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    Forensic Structural Engineering Case Studies Case N ° 30 Chirajara Bridge

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    Gustavo Soto
    The Chirajara bridge in Colombia collapsed during construction, killing 9 people. The probable cause was structural failure of a pylon due to design mistakes. Specifically, there were incorrect structural hypotheses about how the post-tensioned slab and reinforced concrete wall would work together. The pylon design was also unusual, using a wall instead of a transverse beam to transfer forces, and deeper analysis of this design may have prevented the collapse. The lessons are that unusual designs require more rigorous analysis, and peer review processes must ensure all potential failure modes are considered.

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    Forensic Structural Engineering Case Studies Case N ° 30 Chirajara Bridge

    Uploaded by

    Gustavo Soto
    142 views8 pages
    The Chirajara bridge in Colombia collapsed during construction, killing 9 people. The probable cause was structural failure of a pylon due to design mistakes. Specifically, there were incorrect structural hypotheses about how the post-tensioned slab and reinforced concrete wall would work together. The pylon design was also unusual, using a wall instead of a transverse beam to transfer forces, and deeper analysis of this design may have prevented the collapse. The lessons are that unusual designs require more rigorous analysis, and peer review processes must ensure all potential failure modes are considered.

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    The Chirajara bridge in Colombia collapsed during construction, killing 9 people. The probable cause was structural failure of a pylon due to design mistakes. Specifically, there were incorrect structural hypotheses about how the post-tensioned slab and reinforced concrete wall would work together. The pylon design was also unusual, using a wall instead of a transverse beam to transfer forces, and deeper analysis of this design may have prevented the collapse. The lessons are that unusual designs require more rigorous analysis, and peer review processes must ensure all potential failure modes are considered.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    142 views8 pages

    Forensic Structural Engineering Case Studies Case N ° 30 Chirajara Bridge

    Uploaded by

    Gustavo Soto
    The Chirajara bridge in Colombia collapsed during construction, killing 9 people. The probable cause was structural failure of a pylon due to design mistakes. Specifically, there were incorrect structural hypotheses about how the post-tensioned slab and reinforced concrete wall would work together. The pylon design was also unusual, using a wall instead of a transverse beam to transfer forces, and deeper analysis of this design may have prevented the collapse. The lessons are that unusual designs require more rigorous analysis, and peer review processes must ensure all potential failure modes are considered.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
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    The bridge collapse was caused by structural failures in the pylon during construction due to design mistakes. Incorrect structural analysis led to insufficient tension in the post-tensioned cables. This caused excessive lateral deformation and instability of the pylon arms, resulting in fracture and collapse.

    The main cause of the collapse was instability of one of the pylons during construction due to structural design mistakes. The fracture surfaces indicated ductile failure from excessive lateral deformation, corroborated by analytical and numerical analyses.

    9 people were killed and 8 injured in the bridge collapse incident.

    FORENSIC STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING

    CASE STUDIES
    CASE N° 30
    CHIRAJARA BRIDGE

    MARTIN POLIMENI
    STRUCTURAL ENGINEER
    EEPP SA
    eeppsaingenieria@gmail.com
    CHIRAJARA BRIDGE COLLAPSE
    On January
    15, 2018, the
    Chirajara
    bridge near
    Bogotá,
    Colombia,
    collapsed
    during
    construction.
    CHIRAJARA BRIDGE COLLAPSE
    Probable cause:
    • Structural failure of a
    pylon during
    construction due to
    design mistakes.
    Consequences:
    o 9 people dead and
    8 people injured.
    CHIRAJARA BRIDGE COLLAPSE
    Principal structural
    system.
    Cable stayed bridge.
    Main span: 286 m
    Lateral spans: 80 m
    Deck: Longitudinal steel
    girders, transverse steel
    beams and CIP concrete
    slab
    Pylon diamond-shape:
    Steel superior pylon.
    Reinforced concrete
    superior and inferior arms.
    Post tensioned concrete
    transverse slab.
    Reinforced concrete wall.
    Concrete caisson
    foundation.
    CHIRAJARA BRIDGE COLLAPSE

    Incorrect structural hypotheses about the Typical Chirajara Pylon


    combined work of the post-tensioned slab and Pylon (unusual)
    the reinforced concrete wall. The tension level of diamond- Diamond-shape
    the post-tensioned cable system was insufficient. shape
    CHIRAJARA BRIDGE COLLAPSE
    Ductile fracture surfaces of
    the steel reinforcing bars and
    tendons. This indicate the
    yielding of the bars and
    tendons, and the consequent
    increment of the lateral
    deformation that generates
    the progressive instability of
    the arms of the pylon up to its
    fracture and collapse.
    CHIRAJARA BRIDGE COLLAPSE
    Important not conservative differences, in the
    distributions of the deformations and loads within
    the height of the wall, between the numerical
    analysis and the original design.
    CHIRAJARA BRIDGE COLLAPSE
    Lessons learned:
     According with the investigation report that is the public domain, the
    main cause of the collapse was instability, during construction, of one
    of the pylons due to structural design mistakes.
     The fracture surfaces of cables and reinforcement bars indicates that
    there was a ductile fracture due to an excessive lateral deformation.
    This assumption was corroborated, in the investigation, by analytical
    and numerical analyses.
     The design of the pylons was unusual. It´s no usual to use a wall to
    transfer the forces generated by the change of the loads direction.
    More adequate would have been a transverse beam or slab to transmit
    the deviation forces through sufficient post-tensioned.
     Unusual designs can be done, and in some cases may be welcomed,
    but in that cases, deeper structural analyses must be done. Sensitivity
    analyses, with different hypotheses, must be done in order to assess
    how these hypotheses affect the structural behavior.
     Once again like in others great projects, the peer review also failed.

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