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Epic Engineering Failures and the Lessons They Teach

Series: Epic Engineering Failures and the Lessons They Teach

4.6

(25)

Episodes

Rating

TVPG

Year

2022

Language

English

Publisher

The Great Courses

About

Go behind the scenes to discover what really happened in more than 24 epic engineering failures. Civil engineer and award-winning educator Stephen Ressler reveals the story behind each disaster by not only demonstrating the scientific and engineering issues involved, but also by examining the individual personalities and sometimes dysfunctional organizations that led to catastrophe.

Related Subjects

Episodes

1. Learning from Failure: Three Vignettes

35m

What does a 19th-century British railway disaster have in common with the 21st-century destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans? All were engineering failures that resulted in important improvements in the engineering process. Discover the very human issues that contributed to poor engineering decisions in these three cases, with disastrous consequences.

2. Flawed Design Concept: The Dee Bridge

37m

One spring evening in the mid-19th century, a three-span iron bridge across England's River Dee collapsed just as a locomotive reached the middle of the third span. Railroad technology was only just coming of age, and this collapse was one of its most serious accidents to date. Discover how this accident inquiry led to improved bridge safety throughout the country.

3. Wind Loading: The Tay Bridge

37m

When the Tay Bridge in Scotland was completed in 1878, it became the longest bridge in the world. Discover the behind-the-scenes details of the bridge design and construction, and how the failure of one single, simple connection triggered a chain of events that brought down a 4,000-ton structure.

4. Rainwater Loading: Kemper Arena

31m

In 1976, the American Institute of Architects presented an Honor Award to Helmut Jahn for his innovative design of the Kemper Arena in Kansas City. Three years later, a 43,000-square-foot section of the roof collapsed. Follow the forensic engineers as they painstakingly analyze the arena's innovative design and identify four major factors that contributed to the roof's collapse.

5. Earthquake Loading: The Cypress Structure

37m

While the Loma Prieta earthquake caused many fires, landslides, and structural failures, two thirds of the fatalities were caused by the collapse of the Cypress Structure, a two-level elevated highway. Explore the complex effects of earthquakes on structures and learn the role resonance and sediment-induced amplification played in this catastrophe.

6. Vehicle Collisions: Land and Sea

32m

When an unexpected squall limited visibility to near zero, the Summit Venture freighter collided with Tampa's Sunshine Skyway Bridge on May 9, 1980, shearing off a reinforced concrete pier and toppling 1,300 feet of the bridge into the bay. Was this an engineering failure? Or was it just an accident? Discover how high-quality engineering design can account for and minimize accidental catastrophe.

7. Blast Loading: The Murrah Federal Building

31m

On April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh's bomb demolished almost half of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people. Explore details of the building's design and specific ways in which various structural elements responded to the blast. Is it possible that modest changes to the steel reinforcement might have allowed the building to survive with only localized damage?

8. Structural Response: The Hyatt Regency Walkways

35m

In 1978, a developer chose to build a hotel in Kansas City using a management technique called fast-tracking, in which construction begins before the design is complete. What can happen when each principal assumes that someone else has designed a critical structural connection? Explore the series of mistakes that led to the tragic collapse of two suspended walkways and the deaths of 114 people.

9. Bridge Aerodynamics: Galloping Gertie

40m

One of the most epic engineering failures in history was the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in 1940. Nicknamed "Galloping Gertie," the bridge undulated so strongly that thrill-seekers came from all over just to drive across it. Explore the inherent structural inefficiency of the suspension bridge, and why this bridge failed spectacularly only four months after its opening.

10. Dynamic Response: London's Wobbly Bridge

32m

On June 10, 2000, Londoners celebrated the opening of a state-of-the-art pedestrian bridge over the Thames River. Two days later, the Millennium Bridge was vibrating so intensely that it was closed and did not reopen for more than two years. Explore the phenomenon of synchronous lateral excitation and learn how engineers fixed "The Wobbly Bridge" and prevented similar failures in other bridges.

Extended Details

SeriesEpic Engineering Failures and the Lessons They Teach

Closed CaptionsEnglish

Artists

The Great CoursesDirector

The Great CoursesProducer

Stephen ResslerActor