engleski

FROM MELAN PATENT TO ARCH BRIDGES OF 400 M SPANS

Austrian engineer Josef Melan patented reinforced concrete arches with parallel metal "I" sections embedded in concrete along the line of the arch intrados at the end of the 19th century. Today this method is referred to as Melan method. The method came quickly into widespread use, especially in USA, as it enabled economic and fast construction due to the fact that timber centering for arch construction could be omitted. This paper provides an overview of arch bridges constructed by the Melan method up to 1940s: Schwimmschul Bridge in Austria, Dragon Bridge in Slovenia, Echelsbacher Bridge in Germany, three long bridges in the U.S.A.: Melan Bridge in Lyons County Iowa, Larimer Avenue Bridge, F.W. Cappelen Memorial Bridge, and Martín Gil Viaduct in Spain. The paper additionally highlights modern bridges showing Melan’ s far reaching impact on bridge building - Arco de Ricobayo and Arco del Escudo in Spain, Stampfgraben Bridge in Austria, Kashirajima Bridge in Japan and great development taking place over the past decades in China.

Arch bridge; Melan method; rigid reinforcement; CFST

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