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Eugene C. Figg, (August 4, 1936 – March 20, 2002) was an American structural engineer who made numerous contributions to the field of structural engineering, especially in the design of the cable-stayed bridge and the use of the segmental concrete construction method. Born in Charleston, South Carolina, Figg’s passion for designing structures began during childhood when he often entertained himself by building scale models. Figg received his initial training as a structural engineer at The Citadel (military college), located in his hometown of Charleston. During his career, he brought the use of the segmental method for spanning large gaps to the United States with the assistance of his Paris-based partner, Jean M. Muller. He formed his own engineering firm, the Figg Engineering Group, the only national engineering firm that works on just bridges (Pittman 2001), that became North America’s foremost designer of the segmental concrete bridge. One of Figg’s major achievements was founding the American Segmental Bridge Institute in 1989, and also serving four years as a trustee at the National Building Museum. In 2000, Figg was honored with the John A. Roebling Medal for his outstanding lifetime achievement in structural engineering. Throughout his career, Figg worked diligently to combine function and form in his creation of some of the most aesthetically pleasing bridges ever designed. == Historical perspective == The Interstate and Defense Highway System (IDHS) started up about a decade after the end of World War II, and the construction of the interstate highway system was underway. By the time Figg had graduated and completed his bridge design training, the IDHS was into its fifth year of constructing the 42,500 mile interstate system, and was still expanding throughout the country (Garber 2002). The addition of so many roads created a large demand for bridges, many of which needed to span distances that hadn’t been attempted before. Figg started his engineering career in a time when computers were just taking off. The first commercial computer wasn’t available until Figg was 21 years old (Keitz 2007). These first computers were very expensive and were used mainly for storage and provided little assistance in calculations. When Figg was in his thirties, computers began to cost less and provide more. The 1960s, and 1970’s, hosted a majority of the pioneering work in technology for structural methods that are used today in concrete bridges. Before the late 1960s, bridges were constructed using deck hinges. This let the structure deform without applying high forces to the girders. However, over time the bridge itself would change shape because of the constant deformations. This would cause problems such as uneven road surfaces and early cracking in the pavement of the roads. Due to improvements in technology, however, this problem was solved using closure joints that made the bridge span continuous (Murillo 2004). This continuity method was made possible largely due to the creation of computer programs that could create detailed material-behavior-prediction models. Using these programs, engineers could run simulations that would help them predict whether or not these new techniques would work. These programs were not available until the early 1970s, because the computer itself still needed improvement. The 1960s, and 1970s, also brought the development of the concrete cable-stayed girder bridge, which is another type of bridge that made Figg famous. The method of constructing this type of bridge not only increased the maximum span of concrete bridges, but also made concrete bridges much more competitive with steel truss and arch bridges because this method was much more cost-effective (Keitz 2007). This was due largely to the high compressive strength of concrete. Other new bridge construction methods that were developed at the time include the span-by-span method, the progressive placement method, and the incremental launching method. All of these methods were developed around the same time period because of the advancements in computer software design. By the time Figg had graduated, a majority of construction materials were not only available but had already been used in building and bridge construction. However, a major material that became available as Figg’s career took off was prestressed concrete. Prestressed concrete is crucial to concrete bridge design because it overcomes concrete’s natural weakness in tension. Figg was introduced to this material by Bill Dean, the “father of prestressed concrete”, and his mentor during his bridge design training at the Florida Department of Transportation. Prestressed concrete was introduced to the United States in 1949, and today is the most used composite material for bridges (Murillo 2004). This construction material became vital to many of the bridges Figg would later design. Gene Figg’s engineering began at a time where computers were quickly being integrated into common engineering practices and were an everyday necessity by the time his career was over. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Eugene Figg」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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