Vierendeel bridge

A vierendeel carrier is a carrier of square frame without diagonals. It is named after the Belgian engineer ( Jules ) vierendeel Arthur ( 1852-1940 ).

Description

The Vierendeel girder, a support member of the structural analysis has only horizontal rods ( belts ) and vertical, mutually parallel bars or poles that are connected in the corners of a rigid frame. This results in square meshes, their number can be next to each other arbitrarily. The corner joints must be rigid and the material must be generally stronger than that of a truss with diagonals. The carrier is internally statically indeterminate, but can be stored externally statically determinate.

The advantage of this construction is that windows, doors, or free passages are possible in the spaces and the architectural possibilities expands. The design also breaks not immediately together like a ( statically defined ) framework, when a single rod is removed. Such a support is similar to a frame, which is load-bearing only by the rigidity of the straps and bars.

The inventor

With the vierendeel support is often built today, but the inventor who received a patent for this design is rather unknown. But Arthur vierendeel not only invented this diagonal -free carrier, but also improved the calculation of foundations, researched the buckling of compression members and the limits of the carrying capacity of steel.

Examples

The facade of Commerzbank tower in Frankfurt am Main (architect Lord Norman Foster) was built with vierendeel carriers.