Going… going… gone
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UMR researchers demonstrated two very different technologies — one for blowing up bridges, the other for holding them together — with the 98-year-old Sappington Bridge, located near Sullivan, Mo.
Researchers from UMR’s Center for Infrastructure Engineering Studies (CIES) and the Rock Mechanics and Explosives Research Center (RMERC) collaborated to dismantle the structure. After explosives experts demolished the bridge, infrastructure experts removed a 55-foot span from the bridge and brought it back to campus for testing. According to project director Jason Baird, PhD MinE’0, the Sappington Bridge is similar in structure, design and age to many other bridges in use across the state, making its sections ideal for testing by UMR’s infrastructure researchers.
