FG Bautechnikgeschichte
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- 3D laser scan (1)
- Balthasar Neumann (1)
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The Introduction of the Hennebique Reinforced Concrete System in the Russian Empire, 1898-1907
(2021)
As a part of the research field concerning the transfer of European knowledge to the Russian Empire, this paper concentrates on the transfer of technical knowledge. It describes the introduction and application of a reinforced concrete construction method developed around I886 by the French bricklayer and construction site supervisor François Hennebique. The Hennebique system was promoted by his worldwide professional network, including in the Russian Empire. Paul de Monicourt, a French engineer, was the main figure associated with the promotion of this method throughout the Russian Empire. He established his first office in southwestern Ekaterinoslav specialized in industrial buildings and bridges. After sharing his construction and calculation methods with the engineers of Russian Railways, he lost his monopoly hold on bridge construction in the Russian Empire. Moving his focus to the north, he established an additional office in Saint Petersburg, where he began to work in dome construction. In I905, de Monicourt began a partnership with a local construction company. His involvement in this partnership makes it difficult to trace his later activity and individual achievements since this company took over the spread of Hennebique system in the Russian Empire.
Johann Dientzenhofer’s Banz Abbey Church (1710-1718) and Balthasar Neumann’s church of Vierzehnheiligen (1743-1772), both located in Upper Franconia (Germany), are characterised by their masonry vaults, sequences of oval domes separated by double-curved arches. This Late Baroque architecture has been called “Guarinesque”; however, the conceptual connection between the vaults and Guarino Guarini’s architecture remains to be thoroughly investigated. This paper resumes the discussion about the geometric definitions of these vaults using the modern methods of geometric analysis and reverse geometrical engineering, based on 3D laser scanning. The analysis of these scans reveals a design process based on plane circle segments and ovals, while more complex geometric procedures are not necessary to describe the vaults. Further, the relationship between these designs and the procedures of geometric design described in the treatises of stereotomy since the 16th century can be shown. On this background, the relation to Guarini’s Architettura Civile (1737) is discussed.
Simply complex: Case studies on complex stone constructions of High Medieval courtly chimneys
(2021)
As a part of the wide research field regarding the introduction of European knowledge to the Russian Empire and its adoption and implementation, this paper shines a light on aspects of early reinforced concrete knowledge transfer. The development of reinforced concrete in Russia has been studied and described in Russian publications of the Soviet and later periods to a limited extent. However, the evident and substantial influence of European knowledge and the contributions of European specialists from France, Germany, Swit-zerland, and Austria has remained unexamined. Drawing on historical, technical, and periodical literature as well as on archival documents, this paper describes three different examples of knowledge transfer and their influence on the local development of reinforced concrete.
The omission of the contribution of European specialists to the development of early reinforced concrete in the publications of the Soviet and later periods led to this research. An investigation of the technical literature and archival documents brought about new discoveries. European engineers and representatives of well-known European construction companies played an important role in the early development of reinforced concrete in the Russian Empire. This paper describes the introduction and the development of this construction technology in Saint Petersburg and is an extract from the author’s doctoral thesis on the development of rein-forced concrete in the Russian Empire from its inception to the outbreak of the October Revolution.