Roumen Mladjov, S. E., P. E., Roumen’s main interests are structural and bridge development, structural performance, seismic resistance, efficiency, and economy. (rmladjov@gmail.com).
Efficiency and economy of structures are important parts of structural engineering. This is not a new idea. Many remarkable bridges and buildings have been built under strict financial constraints. …
The U.S. Department of Transportation has determined that the country has too many existing bridges that need replacing or upgrading, rehabilitating or retrofitting. At the end of 2014, according to the National Bridge Inventory, more than 145,800 highway bridges are listed as structurally deficient or functionally obsolete; this is about 27% of all bridges based on total bridge deck areas. In some states, the situation is even worse; for example, in California the deficient bridges are 34.6%, and in New York State they are 59.8%! …
A new method has been developed for measuring the force of ground shaking during earthquakes at particular locations. The proposed Earthquake Shaking Force (EqSF) rating is based on the maximum vector sum of the recorded ground accelerations in the three main directions scaled with the strong ground motion duration. …
March 31, 2014 marked the 125th anniversary of the inauguration of the Eiffel Tower. Erected in 1889 on Champs de Mars in Paris for the Fourth World Exposition, the Eiffel Tower became famous even before its opening. …
“This marks the physical beginning of the greatest bridge yet erected by the human race.”
President Herbert Hoover at the groundbreaking ceremony, 1933
The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge is one of the greatest American bridges. Built during the Great Depression, the bridge soon became known as the “working horse of Northern California,” carrying the heaviest traffic in the region. …
Structural Forum is intended to stimulate thoughtful dialogue and debate among structural engineers and other participants in the design and construction process. Any opinions expressed in Structural Forum are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of NCSEA, CASE, SEI, C3Ink, or the STRUCTURE® magazine Editorial Board.
The Bay Bridge is one of the grandest engineering achievements in American history, as described in the Feature article this month. However, the recent renovation has not added a single lane to relieve traffic congestion, which has a negative impact on the Bay Area and California economies. There is one obvious solution for the problem – to build a second crossing between San Francisco and Oakland on an alignment approximately parallel to the original bridge. …