Have you heard of the famous Tacoma Narrows Bridge accident in 1940? The failure was primarily due to aeroelastic flutter, a phenomenon where windinduced oscillations become selfamplifying. The bridge began to sway and twist in response to the wind, which caused resonance at its natural frequency. This led to increasingly violent oscillations, ultimately causing the bridge to break apart and collapse.

If Ansys Mechanical had been used during the creation of the bridge, they could have utlized FluidStructure Interaction (FSI) in Mechanical to simulate and analyze the complex interactions between fluid flows and structural components. FSI in bridge design and engineering can predict how wind forces interact with the bridge structure, helping engineers to design shapes and structures that minimize adverse effects like oscillations and vibrations.

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