A Vierendeel bridge is a
bridge
A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...
employing a
Vierendeel truss
A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as beams, connected by ''nodes'', that creates a rigid structure.
In engineering, a truss is a structure that "consists of two-force members only, where the members are organized so that the assembla ...
, named after
Arthur Vierendeel, a Belgian engineer
who proposed this new bridge girder-type without diagonals in 1896.
Such trusses are made up of rectangular rather than triangular frames, as are common in
bridges using pin–joints. Because of the lack of diagonal members, Vierendeel trusses employ
moment joints to resist substantial bending forces.
Owing to a lesser economy of materials and the difficulty of design before the advent of computers, this truss is rarely used in bridges outside Belgium. The form is more commonly employed in building structures where large shear walls or diagonal elements would interfere with the building's aesthetics or functionality.
The first such bridge was built in steel at
Avelgem
Avelgem (; ) is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the towns of Avelgem proper, Bossuit, Kerkhove, Outrijve and Waarmaarde. On January 1, 2006, Avelgem had a total population of 9,457. ...
,
Belgium
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
in 1902, following development of the truss form and a method to calculate its strength in 1896 by Arthur Vierendeel. There are many more examples in Belgium, including some built in concrete, mostly designed by Vierendeel's many students from his long career as professor in
civil engineering
Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...
.
The city of
Glendale, California
Glendale is a city located primarily in the Verdugo Mountains region, with a small portion in the San Fernando Valley, of Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is located about north of downtown Los Angeles.
As of 2024, Glendale ha ...
has three Vierendeel truss bridges: the Geneva Street, Kenilworth Avenue, and
Glenoaks Boulevard
Glenoaks Boulevard is a major thoroughfare in Los Angeles County, which stretches some 22.4 miles as a north-south thoroughfare in Sylmar at its intersection with Foothill Boulevard to a west-east thoroughfare in Glendale before ending in th ...
bridges, all two-lane bridges spanning 95 feet. They were built in 1937 as part of the
Verdugo Flood Control Project, the first project of the
United States Army Corps of Engineers
The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the military engineering branch of the United States Army. A direct reporting unit (DRU), it has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil wo ...
after passage of the
Flood Control Act of 1936
The Flood Control Act of 1936, , (FCA 1936) was an Act of Congress, Act of the United States Congress signed into law by President of the United States, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt on 22 June 1936. .
The double-deck cable-stayed
Kap Shui Mun Bridge
The Kap Shui Mun Bridge (KSMB) in Hong Kong, part of Lantau Link of Route 8, is one of the longest cable-stayed bridges in the world that transports both road and railway traffic, with the upper deck used for motor vehicles and the lower deck ...
in Hong Kong uses a Vierendeel truss. Opened in 1997, the lower deck carries both rail and traffic, with the lack of diagonal members in the cross section allowing vehicles to drive through the openings provided by the Vierendeel design.
Glendale, CA
Glendale is a city located primarily in the Verdugo Mountains region, with a small portion in the San Fernando Valley, of Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is located about north of downtown Los Angeles.
As of 2024, Glendale ha ...
References
Truss bridges in Belgium
Truss bridges by type
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