Eugène Freyssinet

Marie Eugène Freyssinet Léon ( born July 13, 1879 in Objat, Correze, † June 8, 1962, Saint -Martin- Vésubie, Alpes- Maritimes) was a French engineer and inventor of prestressed concrete.

Life

Freyssinet studied at the École Polytechnique and the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris, where he earned a diploma in 1905. In the years 1903-1907 he worked in the local engineer and road service in Moulins to Vichy. This was followed up in 1914 to work as a partner with François Mercier, and then until 1929 as a technical manager at the company Limousin. Since Entreprises Limousin unsupported developed by Freyssinet prestressing bed process he left the company and was at the age of fifty years, co-owner of the construction company Campenon Bernard until 1943, the Société Technique pour l' Utilisation de la Précontrainte ( STUP ) founded in 1976 in Freyssinet International renamed.

Creation

From 1907 to 1911 planned and supervised the construction of the Pont du Freyssinet Veurdre, a three-mullioned concrete structure over the river Allier. Advance a flat test sheets of 50 meters span and 2 meters engraving was built for this bridge and two other Allierbrücken. The arch abutment he had to connect through a Betonzugband consisting of prestressed concrete encased steel wires. After unexpected deformations and deflections at the Pont du Veurdre Freyssinet explored the nonlinear concrete creep. From the long-term deformations of the concrete, he concluded that a high steel and concrete strength is required for an effective prestressing of concrete. Be first and reasoned Freyssinet described this properly and reported in 1928 together with his partner Jean Séailles the patents for prestressed concrete with composite in the chip bed on. A practical application was among other things the rescue of a quay in the port of Le Havre in 1934 by laterally tensioned to the foundation body foundations. His first prestressed concrete bridge was a service footbridge in Algeria with five openings of 20 meters span.

With the in the years 1921-1923 planned and built airship hangar Orly he developed the Eisenbetonfaltwerk as room closure element. The Pont de Plougastel, an arch bridge with three openings, each 186 feet span, was built from 1926 to 1930 according to his plans.

The first long-span prestressed concrete bridge Freyssinet was the Marne bridge at Luzancy, which was built between 1941 and 1945 and for the first time came to apply the 1940 patented biasing subsequent pressing and tendons. The very flat two-hinged frame bridge had a span of 55 meters. Other significant buildings, the Freyssinet designed after 1945, include five additional prestressed concrete bridges over the Marne from the years ( 1947-1949 ), the bridge between Caracas and La Guaira in Venezuela, from the years 1952/1953 and the Highway Bridge No. the Phare du Monde was 10 at Orly airport in France Not implemented from the year 1958. for the 1937 World Exhibition in Paris.

1937 awarded the Royal Institute of British Architects Freyssinet honorary membership. In 1957 he received the Gold Medal of the Institution of Structural Engineers. He had 1925-1956 a total of 75 patents pending.