Freyssinet, Eugène

SUBJECT AREA: Architecture and building, Civil engineering

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b. 13 July 1879 Objat, Corrèze, France

d. 8 June 1962 Saint-Martin Vésubié, France

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French civil engineer who is generally recognized as the originator of pre-stressed reinforced concrete.

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Eugène Freyssinet was an army engineer during the First World War who pioneered pre-stressed reinforced concrete and experimented with building concrete bridges. After 1918 he formed his own company to develop his ideas. He investigated the possibilities of very high-strength concrete, and in so doing studied shrinkage and creep. He combined high-quality concrete with highly stressed, stretched steel to give top quality results. His work in 1926 on Plougastel Bridge, at that time the longest reinforced concrete bridge, is a notable example of his use of this technique. In 1916 Freyssinet had built his famous airship hangars at Orly, which were destroyed in the Second World War; the hangars were roofed in parabolic sections to a height of about 200 ft. In 1934 he succeeded in saving the Ocean Terminal at Le Havre from sinking into the mud and being covered by the sea by using his pre-stressing techniques. By 1938 he had developed a superior method of pre-stressing with steel which led to widespread adoption of his methods.

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Further Reading

C.C.Stanley, 1979, Highlights in the History of Concrete, Cement and Concrete Association.

1977, Who's Who in Architecture, Weidenfeld and Nicolson.

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