Lions’ Gate Bridge and Advances in Suspension Bridge Engineering
Examination of the Lions’ Gate Bridge has produced new information about suspension bridges. As well as learning more about suspension bridge behaviour, the project introduced several new techniques to improve the bridge. The information presented will include:
- new knowledge about traffic loading, aerodynamics and damping;
- the survey-and-analysis technique of determining the condition of suspension bridges;
- relief of stresses by rotation of foundations;
- the first replacement of a concrete bridge deck with a wider, lighter orthotropic steel deck; and, most recently,
- replacement and widening of the entire suspended structure without interruption of daytime traffic.
Peter Buckland will also discuss his career as a bridge engineer, and how he has derived enormous satisfaction and pleasure from it.
Les Ingénieurs en structure de Montréal souhaite la bienvenue à tous. L’entrée est libre. Si vous désirez recevoir un avis électronique des prochaines réunions, envoyez un courriel à Sylvie Boulanger.
La réunion se tiendra en anglais.
Speaker for this event
Peter Buckland graduated from Cambridge University in 1960 and joined the famous bridge engineering company Freeman, Fox and Partners, where he worked on the Severn and Wye Bridges. In 1963 he emigrated to Canada and spent five years with a steel fabricating company and four with consultants before co-founding Buckland & Taylor Ltd. in 1972. Since then, Buckland & Taylor Ltd has developed a world-wide reputation for leading-edge bridge engineering, including the design of the Alex Fraser Bridge, the world’s longest span cable-stayed bridge from 1986 to 1991, the world’s first conversion of a suspension bridge to a cable-stayed bridge, and the complete rebuilding of the Lions’ Gate Suspension Bridge without interrupting daytime traffic in 1999-2002.
Peter Buckland and his colleagues have won many awards for bridge engineering, and in 1992 he was granted an honorary doctorate by the University of British Columbia. He resigned as President of Buckland & Taylor in 2001, but remains a Principal of the firm.