Structural Engineer On the Fallacies of Movie Bridge Destruction (hackaday.com)

szczys writes: Suspension bridges like the Golden Gate Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge are favorite victims for movie makers but are almost always shown to perform in violation of the laws of physics. Structural Engineer Alex Weinberg couldn't stay silent any longer. He covers how bridge collapses in several major films should have looked. The biggest offender? Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises.

Comments

Re:Well written and funny article

[Anonymous Coward]

You should have read further and into the comments as well. Catenary is indeed not a parabola, but the suspension cables are. The cables are not free-hanging, they carry a considerable mass, which makes them parabola-shaped. As soon as the bridge fails, the cables turn into catenary shape, which makes his usage of the words accurate.

Re:It's a catenary curve

[hondo77]

From your own citation:

However, in a suspension bridge with a suspended roadway, the chains or cables support the weight of the bridge, and so do not hang freely. In most cases the roadway is flat, so when the weight of the cable is negligible compared with the weight being supported, the force exerted is uniform with respect to horizontal distance, and the result is a parabola...