If bridges are hit, why don't they collapse? - via [@warhronika](https://t.me/warhronika)


> The difficulty in destroying a major bridge with cruise or ballistic missiles lies in the fundamental mismatch between the physics of a missile warhead's explosion and the structural mechanics of bridge construction.
> 
> The common perception ("a missile hits – the bridge collapses") assumes that a bridge behaves like a regular building.  Therefore, it should collapse in the same way, like a structure with enclosed spaces.
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> However, this is not the case. Any well-designed and properly constructed bridge is an open, resilient, and highly redundant engineering system.
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> Furthermore, it's important to distinguish between the complete destruction of a bridge and its being rendered unusable.
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> The most obvious result of a hit is often the destruction of a section of the road or railway surface.
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> However, the surface is only one element of the bridge system. Beneath it are longitudinal and transverse beams, trusses, box girders, supporting structures, and other elements that directly bear the load.
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> Therefore, it is possible for a situation to arise where traffic on the bridge is impossible or severely restricted, but the bridge span itself remains standing.
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> This is where the important distinction lies between a temporary or prolonged loss of the bridge's transportation function and its complete physical destruction.
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> A large bridge (such as the Southern Bridge in Kiev) can withstand significant localized damage because its load-bearing system is distributed over a large area and, in many designs, has substantial redundancy.
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> However, this does not mean that strikes on bridges are practically useless.
> 
> For military logistics, it is often not necessary to physically drop the span into the river. It is often sufficient to achieve a state where heavy vehicles or trains cannot be safely transported across the structure, and restoring it requires significant time and engineering resources.


[@DDGeopolitics](https://t.me/DDGeopolitics)