[TowerTalk] Guying a tower....Heresy to follow..... True statement!

[jimlux]

Richard Hill wrote:
> Tacoma Narrows Bridge:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacoma_Narrows_Bridge_(1940)
> 
> Real Life Experience informing Good Engineering Practice.  The value of understanding frequency and resonance.
> 
> Rich
> NU6T
>

While interesting, I don't know that the Tacoma Narrows bridge is 
relevant here. It was a totally new design, for which there wasn't much 
engineering data available, and in fact, when they hired someone to 
analyze it (building scale models) they found the problem.  People 
putting up towers aren't doing a "totally new design"

What is relevant is that the failed design was selected because it was 
cheaper than the original design, and folks believed the new designer, 
because he had a reputation (e.g. Golden Gate bridge), not because he 
had analysis to back up his design.