Josef Melan

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Josef Melan
Personal information
Name Josef Melan
Nationality Austrian
Birth date 1854
Date of death 1941
Work
Significant projects Dragon Bridge

Josef Melan (1854-1941) was an Austrian engineer.[1][2][3] He is regarded as one of the most important pioneers of reinforced concrete bridge-building at the end of the 19th century.[4] Josef Melan is credited as the inventor of the Melan System, a method for the construction of reinforced bridges.[4] Melan System was different from reinforced bridges built, because Melan did not build iron bars into the reinforced concrete bridge structure, but used rigid truss arches made of iron.[4] Melan became famous in 1898 when he built after building a 42.4 m bridge with a very shallow arch in Steyr[4] At that time, this was the largest reinforced concrete bridge in the world.[4] He also built the Dragon Bridge in Ljubljana.[4]

[edit] References

  1. ^ David P. Billington (1985). The Tower and the Bridge: The New Art of Structural Engineering. Princeton University Press, p136. ISBN 069102393X. 
  2. ^ Dragon Bridge
  3. ^ Melan Arch bridge
  4. ^ a b c d e f C Abdunur (2001). ARCH'01: Troisième conferénce internationale sur les ponts en arc. Presses des Ponts, p124. ISBN 2859783474. 
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