methods, Proc. Instn Civ. Engrs, 1995 ,108, 77-83 in PDF format from the Institution of Ceremonious Engineers is gratefully best-selling.

Permission to reproduce the� newspaper: Martin T. J & MacLeod I. A. The Tay runway span disaster revisited, Proc. Instn Civ. Engrs, 2004 ,157, 187-192 in PDF format from the Institution of Ceremonious Engineers is gratefully acknowledged.

Permission to reproduce a pier epitome (showing uplift) from the Dundee City Council, Cardinal Library, Photographic Drove is gratefully acknowledged.

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Source: http://taybridgedisaster.co.uk/

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