Tacoma Bridge Collapse (Example of torsional vibration mode) : The wind-induced collapse occurred on November 7, 1940, at 11:00 a.m. (Pacific Time), because of a physical phenomenon known as aeroelastic flutter. Leonard Coatsworth, a Tacoma News Tribune editor, was the last person to drive on the bridge: Just as I drove past the towers, the bridge began to sway violently from side to side. Before I realized it, the tilt became so violent that I lost control of the car...I jammed on the brakes and got out, only to be thrown onto my face against the curb...Around me I could hear concrete cracking...The car itself began to slide from side to side of the roadway. On hands and knees most of the time, I crawled 500 yards (460 m) or more to the towers...My breath was coming in gasps; my knees were raw and bleeding, my hands bruised and swollen from gripping the concrete curb...Toward the last, I risked rising to my feet and running a few yards at a time...Safely back at the toll plaza, I saw the bridge in its final collapse and saw my car plunge into the Narrows. No human life was lost in the collapse of the bridge. Tubby, a black male cocker spaniel, was the only fatality of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge disaster; he was lost along with Coatsworths car. Professor Farquharson and a news photographer attempted to rescue Tubby during a lull, but the dog was too terrified to leave the car and bit one of the rescuers. Tubby died when the bridge fell, and neither his body nor the car were ever recovered. Coatsworth had been driving Tubby back to his daughter, who owned the dog. Coatsworth received US$450.00 (US$7,600 with inflation) for his car and US$364.40 (US$6,100 with inflation) in reimbursement for the contents of his car, including Tubby.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Dec 2014 10:10:11 +0000