Wave destroys bike path in Rio de Janeiro, kills two

[fiamme red]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/21/rio-de-janeiro-bicycle-path-collapse-death-brazil-olympic-games

A newly built elevated bike path has collapsed into the sea in Rio de Janeiro, killing at least two people and dealing another blow to the city’s credibility as an Olympic host.

A huge wave swept away a 50-metre stretch of the Tim Maia ciclovia, which opened four months ago at a cost of 44.7m reais ($12.6m) – and had been heralded as a major legacy project from the 2016 Games.

Local media said at least five people were on the path when it crashed down into the sea. One person was rescued and the bodies of two men were recovered from the sea.I hope that the rest of Rio's Olympic infrastructure is built better than this. :eek:

Judging by the photo, that must have been some wave. :rolleyes:

https://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/BN-NR129_RIOCOL_M_20160421144235.jpg

[Louis]

Wow. That's terrible.

Easy enough to repair, but it would probably be hit again by another wave.

There's a big elevation difference between the water and the path (at least in that pic for that tide condition) but given the beach / escarpment there, you can see how it wouldn't take a massively high wave to generate enough height and water to damage the path. Plus, lower waves might have eroded away part of the base weakening it in that section.

[cadence90]

I hope that the rest of Rio's Olympic infrastructure is built better than this. :eek:

Judging by the photo, that must have been some wave. :rolleyes:
Or, worse in light of the Games, bad engineering and/or shoddy construction.

The (older looking) stairways below seem to have survived quite well.

[Louis]

Or, worse in light of the Games, bad engineering and/or shoddy construction.

The (older looking) stairways below seem to have survived quite well.

They might not have embedded the path support posts into the older structure. Maybe they just laid them on top of the old surface (or with minimal digging) so the first good side-load just wiped the new stuff off.

[cadence90]

If so, that would be both bad engineering and shoddy construction.

[Louis]

Mere speculation, but they obviously screwed up in at least one way.

[unterhausen]

probably took out the support.

[fiamme red]

probably took out the support.That was my thought too.

More photos here: http://g1.globo.com/rio-de-janeiro/noticia/2016/04/parte-da-ciclovia-desaba-em-sao-conrado-zona-sul-do-rio.html.

http://s2.glbimg.com/kmDPrGc9wCBaqGD9ZywQJeMybFQ=/620x465/s.glbimg.com/jo/g1/f/original/2016/04/21/desabamento_ciclovia_tim_maia-mortes_sao_conrado_jose_lucena_estadao_conteudo-2.jpg

[Louis]

The fact that people were on it at the time must mean that it wasn't during a horrible storm.

[cadence90]

On the video it does not look like there was an intermediate pier, and it certainly wouldn't have just washed away. The two piers that we do see are perfectly intact. This looks like vibration/shear on the path structure itself.

My guess is that the wave crashed against the seawall, the force bounded upwards lifting the path beam (the "T" section), vibration, shear.

Terrible for the cyclists and their families, whatever the reason for the failure.

[ultraman6970]

I dont see that is a construction problem, the foundation and main pillars are still there. What i think this dudes never considered the sea getting that high that they had to overbuilt the top layer. After all was built for bicycles not to stand a truck or a large ocean wave.

Bad 2 people died tho :(

[Louis]

It isn't clear what, other than gravity and friction, held the path on top of the supports.

[cadence90]

I dont see that is a construction problem, the foundation and main pillars are still there. What i think this dudes never considered the sea getting that high that they had to overbuilt the top layer. After all was built for bicycles not to stand a truck or a large ocean wave.

Bad 2 people died tho :(

You don't think that the connection between (similar example) a freeway overpass roadway to the supporting piers is not a construction detail, and in fact an extremely critical one, which could easily fail if not designed and executed properly?

The load is not the issue; the connection details are.

It isn't clear what, other than gravity and friction, held the path on top of the supports.
Bad connection design, weak clips, weak bolts, who knows. But something was not correct up there.

[ultraman6970]

Cadence and louis...

This is a good question, usually the top is anchored or whatever the word is, to the foundation pillars. Brazil doesnt have earthquakes and taking that in consideration aswell, well you could be right. Would be interesting to know that little detail, ocean water waves can destroy anything, but if they cheap the construction out leaving everything to gravity and friction then you have a bigger problem, because the gvmt inspector might have been wet by the building company or somebody to pass the construction at the time of inspection.

Remember many years ago in mexico, after an earthquake a lot of building had the metal bars to wrap the steel like 9 feet of separation between them instead of the usual whatever feet the codes says in mexico (2 feet or something like that), the guys cheap out saving $ doing that... 1st earthquake and the buildings pillars exploded like beverage straws.

[cadence90]

Yes.

And, because of the presence of (and void created by) the access stair below who knows what, if any, type of lateral supports to the seawall were used in that section.

One can see in some of the images that the rock there separates and creates a "funnel" effect, it seems. Wave force can get huge when concentrated in that manner.

That entire section looks like a bad combination of circumstances.

You live in earthquake country, tornado country, hurricane country, wave country...you had better pray hard that best practices were utilized.

This Olympics is not looking good, on so many fronts.

http://images.cyclingtips.com/content/uploads/2016/04/CglTCNyWgAA_1xl.jpg-large.jpeg

[redir]

Geesh. That looks like it would be a really cool ride too.

[unterhausen]

One can see in some of the images that the rock there separates and creates a "funnel" effect, it seems. Wave force can get huge when concentrated in that manner.
there is a picture in the local story someone linked of a wave going to the level of the bike path. They should probably disrupt the funnel in the beach, assuming they will rebuild.

[MattTuck]

In the next Rio olympics fiasco, the velodrome is apparently the only facility that is running behind schedule...

http://velonews.competitor.com/2016/06/news/velodrome-is-only-olympics-facility-behind-schedule_408155

“The track itself has been in place for over a month, but the rest of the complex still has to be built,” said Nuzman, who must present a state of affairs and plan of action account on the matter on Thursday.
Read more at http://velonews.competitor.com/2016/06/news/velodrome-is-only-olympics-facility-behind-schedule_408155#s0T7uX7W9Ey2xFI1.99

[drewski]

In the next Rio olympics fiasco, the velodrome is apparently the only facility that is running behind schedule...

http://velonews.competitor.com/2016/06/news/velodrome-is-only-olympics-facility-behind-schedule_408155


Between Zika virus, and really out of control corruption at the infrastructure level this is shaping up to be a really shadowy Olympics to say the least.

[MattTuck]

Between Zika virus, and really out of control corruption at the infrastructure level this is shaping up to be a really shadowy Olympics to say the least.

Oh, yeah, and did you see that Tejay Van Garderen took his name off the list for the 2 US spots. His wife is pregnant and he didn't want to risk it.

With so much uncertainty about the venue and disease, I don't blame him.

[astrov]

You can see the updraft created by a wave's impact on the footing below the bridge at 22:16 in the video here:

http://g1.globo.com/rio-de-janeiro/noticia/2016/04/parte-da-ciclovia-desaba-em-sao-conrado-zona-sul-do-rio.html

An even larger wave could have entered the roadway vaulted arches behind the bridge, impacted, and then sprayed up and back, creating lift on the simply supported deck section that fell.

Gravity was mainly responsible for holding the walkway in place. The joints used were inadequate to secure the deck against upward forces - an expansion joint was used at one end and thin bolted angle iron straps on the other. (The bolts held but the straps broke, as is visible in the video.) (Isn't the temperature in Rio sufficiently constant year round to avoid having to use expansion joints at all?) The span itself, which was probably built off-site by a contractor uninvolved in the walkway construction, was sufficiently
strong to remain intact upon landing.

Could this walkway be retrofitted in time for the Games? possibly. One idea that would not require retrofitting the connection of the span to the piers would be to extend the existing piers upwards, and then suspend the walkway from above with cable stays. This would provide some redundancy in the event the span was swept off the piers. Strapping the walkway to the piers might be possible as well.

Analysis of the cause of this accident may feel uncouth, but it's necessary to prevent from happening again. The loss of life is tragic.

Source: internet expert.

[BobO]

Expansion joints are always required. Without them there are induced internal stresses in the materials.

Based upon the videos I have seen; It is apparent that it is not uncommon for waves to reach the level of that deck. Even without structural failure, would it be reasonable to ride a bike through there during wave impact? There are some pretty extreme repeated impact loads that should have been anticipated there. I tend to agree with those who have stated this was a planning, engineering and construction error. But, the main error was planning, that bridge should not have been placed in that location.