Golden Gate Howl

Kestrel

Kestrel

Well-known member
Yikes.

https://www.kqed.org/arts/13881451/the-golden-gate-bridge-sounds-like-a-david-lynch-movie-now

Nope—the eerie sound you're hearing from the Golden Gate Bridge is in fact the result of new sidewalk railing slats, just installed, meant to better handle the wind. Funny thing about wind: when it passes through certain open spaces, it creates a hum. This is how all reed instruments work, and because it spans a very windy gap across the Bay, the Golden Gate Bridge is now effectively a giant orange wheezing kazoo.
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And they knew it would happen from modeling and small scale tests, but rolled with it anyway.

Anyone heard this in person yet?
 
gixxerjeff

gixxerjeff

Dogs best friend
It was evident yesterday due to the elevated wind speed. I believe this was the first wind event where it was on display.
Super cool, imo.
 
wannabe

wannabe

"Insignificant Other"
I wonder how loud it actually is when you’re on the bridge.


Edit: By the way, this is great marketing. Up to now, the new Bay Bridge kinda overshadowed the GGB. Even sports broadcasts stopped showing the GGB when they did their aerial shots of the area. They had been showing the Bay Bridge almost exclusively. This new hum will be the new SF tourist attraction. It’s their way of getting more tourists to pay to cross the bridge on a windy day.
 
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AbsolutEnduser

AbsolutEnduser

Throttle Pusher
Kestrel said:
Anyone heard this in person yet?
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Yes. Yesterday in plain daylight with copious amount of pedestrian and some car noise around me , and I still heard it in quiet moments. No direct line of sight of the bridge.

The same morning I had already seen it on news web/twitter. ...

..and at that point I had recalled that I was probably hearing it on Wednesday or Thursday night already, when everything was quiet. :wow

Well, goes to show that time and time again, private company, good mechanical/civil engineer or not, they all gonna mess up something..seemingly basic. It does probably require a planner that literally lives within eyesight of the bridge though, to fix such things properly .

And they knew it would happen from modeling and small scale tests, but rolled with it anyway
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Now that’s the fing suck. It’s like asking why public transport, Bart muni, ac transit , vta doesn’t work..well all their bosses don’t actually use it :rolleyes
 
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gixxerjeff

gixxerjeff

Dogs best friend
The sound is a bit raspy but I'm told they will be shutting down traffic in both directions for a few hours in in the coming weeks to "tune" the bridge. They are aiming for a perfect C Flat.
 
dittoalex

dittoalex

Too much lean angle...
I'm 2 miles south, 300 ft elevation with rooftop line of sight and I'm moving because it's audible at all times, like a Tibetan singing bowl. :bs
 
AbsolutEnduser

AbsolutEnduser

Throttle Pusher
wannabe said:
I wonder how loud it actually is when you’re on the bridge.


.
Click to expand...

well why don't you click on the OP then
view the embedded tweet https://twitter.com/markkrueg/status/1269073081231740928
and hear the sound

it's pretty fkn loud

I hope they fix it--and remove them

I think it's the pedestrian rail/barriers (from falling into the cars) on the right side. Not sure though b/c the video doesn't distinctly show the slats. then again the persons taking the video were only there to have their eardrums blown, or maintain something, not to take professional photography.
 
Killroy1999

Killroy1999

Well-known member
Horrible and fascinating at the same time.

I would of like to be there to see them testing that and conclude that it was OK when scalled :laughing
 
Kestrel

Kestrel

Well-known member
Eldritch said:
How is this not going to vibrate the bridge to pieces?
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The slats being resonant with given winds is does not necessarily mean that the entire bridge itself is resonant at that driving frequency.

Wind can whistle in the rigging, but the sailboat doesn't explode ;)
 
Eldritch

Eldritch

is insensitive
Kestrel said:
The slats being resonant with given winds is does not necessarily mean that the entire bridge itself is resonant at that driving frequency.

Wind can whistle in the rigging, but the sailboat doesn't explode ;)
Click to expand...

Granted, but these appear to be steel slats hard secured to steel railings?
 
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