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New slats make the Golden Gate Bridge sound like a David Lynch movie

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Re: New slats make the Golden Gate Bridge sound like a David Lynch movie

#41

Post by blackguardx »

dustym wrote: post #24
dessant wrote: post #14

I'm just glad they identified the source of the hum, many people are impacted for years by unexplainable sounds, and it is maddening. It took me and my neighbours a month to find the source of a hum that was resonating with our windows. It was torture, with midnight walks and lurking around potential sources, mapping nearby industrial sites, and questioning our sanity, while our windows were vibrating without a stop.…

Two unrelated anecdotes: 1. A few years ago I spent some time in Falmouth, MA and there was an ongoing battle over newly installed wind turbines. The humming sound was getting to people, including to the point where they were getting headaches. Some people heard it and others didn't. The locals were going to war with the initiative. This article reminded me of that and I checked in on the ordeal. Looks like they shut…

I think the complaints about Falmouth wind turbine noise are eerily similar to complaints that wifi gives people headaches. I don’t think they are founded in reality.

Re: New slats make the Golden Gate Bridge sound like a David Lynch movie

#42

Post by klyrs »

hbarka wrote: post #27
klyrs wrote: post #4

Worse mistakes have been made https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacoma_Narrows_Bridge_(1940) Pretty sure every bridge engineer knows that one. Amusing that the lesson didn't generalize.

Ah, yes, the “Mistakes were made” passive voice. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mistakes_were_made

Excuse me??? What an uncharitable interpretation of my comment.

I highlighted an example of a more catastrophic mistake, familiar to engineers, which was apparently forgotten in this case. Bridges are resonant structures; this is 100% predictable through modeling but that was not done.

Sibling comments point out the Hyatt walkway (news to me, I only took first year mech eng but learned about "galloping Gertie" in elementary school because it was a local and recent catastrophe). Other comments note that the construction crew must have noticed. That this was not escalated points to a communication breakdown similar to the root cause of the Hyatt walkway.

Re: New slats make the Golden Gate Bridge sound like a David Lynch movie

#43

Post by ljm »

ketzo wrote: post #33
sevencolors wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine it’s just going to be ignored. Like the bart “screeching” they never fixed.

That was such an insane thing to discover my first time on the BART. I’m sitting there thinking a catastrophic accident is about to occur, but everyone else is just on their phones... oh, that’s just the screech!

From a Londoner's perspective, this is giving me tortured flashbacks to travelling on the Jubilee Line. It's physically painful to hear once you start speeding up inside the tunnels.

Re: New slats make the Golden Gate Bridge sound like a David Lynch movie

#45

Post by komali2 »

johnfn wrote: post #32
dessant wrote: post #14

I'm just glad they identified the source of the hum, many people are impacted for years by unexplainable sounds, and it is maddening. It took me and my neighbours a month to find the source of a hum that was resonating with our windows. It was torture, with midnight walks and lurking around potential sources, mapping nearby industrial sites, and questioning our sanity, while our windows were vibrating without a stop.…

When I lived in Nob Hill, there was a quiet long beeping sound that could be heard every couple of minutes - imagine a quiet booooop and you're pretty much there. Definitely sounded electronic. The weird thing was I could actually hear it on quiet days in a large radius in Nob Hill. It didn't seem to be localized on my house. I was never able to identify it, and searching online gave me nothing.

It wasn't the foghorn was it?

Re: New slats make the Golden Gate Bridge sound like a David Lynch movie

#46

Post by mareko »

johnfn wrote: post #32
dessant wrote: post #14

I'm just glad they identified the source of the hum, many people are impacted for years by unexplainable sounds, and it is maddening. It took me and my neighbours a month to find the source of a hum that was resonating with our windows. It was torture, with midnight walks and lurking around potential sources, mapping nearby industrial sites, and questioning our sanity, while our windows were vibrating without a stop.…

When I lived in Nob Hill, there was a quiet long beeping sound that could be heard every couple of minutes - imagine a quiet booooop and you're pretty much there. Definitely sounded electronic. The weird thing was I could actually hear it on quiet days in a large radius in Nob Hill. It didn't seem to be localized on my house. I was never able to identify it, and searching online gave me nothing.

Could you be hearing one of the many foghorns in the bay?

https://youtu.be/jJWd5eHeFY4

Re: New slats make the Golden Gate Bridge sound like a David Lynch movie

#47

Post by japhyr »

zw123456 wrote: post #18

Does anyone know if they are planning on removing the slats? Maybe if they randomly changed the spacing of the slats if it would alleviate the problem ?

What's resonating? If the slats themselves are resonating, spacing them differently won't help much. Then again, if it is the slats would a horizontal brace running along the middle of the slats dampen or eliminate the resonance?

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Re: New slats make the Golden Gate Bridge sound like a David Lynch movie

#48

Post by lisper »

klyrs wrote: post #42
hbarka wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, yes, the “Mistakes were made” passive voice. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mistakes_were_made

Excuse me??? What an uncharitable interpretation of my comment. I highlighted an example of a more catastrophic mistake, familiar to engineers, which was apparently forgotten in this case. Bridges are resonant structures; this is 100% predictable through modeling but that was not done. Sibling comments point out the Hyatt walkway (news to me, I only took first year mech eng but learned about "galloping Gertie" in ele…

Chill, dude. Hbarka was agreeing with you.

Re: New slats make the Golden Gate Bridge sound like a David Lynch movie

#49

Post by klohto »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #30
dustym wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two unrelated anecdotes: 1. A few years ago I spent some time in Falmouth, MA and there was an ongoing battle over newly installed wind turbines. The humming sound was getting to people, including to the point where they were getting headaches. Some people heard it and others didn't. The locals were going to war with the initiative. This article reminded me of that and I checked in on the ordeal. Looks like they shut…

Geez, I'm torn on number one, since obviously locals should be able to live in peace, but the world is in such incredibly dire need of clean energy. Surely this was an issue with these specific turbines, right? Not a problem with all of them?

Anecdotal evidence, but I have the same experience as well. I’m not from US, so I will assume it’s a different type of turbine. Wind turbines were installed near our village and my family started hearing sounds and feeling vibrations. I didn’t hear and don’t hear them when I return there, but it forced my parents to leave their home.

It’s a horrible feeling, especially since people don’t believe you. It can hardly be measured, because people with the correct equipment don’t pay attention to you and other people think you’re crazy.

Actually, if anybody has more information on how would I go around fixing this issue or which party should I raise this with, I would welcome that. It’s been more than a decade but the turbine is still there even though affected people have moved out.

Re: New slats make the Golden Gate Bridge sound like a David Lynch movie

#50

Post by Exmoor »

dessant wrote: post #14

I'm just glad they identified the source of the hum, many people are impacted for years by unexplainable sounds, and it is maddening. It took me and my neighbours a month to find the source of a hum that was resonating with our windows. It was torture, with midnight walks and lurking around potential sources, mapping nearby industrial sites, and questioning our sanity, while our windows were vibrating without a stop.…

Mysterious sounds are very intriguing. My favorite is the mysterious sounds heard by Lewis and Clark on their expedition. This article goes down a bit of a rabbit hole, but it starts with a fairly good summary: http://www.lewis-clark.org/article/1468
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