Genoa bridge collapse musings

in #technology6 years ago

General_Rafael_Urdaneta_Bridge_view_from_the_lake_to_Cabimas_side01.jpg

Genoa bridge collapse

When I found out about the collapsed bridge in Genoa,
I learned that there is another such bridge in Venezuela;
Puente General Rafael Urdaneta
This bridge crosses Lake Maracaibo and looks exactly the same as
the bridge in Genoa.
Both designed by Riccardo Morandi, both build in the 1960s,
though the bridge in Venezuela is slightly older.

Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge hydrogen embrittlement

Moving on from there I found out that:
During the Eastern span replacement of the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge
hydrogen embrittlement is thought to be the cause of the failure of 30 out of 96 bolts
that have a diameter of 3 inch (7.5cm).
That's pretty impressive.
Then the hydrogen built up in Fukushima Daiichi came to mind,
which made me feel very uncomfortable to say the least.

This summer's drought

If this summer's drought isn't enough to demand direct closure of
all the cooling water dependent power-plants, nuclear installations..
Hydrogen embrittlement must be it.

Some links:

https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/364179/genoa-bridge-collapse-what-might-be-responsible

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_embrittlement

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Vi estas tre atenta observanto! Hope the bridge in Venezuela will not colloaps as the country has alraedy enough trouble.