What is a suspension bridge? How does it transfer the load to the ground?
Those were questions on the minds of many on Monday, a day after a century-old suspension bridge in Gujarat’s Morbi over the Machchhu river collapsed, leaving 136 people dead.
Just before the bridge collapsed, CCTV footage showed, some men were trying to rock the suspension bridge from one side to another.
Saptadip Sarkar, a structural engineer working with Delhi-based Engineers India Limited answers these questions.
“The deck of the suspension bridge, which bears the weight of the people walking on it in addition to its own weight, is held in place by the means of vertical suspenders which are made from ductile material and subjected to tension,” he said.
