State-of-the-Art Review on the Causes and Mechanisms of Bridge Collapse

This paper is intended to review the main causes and mechanisms of bridge collapse. The common factors resulting in bridge collapse are first reviewed. These factors are classified into two broad categories, namely, natural factors (including flood, scour, earthquake, landslide, debris flow, hurricane, typhoon, wind, etc.) and human factors (including imperfect design and construction method, collision, vehicle overloading, fire, terrorist attack, lack of inspection and maintenance, etc.). Then the collapse modes of a few major types of bridges are reviewed and some relevant measures adopted in the current practices are discussed. It is hoped that this paper will provide a concise but comprehensive summary of information needed by researchers and engineers to understand the collapse mechanisms of the major bridge types and how the current practices deal with these issues. Meanwhile, much effort is made to identify future research needed to better understand this topic and to find better solutions to address the existing issues.