Flexural Torsional Buckling of a Beam from the Dee Bridge of 1846 - Analytical and Finite Element Analyses

Abstract

The Industrial Revolution in Victorian England was a period marked by rapid development of the machine industry, accompanied by new technologies in metallurgy and a need for transport between economic areas that was fast, cheap and convenient. This is a period when the railway transport arose and in a short time acquired an image familiar to us to this day. Passage of train sets across rivers and hard-to-reach areas requires transport facilities. In this period, an extremely large number of bridges and aqueducts were built, which have different constructive solutions, different technologies are applied and they are made of different materials, depending on the preference of their creator. This paper examines the collapse of one of the beams of the Dee Bridge on 24 May 1847. The analysis carried out shows the irrationality of the cross-sectional dimensions and types of girder supports witch generate large compressive forces in the beam, leading to flexural torsional buckling.