Posted on 12/08/2013 12:37:55 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Yun Chung, a retired engineer and metallurgist, read the official report explaining why massive, high-strength steel rods on the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge broke last March and was stunned – then alarmed.
At first glance, Chung said about the July report, he saw obvious errors – some typographical, others that confused basic terminology. Digging deeper, he discovered more important problems. He concluded that the analysis defied metallurgical science and common sense.
“I think it’s very shameful that in this public document, this important (oversight) report, there are so many errors. (I have) a sense of outrage,” Chung said in an interview last week.
[snip]
Chung said he couldn’t understand how the oversight group, its consultants, and even a review team from the Federal Highway Administration missed such an obvious conclusion: Over five years, water corroded the bottoms of the rods – where all 32 breaks occurred. That was the primary reason they snapped when tightened. Corrosion introduced too much hydrogen into the steel at those locations.
Underplaying the environmental cause for the breaks – “the most fundamental error in the (oversight) report” – Chung and Thomas wrote, led to apparent complacency among oversight officials about future corrosion from the bay’s marine conditions.
As a precaution against corrosion, giant rods on the suspension span’s eastern anchorage and others at the top and base of the tower “are housed inside a watertight, dehumidified chamber so moisture is not readily present,” according to the oversight group’s report.
Chung and Thomas said that in the bay’s marine air, the chambers must be more than watertight – they should be airtight to prevent corrosion. Pizzo agreed that airtight chambers would be necessary...
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Interesting.....
The thing is, if people are so sloppy about basic grammar and spelling, what else are they sloppy about? In general, people are sloppy about everything, or meticulous about everything.
It is important in this case, because this report has implications for the future of the new bridge. What if the bridge is headed for catastrophic failure and no one recognizes the possibility because everyone who should see it coming is sloppy and cuts corners?
Just some more infrastructure built with ‘coolie labor’.
Is “made in China” a guarantee that it’s inferior?
I will guarantee if the Obamacare system was made in China the quality would have been 1,000% better.
Why? In China poor performance and ineptitude results in removal from the job.....or worse yet.....removal from this earth.
In Obama’s world failure or poor quality is always blamed on some other factor and no one is punished.
China quality VS American quality? Used to be that the word “china” on anything meant sorry quality. Now, it’s the other way around.
I will guarantee if the Obamacare system was made in China the quality would have been 1,000% better.
I would remind you that 10X better still isn't much when you start with a turd.
The thing is, if people are so sloppy about basic grammar and spelling, what else are they sloppy about?
&&&
Exactly. That is my argument always.
Society is reaping the crops sown by our deliberately dumbed-down education systems.
In Boston's Big Dig, a tunnel panel came down and crushed a lady in a car. Apparently epoxy was used to hold them up. A friend's dad who had extensive experience in that area said that there were probably two issues--first, the strength of the epoxy was mixture-sensitive, but second (and probably more importantly) the joint had to be completely clean before the cement was applied--no residual concrete dust. Wouldn't you suspect worker sloppiness in this area? A lot of time and money was spent inspecting the remaining panels, and there were a lot of poor joints.
Me thinks this is more of a design problem....why did this design require "unprecedented" large rods.....smells like brute force engineering was at play. The Gallopin' Gertie
Yes but the back story is that those same people who are crying spent the last 25 years running any business capable of making such parts out of Kalifornia.
Spelling and grammar are more important when you are placing lives on them and getting PAID for “work”. FR, not so much.
Glad to hear that!!!!
Well, that sure answers a lot.
Another 7.0 like the Loma Prieta quake will make quick work of the destruction. Just pray you're not on the span when it ends up on the bottom of the bay.
Yes. High Tensile steel is prone to hydrogen embrfittlement. It is actually atomic hydrogeon i.e. H1 not H2 the molecule. The hydrogen gets into the crystal lattice of the steel and weakens it. It literally forces the lattice structure apart at an atomic level. Mild steel is not subject to this nor is stainless steel. However, they do not have the strength of high tensile steel. This is an engineering fiasco. It did not need to happen. It can be engineered around with different metals. Larger rods of a lower tensile steel could have given the strength needed and not be subject to embrittlement.
F---ing idiots.
Horse-hockey!
Unconcerned with quality and workmanship, buy Chinese.
No!
Why should we have to ask people for clarification when, with a little effort on their part, clarity would be built into their writing? Long live spelling/grammatical (especially in technical writing) a-holes! Why can't 'writers' learn grammar and spelling? If they can't do that or can't take the care to use proper grammar, it makes one suspicious of their content.
Typos happen, which is why proofreading is important. On FR, we often get so excited that we hit "Post" before we check our writing. Many of us are guilty of that.
When a person is unclear in a mathematical, technical, engineering, or scientific text, there is no "Read what is intended."
There are many slippery slopes in life. Why not take care of those we can control?
What this suggests to me is that the people who prepared the report are unqualified and don't understand what it is going to take to fix the problem. But that's the way the Government works in California.
Good man.
Bump.
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