This article was posted 08/03/2006 and is most likely outdated.

An Engineer's Story Problem
 

 
Topic - Unusual and Special Issues
Subject - An Engineer's Story Problem

August 3, 2006  

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An Engineer's Story Problem



 A Backhoe weighing 8 tons is on top of a flatbed trailer and heading east on Interstate 70 near Hays, Kansas. The extended shovel arm is made of hardened refined steel and the approaching overpass is made of commercial-grade concrete, reinforced with 1 ½ inch steel rebar spaced at 6 inch intervals in a criss-cross pattern layered at 1 foot vertical spacing.

Solve:  When the shovel arm hits the overpass, how fast do you have to be going to slice the bridge in half?  (Assume no effect for headwind and no braking by the driver...)

Extra Credit: Solve for the time and distance required for the entire rig to come to a complete stop after hitting the overpass at the speed calculated above.  Yes, you can neglect friction...

Demonstrative Solution: (Doesn't look as though he could get up enough speed to make it all the way...)

 

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Comments

  • Snopes says the driver was not injured and also not cleared to be on that road. The construction company is responsible for the $134k cost of fixing it.

    http://www.snopes.com/photos/accident/hoecrash.asp

    I'm surprised it's that cheap to fix a hole that big? Ah, another article says the $134k was the cleanup cost and the replacement cost will be a lot more. This article also names the driver and explains how he came to make the mistake.

    http://www.equipmentworld.com/apps/news/articleeqw.asp?id=52814

    Chris

    • Reply from: SHELLY   
    $134k will definitely not cover repairs!! maybe the ce on the job!! As a dot employee, more like $1m+.
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