The collapse of the world's longest bridge in 1879 with the loss of 75 lives exposed a major weakness in British civil engineering. While American and French engineers were using significant wind loadings, few of their British counterparts even considered it. But there is still speculation as to exactly why the first Tay rail bridge in Scotland failed and as to whether its designer, Sir Thomas Bouch, was to blame. This paper, based on a recent three-dimensional computer analysis using a modern approach to wind loading, throws new light on the collapse.
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