Arthur Vierendeel (10 April 1852 – 8 November 1940) was a
civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...
born in
Leuven
Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipalit ...
, Belgium. He had a career as a university professor, and civil engineer. The structure known as the
Vierendeel truss is named after him.
Biography
He obtained an
MSc in construction and mining engineering in 1874 at the ''
Université catholique de Louvain
UCLouvain (or Université catholique de Louvain , French for Catholic University of Louvain, officially in English the University of Louvain) is Belgium's largest French-speaking university and one of the oldest in Europe (originally establishe ...
'', after which he worked as an engineer for the company ''
Nicaise et Delcuve'' in
La Louvière
La Louvière (; ) is a city and Municipalities of Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Hainaut Province, province of Hainaut, Belgium.
The municipality consists of the following districts: Boussoit, Haine-Saint-Paul, Haine-Saint-Pie ...
, Belgium. In 1885 he became Director for the Ministry of Public Works in West Flanders, and four years afterward also achieved the post of Professor of Construction, Material Strength, and Structural Engineering at the ''Université catholique de Louvain''.
The idea of a bridge without trusses came to him in 1895; the design later became known as a
Vierendeel bridge.
For the 1897
World Fair at Brussels he built a 31.5m span bridge at his own expense and loaded to show the correlation between measurement and his numerical analysis.
His work, ''Cours de stabilité des constructions'' (1889) was an important reference during more than half a century. His first bridge was built in
Avelgem in 1902, crossing the
Scheldt
The Scheldt ( ; ; ) is a river that flows through northern France, western Belgium, and the southwestern part of Netherlands, the Netherlands, with its mouth at the North Sea. Its name is derived from an adjective corresponding to Old Englis ...
river. The construction of this bridge became famous through the
Stijn Streuvels
Franciscus "Frank" Petrus Maria Lateur (3 October 1871 – 15 August 1969), known as Stijn Streuvels (), was a Flemish Belgian writer.
Biography
He started writing at a very young age. He was inspired by his uncle, the poet Guido Gezelle. Until ...
book ''De Teloorgang van de Waterhoek''.
He retired as director of public works in West Flanders in 1927, and as Professor at Leuven Catholic University in 1936. He died in 1940.
Legacy
The Vierendeel truss was used in Belgium, particularly on the Belgian railways. Discussions in the journal ''Der Eisenbau'' concerning the pros and cons of the Vierendeel truss led to the development of deformational modelling of structures - necessary for mathematical analysis of Vierendeel trusses.
He emphasised an importance of aesthetics over pure engineering:
As of 2011 the
castellated beam and
cellular beam are in common use in construction for roof and floor support - both are open web structures without diagonal trusses; vierendeel truss type analysis is used to understand and predict failure modes, which include vierendeel truss type failures.
See also
*
Vierendeel bridge
References
External links
*
* (Vierendeel bridges, publications and other information)
''Representing structure. Reflections on the work of Arthur Vierendeel'' "La construction architecturale en fonte, fer et acier"Paper written by Isaac López César and Javier Estévez Cimadevila.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vierendeel, Arthur
1852 births
1940 deaths
Belgian civil engineers
20th-century Belgian engineers
19th-century Belgian engineers
Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968) alumni