Eugène Freyssinet
Eugène Freyssinet | |
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(1960) |
Eugène Freyssinet (French: [øʒɛn fʁɛsinɛ]) (13 July 1879 – 8 June 1962) was a French structural and civil engineer. He was the major pioneer of prestressed concrete.
Biography
Freyssinet was born in at
His most significant early bridge was the three span Pont le Veurdre near Vichy, built in 1911. At the time, the 72.5 metre (238 ft) spans were the longest so far constructed in France although Grafton Bridge a 97.6 metre reinforced concrete bridge had been opened in April 1910 and the Rocky River Bridge in Cleveland Ohio, an 85.34 metre unreinforced bridge had been opened in October 1910.
Freyssinet's proposal was for three
He served as the director of Public Works in Moulins starting in 1905. He also served as a road engineer in central France from 1907 until 1914.
Eugène achieved a significant breakthrough in
Working for Claude Limousin until 1929, he designed a number of structures including a 96.2 m (315 ft)
His 1919 design at St Pierre du Vauvray again increased the record for a concrete arch span, with 132 m (435 ft) hollow arches, completed in 1923.[1] Also in 1919 his Pont De La Liberation in Villeneuve-sur-Lot was completed which was the largest single span in the world at 96.25 metres.
His largest structure was the Plougastel Bridge with three identical spans of 180 m (592 ft) each, completed in 1930. Here he studied creep in more detail, and developed his ideas of prestressing, taking out a patent in 1928.[1]
Although Freyssinet did much to develop prestressed concrete, he was not its inventor. Other engineers such as Doehring had patented methods for prestressing as early as 1888, and Freyssinet's mentor Rabut built prestressed concrete corbels. Freyssinet's key contribution was to recognise that only high-strength prestressing wire could counteract the effects of creep and relaxation, and to develop anchorages and other technology which made the system flexible enough to be applied to many different types of structures.[5]
Having left Limousin, he set up his own firm to build prestressed concrete
In 1935, he used prestressing to consolidate the maritime station of
Many of Freyssinet's designs were new and elaborate for his time—some of them so much so that they were never built, such as the Phare du Monde, a 2,300 foot tower planned for the 1937 World Fair in Paris. According to Leonardo Troyano, "his capacity for creation, invention and research and his non-conformity with existing ideas and doctrines made him one of the most notable engineers in the history of engineering".[7]
Key achievements or collaborations
- 1906: Pont de Moulin Neuf (in Ferrières-sur-Sichon)
- 1907: Pont de Prairéal-sur-Besbre
- 1909 : Freyssinet Test Arch in Moulins (a test for prestressed concrete before the construction of three road bridges over the Allier River)
- 1911-1912: Pont du Veurdre (demolished in 1944 by French Resistance),
- 1913: Bridge Boutiron, à Creuzier le Vieux, near Vichy,
- 1910-1919: Pont de Villeneuve-sur-Lot
- 1914-1923: Pont de Châtel-de-Neuvre (demolished in 1940 by French Army),
- 1922-1930: Pont Albert-Louppe across the Élorn between Plougastel-Daoulas and Brest
- 1922-1923: Pont de Saint-Pierre-du-Vauvray
- 1922: Pont de Tonneins across the Garonne,
- 1923: Airships hangars of the Orly Airport
- 1927-1929: the Halle Freyssinet or Halle messengers of the Gare d'Austerlitz in Paris
- 1927-1929: Les Halles "Le Boulingrin" in Reims
- 1926-1928: Factory of the Compagnie nationale des radiateurs de Dammarie-lès-Lys (Seine-et-Marne)
- 1933-1935: renovation of the ferry terminal of Havre
- 1934-1940: Église Saint-Jacques-le-Majeur de Montrouge[8]
- 1936: Aqueduct at Fodda, in Algeria
- 1937-1941: Steel gates on the Barrage at Béni Badhel, Algeria,
- 1938: Bridge on the Autobahn 2 Oelde in Warendorf in Germany, the first prestressed concrete bridge in the country.[9]
- 1941-1946: pont de Luzancy on the Marne (Seine-et-Marne), 54 m (177 ft) span,
- 1946-1951: Orleans Reservoir
- 1947-1950: series of five similar bridges on the Marne (74 m (243 ft) span) to Esbly Ussy-sur-Marne Changis -over Marne Trilbardou and Annet-sur-Marne (Seine-et-Marne)
- 1947 and 1953: runway at Orly airport
- 1948-1951: cut and cover of Rouen,
- 1951-1953: Three overpasses on the highway to Caracas La Guaira, Venezuela
- 1954: Reconstruction and consolidation of the roof of the issuer of l'émetteur d'Europe 1 à Felsberg, Sarre,
- 1955: water pipe sealed Kunu, India
- 1955-1957: Viaduct access pont de Tancarville, the left bank,
- 1955-1958: basilique Saint-Pie X in Lourdes with the architects Pierre Vago and André Le Donne.
- 1955-1961: a multiple-arch dam on the river Erraguene Djen-Djen, Algeria,
- 1957: Bridge No. 10 on the N7 at Orly
- 1957: Pont Saint-Michel à Toulouse,
- 1961-1964: Reservoir des Lilas in Paris
- 1961-1964: Gladesville Bridge, Australia.
Notes
- ^ ISBN 0-691-02393-X.
- ^ Bernard Espion, Pierre Halleux, Jacques I. Schiffmann, "Contributions of André Paduart to the Art of Thin Concrete Shell Vaulting," Proceedings of the First International Congress on Construction History (2003) citing: Freyssinet, Eugène (1923) Hangars à dirigeables en ciment armé en construction à l’aéroport de Villeneuve-Orly, Le Génie Civil (Paris) 83: 265-273, 291-297, 313-319; Gotteland, J. (1925) Les hangars d’avions de Villacoublay, Annales des Ponts et Chaussées (Paris) fasc.5 : 169-183; and Fernandez Ordoñez, José A. (1979) Eugène Freyssinet, Barcelone: 2c editions.
- ^ Billington, op. cit.
- ^ Bennett, David: "The Creation of Bridges", Aurum Press Ltd, undated (circa 1998)
- ^ Troyano, L.F.: "Bridge Engineering - A Global Perspective", Thomas Telford Publishing, 2003
- ^ Bennett, op.cit.
- ^ Troyano, op.cit.
- ^ Base Mérimée: Eglise Saint-Jacques le Majeur, Ministère français de la Culture. (in French)
- ^ Notice du pont d'Oelde sur Structurae.com
References
- Bennett, David (1999). The Creation of Bridges. Secaucus: Chartwell Books. ISBN 0-7858-1053-6.
- Billington, David (1985). The Tower and the Bridge. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-02393-X.