Demolition Services - Tule Lake Lift Bridge
Corpus Christi, Texas, USAProject Spotlights
Minnesota I-35W Bridge Collapse St. Francis Hospital Implosion Car Shade Collapse Analysis Yanbu Gas Plant Wind & Seismic Analysis Glazing System Blast VA Oliverio Kraemer Hospital Implosion Charlotte Coliseum Implosion Stubbs Tower Implosion Tule Lake Lift Bridge Implosion Newcastle Brown Brewery Implosion University Hospital Implosion Castelão Soccer Stadium Implosion Implosion of Perimetral Bridge Asarco Smelter Stack Implosion Preheater Stack Implosion HBI Facility Demolition Ambev Silo Implosion Glazing System Blast Design INACHUS: USAR Pilot 2 INACHUS: Pyne Gould Building Seismic Analysis
Contact ASI
Phone: 1-919-645-4090Contact Form
Case Study: Tule Lake Lift Bridge Demolition Design
Demolition Design
ASI helped D.H. Griffin plan an engineered demolition for the Tule Lake Lift Bridge. ASI completed a structural analysis, and designed the demolition so that there would be no damage to nearby assets when the structure imploded.
The Tule Lake Lift Span Bridge spanned the main shipping channel in The Port of Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, Texas. Port of Corpus Christi engineers blasted the two lift bridge support towers in April 2008 after the bridge’s span was removed a month earlier. The 350-feet long by 48-feet wide span which weighed over 1700 tons was oated out on a barge.
The Tule Lake Lift Bridge, constructed in 1959 to service rail cars previously serviced by the Bascule Bridge, has suffered structural cracking along its lifting system. Cracks in the bridge’s shafts and sheaves, part of the pulley system, had forced the port to ban car traffic and allow only rail traffic since September 2006. Structural cracking along the bridge’s lifting system has doubled in the past year, making it a hazard not only to port and railroad employees, but also to daily business.
The towers were demolished by D.H. Griffin of Texas, Inc. using explosives demolition methods. Each tower stood just under 200 feet in height. Each tower contained a 900 ton concrete and steel counterweight. The total weight of each tower was approximately 1600 tons.
Discovery channel tasked ASI to prepare an ELS model for this demolition event. It was crucial to ensure that the demolition of the towers will not cause a hazard to the navigation in the shipping channel. ASI was required to model several what-if scenarios in addition to the actual
demolition scenario that was actually implemented.