Section of I-95 has collapsed in Philly

[RocketMan]

A petroleum tanker fire has caused a section of overpass on the northbound lanes of I-95 to collapse in Philadelphia.  The southbound lane overpass at the same location is damaged.  The freeway is closed indefinitely.
One person remains trapped in a vehicle, condition unknown.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/philadelphia-i-95-collapse-shapiro-says-person-possibly-trapped-vehicle-biden-briefed-disaster

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqHs4PdUHuI

[WLJ]

"President Biden has been briefed on the collapse."

Thank god, means I can sleep easy tonight.

[RoadKingLarry]

 
Tanker fire.
Right.
That's what they want you to believe.
 

[Hawkmoon]

The real question is how did they manage to get the tanker to catch fire right at that spot?

[AmbulanceDriver]

Trump's fault in 3....
2....
1.....

[MechAg94]

Tanker fire.
Right.
That's what they want you to believe.
 

Burning fuel can't melt concrete and rebar!!   

[Hawkmoon]

Burning fuel can't melt concrete and rebar!!   

Actually, yes, it can.

The Yale Architecture School building is an all-concrete, "brutalist" style building designed by one-time Dean of the school, Paul Rudolph. The entire structure is reinforced concrete.  Back in the 1960s there was a huge fire in one of the studios. I knew a guy who had graduated from college a year before me who was a student there at the time, and he said it was common knowledge that the fire was started by a disgruntled student.

t was near the end of the academic year and all the students were heavily into their final projects, so all the studios had lots of paper (plans) and cardboard (for models) in them. The fuel load was quite large, and the fire developed enough heat to soften the reinforcing bars in one or two of the top-most stories and the roof.

In this photo, I think everything to the right of the tower just right of center is a later addition:

[AZRedhawk44]

My first thought was Matt Bracken's EFAD, someone applying a little bit of Superman's Fist to a bridge.

[BobR]

well at least it wasn't an electric vehicle, as far as we are being told.

bob

[RoadKingLarry]

Actually, yes, it can.

The Yale Architecture School building is an all-concrete, "brutalist" style building designed by one-time Dean of the school, Paul Rudolph. The entire structure is reinforced concrete.  Back in the 1960s there was a huge fire in one of the studios. I knew a guy who had graduated from college a year before me who was a student there at the time, and he said it was common knowledge that the fire was started by a disgruntled student.

t was near the end of the academic year and all the students were heavily into their final projects, so all the studios had lots of paper (plans) and cardboard (for models) in them. The fuel load was quite large, and the fire developed enough heat to soften the reinforcing bars in one or two of the top-most stories and the roof.

In this photo, I think everything to the right of the tower just right of center is a later addition:

Yeah, but that building is so hideously fugly it deserves to be burned. (as long as nobody gets hurt).

[Hawkmoon]

Yeah, but that building is so hideously fugly it deserves to be burned. (as long as nobody gets hurt).

They don't call that style "Brutalist" for nothin'.

[WLJ]

Reportedly the body of the driver of the truck has been found.

[K Frame]

Burning fuel can't melt concrete and rebar!!   

It doesn't have to melt it.

I've seen the after effects of fires where heat expanded steel reinforcement in cast concrete members sent sizable chunks of concrete sailing over 100 yards. The concrete looked as if someone had set small explosive charges.

[K Frame]

They don't call that style "Brutalist" for nothin'.

Stylistically very similar to much of the construction to be found in the Soviet Union in the 1930s through the 1950s.

Given that it was for Yale, I'm thinking that the architect was just emulating one of his proletariat heroes. 

[WLJ]

It doesn't have to melt it.

I've seen the after effects of fires where heat expanded steel reinforcement in cast concrete members sent sizable chunks of concrete sailing over 100 yards. The concrete looked as if someone had set small explosive charges.

100 yards?
SpaceX: Meh

[Hawkmoon]

It doesn't have to melt it.

I've seen the after effects of fires where heat expanded steel reinforcement in cast concrete members sent sizable chunks of concrete sailing over 100 yards. The concrete looked as if someone had set small explosive charges.

That's part of the problem. The other part is that the heat takes the strength out of the steel.

Conventional steel used in steel beams has a tensile strength of around 36,000 psi. The steel used in rebar is more like 60,000 psi. In reinforced concrete, concrete is very good at resisting compression but it sucks in resisting tension -- so the steel is in there to resist the tensile forces. The concrete initially provides some thermal protection but, once that has been overcome, the heat softens the rebars and allows them to stretch -- which is {structurally] "not a good thing"(tm). The worst part is that, even if it doesn't collapse, the heat takes the temper out of the rebar so it isn't as strong as it was, even after cooling down. (If the structure hasn't collapsed entirely.)

[Hawkmoon]

100 yards?
SpaceX: Meh

    

[Angel Eyes]

[dogmush]

Burning fuel can't melt concrete and rebar!!   

Psst.  I think they missed the joke.

[MechAg94]

Psst.  I think they missed the joke.

Yeah.   

[K Frame]

"Burning fuel can't melt concrete and rebar!! "

I have it on good authority -- from a friend's brother's sister's uncle's magician's chef's husband's chorister's professor's haberdasher -- that the truck was loaded with chemtrail fluid... and who knows what temperatures that *expletive deleted*it burns at.

[WLJ]

"Burning fuel can't melt concrete and rebar!! "

I have it on good authority -- from a friend's brother's sister's uncle's magician's chef's husband's chorister's professor's haberdasher -- that the truck was loaded with chemtrail fluid... and who knows what temperatures that *expletive deleted*it burns at.

Swamp gas

[MechAg94]

Jokes aside, Yes, concrete can be affected by heat.  I still have some damage to my back porch area due to a grill fire.  And yes, while steel will not likely melt in a typical fire, a lot of fires will get hot enough to cause the steel to lose its strength and fail (steels typically lose around half their strength at around half their melting point).   

[RocketMan]

Jokes aside, Yes, concrete can be affected by heat.  I still have some damage to my back porch area due to a grill fire.  And yes, while steel will not likely melt in a typical fire, a lot of fires will get hot enough to cause the steel to lose its strength and fail (steels typically lose around half their strength at around half their melting point).   

Try telling that to the clowns that insist that the Twin Towers were brought down with explosives planted by government goons.

[MechAg94]

Try telling that to the clowns that insist that the Twin Towers were brought down with explosives planted by government goons.

I am sure that explosives certainly could destroy concrete and steel.  But I don't think it would be required.

Now I am curious which parts of this overpass were actually affected by the fire.  Sounds like quite a bit.  A lot of the overpasses I see down here have concrete support sections underneath the road.  I would have thought a fire on top would not affect them so much.  I guess there could be fire underneath.  Not sure how this road was designed.