I am just a random guy and even I know that reusing 50-year-old materials that were bent and submerged in salt water is probably not a good idea.
this post was submitted on 30 Mar 2024
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You are correct. The bending changes the microscopic crystal structure in the steel and would be a weak point. You'd have to completely redo the heat treatment to get it back to normal and at that point you're essentially scrapping the bridge and using new steel, which is exactly what they're gonna do because they're not idiots like Musk
It's fresh water (Patapsco River), but yeah.
Oh for fuck's sake.
I'm nowhere near anything to do with engineering but if you've had a major structural failure then the absolute last thing that you want to do is to reuse that same structure because you just aren't going to be able to account for all of the potential consequences of the failure.
Steel is entirely recyclable. There's no good reason why they couldn't recover the steel from the trusses to recycle it, at least in a hypothetical situation.
I really struggle to imagine how the bottleneck on rebuilding this bridge is going to be the lack (?) of steel trusses, or how the additional requirements of extensive testing to ensure the safety of reusing the current trusses would alleviate the time it takes to rebuild the bridge.
Idk I'm no engineer but Musk's hot take here feels like the civil engineering equivalent of taking a cracked bicycle helmet, slapping some tape over it, and calling it good. I just can't imagine any engineer who deserves to hold a license that would want to touch this idea with a 10ft pole.
Musk's hot take here feels like the civil engineering equivalent of taking a cracked bicycle helmet, slapping some tape over it, and calling it good.
He's been doing it "successfully" for years and years so why not?
the additional requirements of extensive testing to ensure the safety of reusing the current trusses would alleviate the time it takes to rebuild the bridge
“Why would you have to do that? If it looks good, use it.” - Musk, probably
It's just a little ~~panel gap~~ truss gap
Tbh with how bad things are going with Tesla fulfillment I feel like Elon Musk's "Don't worry, it'll buff out bro" attitude is a bad angle to take PR-wise.
But if it hurts his bottom line, or that of his companies, then I'm here for it.
Steel is entirely recyclable. There's no good reason why they couldn't recover the steel from the trusses to recycle it, at least in a hypothetical situation.
there's no way welding back together and straitening out a fat piece of metal would be faster or more efficient than melting the fucker & reforging it, is there? nevermind the safety i can't believe a team of welders reassembling metal jigsaws would beat the machined processes of a rolling mill
It would be hard to imagine a scenario where having a team trying to rehabilitate the damaged trusses and to (attempt to) get them to fit fairly narrow tolerances would be quicker than starting from scratch.
Not to shit on skilled labourers but I'd also expect this would demand a pretty uncommon skillset too - yeah, it might take at least a few weeks to get your new trusses forged and shipped to the location but are there really a dozen+ people with the right skills to be able to refurbish the current trusses who are currently unemployed and ready to fly out to Baltimore to start work tomorrow?
On top of all of that, I wonder if there are better construction methods available now that weren't at the time the bridge was constructed 50 years ago or if it would be considered viable to build something to meet the current infrastructure needs of the surrounding area - both possibilities would be ruled out if the only goal is to rebuild the exact same bridge asap using refurbished parts from the original bridge wherever possible.
It just seems so impractical from so many different angles and I'm not even close to being an expert on this.
Ah my favorite part of the US. Instead of just rebuilding it using some kind of federal construction group for the common good, you must go through a commercial bidding process and offer "massive incentives" to get the same work done at greater cost. This is the efficiency of capitalism.
Lesser work at a higher cost tbh. Theres a bridge they built in vancouver that they just didn't take into account ice building up and falling on cars. Western engineers leave a lot to be desired lmao
didn't take into account ice building up and falling on cars
They're working with Big Panel Beater to get more customers!
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man who doesn't understand corrosion on cybertrucks tries to build a bridge out of corroded metal
You'd think a guy that has become the poster child for the tech industry would be a bit more STEM-literate.
Like, he programmed a lot as a kid, has a degree in physics and was accepted for a PhD in materials science. So really, what's his excuse?
I thought he in fact had a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in science?
His excuse is that he’s bad at science and his dad paid for the degree. Apparently his code was terrible too.
His only actual skill is being in the same room when Peter Thiel bought PayPal, and it was daddy’s money that got him into that room.
The Musk family is a wealthy family of South African origin that is largely active in the United States and Canada. The Musks are of English, Anglo-Canadian, Pennsylvania Dutch, and Swiss descent. The family is known for its entrepreneurial endeavours.
English, Anglo
EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
South African Origins
Lies, they're of Canadian technocracy and chiropractic stock
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"if i was rebuilding the bridge, i would simply build it faster. but darn these pesky regulations!"
Very smart engineer: Why don't they just rebuild the bridge cheaply, safely and quickly lol? Also use rusty steel
He didn't say cheaply, he said ma$$ive in¢entive.
He's addicted to that sweet sweet public money, while also being a massive right wing piece of shit that recoils over the thought of any redistributive policies that help "the poors."
My turn on the lathe:
Reconstructing the bridge will be extremely expensive, so the entity that owns it, will instead sell off the bridge and property.
The buyers will start a company that will basically be a Uber-like ferry service that will cost a lot of money to get to the other side. These Uber ferries will only be able to take maybe 8 cars at a time and just getting on board during rush hour will take hours because of the permanent traffic congestion on both sides.
Also, one of the ferries will tip over and drown 6 families because the owners didn't to the math for what happens when a fully loaded truck, carrying ball bearings, parks on the upper deck on a boat that can only carry up to 8 sedans.
Gee - thanks, Mothman.
The Uber ferry goes bankrupt after a few years due to a crypto crash and the bridge is taken over by a company that promises to develop amphibious cars as a replacement for the bridge. The promised car models will be named after Star Wars stuff and tech bros will love the promises alcoholic card and laugh at at the concept of bridges calling them an outdated technology and saying things such as "But whay if I don't want to get to that exact spot onthe other side?".
After seven years the "amphibious cars" turns out to be another ferry.
A second gust of wind has hit the Musk bridge
Except musk has exactly zero engineering expertise. In fact he is unable to produce any kind of real college diploma, business, or engineering. His fans insufferabley talk about what an expert he is in all sorts of stuff, but theres no real world proof of his being competent in any of it.
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lmao.
Early. Safe.
Choose 1.
Add in "cheap" since he thinks it should be up for bid, too
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Why not a Boring Company tunnel, he started that company seven years ago that can dig a kilometre a week, should be trivial by now.
Unless, of course, he's being his usual self.
Again goes to show how fucking incompetent he is. It would be so easy to parlay a bridge collapse into reasons to build a tunnel to replace it. Not having a functioning product or service hasn't stopped him before
a gameshow idea: "are you smarter than the known genius elong musk?"
Have they tried making it more rigid?
Breaking news from the future
"We have new footage..." The footage starts playing. "The Musk Bridge is hit by a tanker now... See it wobbling oddly... And now... At an amazingly fast rate and in an astonishing manner the entire bridge falls over 90 degrees like a boxer getting knocked out. You can see the legs and the bridge itself are horizontal to the water. Also - this is new - Elon Musk has made a comment of sorts. On his X platform - he has posted a single character - a poop emoji..."
I'm not lathed, I'm not lathed, I'm not lathed!
'Tis a mere flesh wound.
just in: elon is now suggesting a replacement option involving a tiny submarine, if you disagree you will be branded a pedophile
He labels some random ass diver a diddler
He's drumming up a second lavender scare accusing EVERY TRANS PERSON of being a diddler
Something's sus 
he has got to be fucking with us. like you don't have to be a civil engineer to figure that if a bridge breaks, you can't just stick the broken bits back together.
It's possible he plays the fool to troll. But I have a more hopeful theory. Maybe he spends every day, all day high on horrible stuff like huffing spray paint with a sterno chaser shot. And that will be his downfall.
Surprised he's not saying it was an inside job by the clinton crime family or some shit. This is just typical Musk dumbassness.
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Aren't most of the bridges in that shithole country privately owned anyway?
actually elon i was thinking we should have an incentive for it being late and UN-safe, thank god you're a brain genius and set me right
incentive for... safe completion
What a genius
"You're all pedophiles for doubting me"
Elon musk everyone promising “fast cheap AND good” having never delivered all three
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Ok Dan, do something cool now
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