Michel Virlogeux
Michel Virlogeux (* July 7, 1946 in La Fleche, Sarthe in the Pays de la Loire ) is a French bridge engineer who became known outside the world of mainly by the Viaduc de Millau, he together with the architect Sir Norman Foster has designed.
Life
After his schooling at Prytanée national militaire of La Flèche, one of the French military schools, he graduated from École polytechnique in 1967 and then 1970, the École nationale des ponts et chaussées.
In the period from 1970 to 1973, he worked in Tunisia in road construction. During this time he earned a doctorate at the Université Pierre -et -Marie- Curie ( Paris 6) for Docteur Ingénieur - which was awarded to him in 1973. In January 1974, he was Regional Manager in the Department of Large concrete bridges of the Service d' études techniques of routes et autoroutes ( SETRA ), a state-owned construction planning, consulting and supervision institution. In addition, he held from 1975 to 1994 lectures on the design of bridges at the École Spéciale des Travaux Publics. From 1977 to 1994 he was also professor of structural engineering at the École nationale des ponts et chaussées. In 1980 he became head of the Department of concrete bridges SETRA and 1987 head of the Department Large Bridges ( steel and concrete). In the twenty years he designed well over a hundred bridges, especially in France. He also worked with his team as a test engineer in a number of other bridges. He contributed to the technical development in the field of prestressed concrete with external tendons, cable-stayed bridges and composite materials.
In February 1995 he left the civil service and has since worked as a freelance engineer.
Since 2008 he is Professor of bridge planning and design at the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées. He was and is a member or chairman of several professional and trade associations.
Buildings (excerpt)
Some of the many designed by Virlogeux bridges are the over the Rhine side channel Ottmar home, on the Loir in La Flèche, on the Somme in Abbeville, the cable-stayed bridge over the Rhone in Seyssel, the bridge to the Ile de Ré, the Auray Bridge, Chateaubriand bridge over the Rance, the Pont du Morbihan on the Vilaine La Roche -Bernard, the Pont de Bourgogne ( cable-stayed bridge ) in Chalon -sur -Saône, the Kärkinen cable-stayed bridge at Korpilahti, Finland and especially the Pont de Normandie at that time the largest cable-stayed bridge in the world, as well as the preliminary to the Viaduc de Millau.
As an independent engineer, he designed the concept for the TGV in Avignon viaducts and later worked for their supervision. In Portugal, he was head of the test engineers the Ponte Vasco da Gama in Lisbon. He made the preliminary draft Viaduc de Verrières north of the Millau Viaduct, completed the final design of the Viaduc de Millau with Sir Norman Foster and consulted during the construction of the company Eiffage. He developed the concept of integrated and fully suspended roadway of the Rio - Antirrio bridge in Greece. When replacing the cable from the Pont de Tancarville over the Seine and in the study of vibrations in the cables of the Saint-Nazaire bridge he was contracted as an expert. He advised the Japan Highway Public Corporation with respect to construction of the bridge over the Ibi and Kiso. He was involved in the planning of the Stonecutters Bridge in Hong Kong and the Sutong Bridge in China, the world's largest cable-stayed bridge. The Pont de Térénez in Brittany was designed by him, as is the Pont Jacques Chaban 2013 finished -Delmas over the Garonne in Bordeaux.
Honors and Awards
Michel Virlogeux received numerous honors and awards. For 1983, the IABSE Prize of the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering awarded him, whose member he has been since 1974. In 1996 he received the Gold Medal of the Institution of Structural Engineers, 1999 Fritz Leonhardt Prize of the Technical Chamber of Baden- Württemberg, in 2003 the International Award of Merit in Structural Engineering IABSE, 2005, the Gold Medal of the Institution of Civil Engineers, 2006, the Freyssinet Medal of the Fédération Internationale du Beton and 2007, the Prix Albert - Caquot the Association Française de Génie Civil. In 2009 he was awarded the Doctor Honoris Causa in Technology from Loughborough University.
He was appointed a Knight of the Ordre national du Mérite in 2000 as an officer and in November 2005 a Knight of the Legion of Honour in 1989.