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Large Torsional Oscillations in Suspension Bridges Revisited: Fixing an Old Approximation
by P. J. McKenna (University of Connecticut)
This article originally appeared in:American Mathematical Monthly
January, 1999
Subject classification(s): Mathematical Physics | Applied Mathematics
Applicable Course(s): 4.12 Advanced Math for Engineering & Physics
This article is part of the Mathematics of Planet Earth 2013 Collection. This is the first of two articles on the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in 1940. The search continues for an explanation of the cause of the large vertical vibrations and why they can change almost instantly into torsion. In this article McKenna cites the approximation of \(sin \theta\) by \(\theta\) and \(cos \theta\) by 1 as a significant part of the problem in demonstrating these behaviors analytically. See also the related paper by P. J. McKenna and Cillian Ó Tuama in this collection.
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