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Built to Fail: The Tacoma Narrows Bridge Disaster Why Engineers Shouldn't Design for Wind by Guessing
Paperback
Technology & EngineeringGeneral Sociology
Publisher: Elc Publishing
Published: Nov 5 2025
Pages: 290
Weight: 0.74
Height: 0.61 Width: 5.50 Depth: 8.50
Language: English
They called it Galloping Gertie. Four months later, it was gone.
On November 7, 1940, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge twisted itself to death in a moderate wind-and changed engineering forever.
This wasn't an act of God. It was an act of arrogance.
Built to Fail reveals how a prettier design, ignored warnings, and mathematical shortcuts created one of history's most spectacular engineering disasters. Engineer and author Rick Stupart dissects the deadly combination of aesthetic ambition and scientific negligence that turned a revolutionary suspension bridge into a cautionary tale.
Inside, discover:
- Why engineers dismissed wind as just air
- The critical calculations they skipped
- How eyewitness testimony exposed design hubris
- Lessons that reshaped modern bridge engineering
This isn't just history-it's a warning. When engineers guess instead of calculate, gravity always wins.
For readers fascinated by engineering failures, structural disasters, and the thin line between innovation and catastrophe.
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