Eugène Freyssinet () (13 July 1879 – 8 June 1962) was a French
structural
A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...
and
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 ...
. He was the major pioneer of
prestressed concrete
Prestressed concrete is a form of concrete used in construction. It is substantially prestressed (Compression (physics), compressed) during production, in a manner that strengthens it against tensile forces which will exist when in service. Post-t ...
.
Biography
Freyssinet was born in at
Objat, Corrèze, France. He worked in the ''
École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées
École nationale des ponts et chaussées (; ; abbr. ENPC), also nicknamed Ponts (), formerly known as École des Ponts ParisTech (), is a grande école in the field of science, engineering and technology, of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris, a ...
'' in Paris, France where he designed several
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 ...
s until the
First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
intervened. His tutors included
Charles Rabut.
He served in the
French Army
The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (, , ), is the principal Army, land warfare force of France, and the largest component of the French Armed Forces; it is responsible to the Government of France, alongside the French Navy, Fren ...
from 1904 to 1907 and again from 1914 to 1918 as a road engineer.
His most significant early bridge was the three span
Pont le Veurdre near
Vichy
Vichy (, ; ) is a city in the central French department of Allier. Located on the Allier river, it is a major spa and resort town and during World War II was the capital of Vichy France. As of 2021, Vichy has a population of 25,789.
Known f ...
, built in 1911. At the time, the 72.5 metre (238 ft) spans were the longest so far constructed in France although
Grafton Bridge a 97.6 metre reinforced concrete bridge had been opened in April 1910 and the
Rocky River Bridge in Cleveland Ohio, an 85.34 metre unreinforced bridge had been opened in October 1910.
Freyssinet's proposal was for three
reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...
truss
A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as Beam (structure), 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 ...
spans, and was significantly less expensive than the standard masonry arch design. The design used jacks to raise and connect the arches, effectively introducing an element of prestress. The bridge also enabled Freyssinet to discover the phenomenon of
creep in concrete, whereby the concrete deforms with time when placed under stress. Regarding this bridge, Freyssinet wrote: "I have always loved it more than any other of my bridges, and of all that the War has destroyed, it is the only one whose ruin has caused me real grief".
He served as the director of Public Works in Moulins starting in 1905. He also served as a road engineer in central France from 1907 until 1914.
Eugène achieved a significant breakthrough in
thin-shell structures with the design of two huge and celebrated airship hangars at Villeneuve-
Orly Airport
Paris Orly Airport (, ) is one of two international airports serving Paris, France, the other one being Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG). It is located partially in Orly and partially in Villeneuve-le-Roi, south of Paris. It serves as a sec ...
in 1923. The principle of the corrugated form for the concrete shell was introduced there to obtain necessary stiffness for a 70m span. In 1924 he applied the same principle of
corrugated shell roofing for two airplanes hangars spanning 55m at
Vélizy – Villacoublay.
Working for Claude Limousin until 1929, he designed a number of structures including a 96.2 m (315 ft)
arch bridge
An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its structural load, loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either si ...
at
Villeneuve-sur-Lot
Villeneuve-sur-Lot (; in the Languedocien dialect of Occitan language: ''Vilanuèva d'Òlt'' ) is a town and Communes of France, commune in the southwestern French Departments of France, department of Lot-et-Garonne. The commune was formerly name ...
, and several large
thin-shell concrete roofs, including aircraft hangars at Istres, Bouches-du-Rhone in 1917 and 300-foot-wide, 200-foot-high twin ''
dirigible
An airship, dirigible balloon or dirigible is a type of aerostat ( lighter-than-air) aircraft that can navigate through the air flying under its own power. Aerostats use buoyancy from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding ...
'' sheds at
Orly
Orly () is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, ÃŽle-de-France. It is located from the center of Paris.
The name of Orly came from Latin ''Aureliacum'', "the villa of Aurelius".
Orly Airport partially lies on the territory of the c ...
from 1916 to 1923. During the First World War he also built cargo ships using reinforced concrete at Rouen. Freyssinet's major contribution to the science of concrete construction was the use of forced steam around the concrete moulds which significantly shortened the curing time of the concrete.
His 1919 design at St Pierre du Vauvray again increased the record for a concrete arch span, with 132 m (435 ft) hollow arches, completed in 1923.
Also in 1919 his ''Pont De La Liberation'' in Villeneuve-sur-Lot was completed which was the largest single span in the world at 96.25 metres.
His largest structure was the
Plougastel Bridge with three identical spans of 180 m (592 ft) each, completed in 1930. Here he studied creep in more detail, and developed his ideas of
prestressing, taking out a patent in 1928.
Although Freyssinet did much to develop prestressed concrete, he was not its inventor. Other engineers such as Doehring had patented methods for prestressing as early as 1888, and Freyssinet's mentor Rabut built prestressed concrete
corbel
In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a wikt:superincumbent, bearing weight, a type of bracket (architecture), bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in t ...
s. Freyssinet's key contribution was to recognise that only high-strength prestressing wire could counteract the effects of creep and relaxation, and to develop anchorages and other technology which made the system flexible enough to be applied to many different types of structures.
Having left Limousin, he set up his own firm to build prestressed concrete
electricity pylon
A transmission tower (also electricity pylon, hydro tower, or pylon) is a tall structure, usually a lattice tower made of steel that is used to support an overhead power line. In electrical grids, transmission towers carry high voltage, high-volt ...
s, but the business failed.
In 1935, he used prestressing to consolidate the maritime station of
Le Havre
Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...
which was threatening to
settle beyond repair. Freyssinet introduced prestressed concrete beams, and jacked up the shipyard buildings. Following this success, he joined the firm of
Campenon-Bernard and went on to design several prestressed bridges.
Many of Freyssinet's designs were new and elaborate for his time—some of them so much so that they were never built, such as the ''
Phare du Monde'', a 2,300 foot tower planned for the
1937 World Fair in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
. According to Leonardo Troyano, "his capacity for creation, invention and research and his non-conformity with existing ideas and doctrines made him one of the most notable engineers in the history of engineering".
Key achievements or collaborations
* 1906: Pont de Moulin Neuf (in
Ferrières-sur-Sichon
Ferrières-sur-Sichon (; ) is a commune in the Allier department in central France.
Population
Sights
* Arboretum Paul Barge
See also
* Glozel
* Communes of the Allier department
The following is a list of the 317 Communes of Franc ...
)
* 1907: Pont de Prairéal-sur-Besbre
* 1909 :
Freyssinet Test Arch in
Moulins (a test for prestressed concrete before the construction of three road bridges over the Allier River)
* 1911-1912: Pont du Veurdre (demolished in 1944 by French Resistance),
* 1913:
Bridge Boutiron, Ã Creuzier le Vieux, near Vichy,
* 1910-1919:
Pont de Villeneuve-sur-Lot
* 1914-1923: Pont de
Châtel-de-Neuvre (demolished in 1940 by French Army),
* 1922-1930:
Pont Albert-Louppe across the
Élorn
The Élorn (; ) is a long river in Brittany, France. Its source is in the monts d'Arrée, north-northeast of Le Tuchenn Kador, and it then runs through several small towns such as Sizun and Landivisiau before flowing out into the roadstead of Br ...
between
Plougastel-Daoulas
Plougastel-Daoulas (; ) is a commune in the Finistère department, located in the administrative region of Brittany, northwestern France.
Population
Inhabitants of Plougastel-Daoulas are called ''plougastels'' in French.
Breton language
Th ...
and
Brest
* 1922-1923:
Pont de Saint-Pierre-du-Vauvray
* 1922:
Pont de Tonneins across the Garonne,
* 1923: Airships hangars of the
Orly Airport
Paris Orly Airport (, ) is one of two international airports serving Paris, France, the other one being Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG). It is located partially in Orly and partially in Villeneuve-le-Roi, south of Paris. It serves as a sec ...
* 1927-1929: the
Halle Freyssinet or Halle messengers of the Gare d'Austerlitz in Paris
* 1927-1929:
Les Halles "Le Boulingrin" in
Reims
Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...
* 1926-1928: Factory of the
Compagnie nationale des radiateurs de
Dammarie-lès-Lys (
Seine-et-Marne
Seine-et-Marne () is a department in the ÃŽle-de-France region in Northern France. Named after the rivers Seine and Marne, it is the region's largest department with an area of 5,915 square kilometres (2,284 square miles); it roughly covers its ...
)
* 1933-1935: renovation of the ferry terminal of
Havre
* 1934-1940:
Église Saint-Jacques-le-Majeur de Montrouge
* 1936: Aqueduct at Fodda, in Algeria
* 1937-1941: Steel gates on the Barrage at Béni Badhel, Algeria,
* 1938: Bridge on the Autobahn 2 Oelde in
Warendorf
Warendorf (, Westphalian language, Westphalian: ''Warnduorp'') is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and capital of Warendorf (district), Warendorf District.
The town is best known today for its well-preserved medieval town centre, for eq ...
in Germany, the first prestressed concrete bridge in the country.
Notice du pont d'Oelde sur Structurae.com
/ref>
* 1941-1946: pont de Luzancy on the Marne (Seine-et-Marne
Seine-et-Marne () is a department in the ÃŽle-de-France region in Northern France. Named after the rivers Seine and Marne, it is the region's largest department with an area of 5,915 square kilometres (2,284 square miles); it roughly covers its ...
), span,
* 1946-1951: Orleans Reservoir
* 1947-1950: series of five similar bridges on the Marne ( span) to Esbly Ussy-sur-Marne Changis -over Marne Trilbardou and Annet-sur-Marne (Seine-et-Marne
Seine-et-Marne () is a department in the ÃŽle-de-France region in Northern France. Named after the rivers Seine and Marne, it is the region's largest department with an area of 5,915 square kilometres (2,284 square miles); it roughly covers its ...
)
* 1947 and 1953: runway at Orly airport
* 1948-1951: cut and cover of Rouen,
* 1951-1953: Three overpasses on the highway to Caracas La Guaira, Venezuela
* 1954: Reconstruction and consolidation of the roof of the issuer of l'émetteur d'Europe 1 à Felsberg, Sarre,
* 1955: water pipe sealed Kunu, India
* 1955-1957: Viaduct access pont de Tancarville, the left bank,
* 1955-1958: basilique Saint-Pie X in Lourdes
Lourdes (, also , ; ) is a market town situated in the Pyrenees. It is part of the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France. Prior to the mid-19th century, the town was best known for its Château fort, a ...
with the architects Pierre Vago and André Le Donne.
* 1955-1961: a multiple-arch dam on the river Erraguene Djen-Djen, Algeria,
* 1957: Bridge No. 10 on the N7 at Orly
* 1957: Pont Saint-Michel à Toulouse
Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...
,
* 1961-1964: Reservoir des Lilas in Paris
* 1961-1964: Gladesville Bridge, Australia.
Notes
References
*
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Freyssinet, Eugene
French civil engineers
École Polytechnique alumni
École des Ponts ParisTech alumni
Corps des ponts
IStructE Gold Medal winners
French bridge engineers
Concrete pioneers
Structural engineers
Concrete shell structures
20th-century French engineers
Commanders of the Legion of Honour
People from Corrèze
1879 births
1962 deaths