Emile Clapeyron

In 1820, after finishing their studies at the École Polytechnique and the École des Mines, Clapeyron and his friend Gabriel Lamé left Paris to teach pure and applied mechanics, chemistry and design theory at the St. Petersburg Institute of Engineers of Ways of Communication for a period of 10 years. Together with Lamé he acted as a consulting engineer on numerous projects, including St. Isaac Cathedral and the Alexander Column in St. Petersburg as well as suspension bridges and the Schlüsselburg locks. Following the Paris July Revolution of 1830, Clapeyron returned to France and quickly rose to be a leading railway engineer. In 1844 he was appointed professor of steam engine con- struction at the École des Ponts et Chaussées. The theoretical consequences of his practical experience in bridge-building found their way into his famous Mémoire (1857) in the form of calculations for continuous beams. This book and another Mémoire on energy conservation in elastic theory (Clapeyron's theorem) published one year later earned him membership of the Académie des Sciences in Paris, where he succeeded Augustin-Louis Cauchy.

Main contributions to structural analysis:

Mémoire sur la stabilité des voûtes [1823]; Mémoire sur la Construction des Polygones Funiculaires [1828]; Note sur un théorème de mécanique [1833]; Mémoire sur l'équilibre intérieur des corps solides homogènes [1833]; Calcul d'une poutre élastique reposant librement sur des apppuis inégalement espacés [1857]; Mémoire sur le travail des forces élastiques dans un corps solide élastique déformé par l'action de forces extérieures [1858]

Source: Kurrer, Karl-Eugen The History of the Theory of Structures, Wilhelm Ernst & Sohn Verlag für Architektur und technische Wissenschaften GmbH, Berlin (Deutschland), ISBN 3-433-01838-3, 2008; p. 722

Participation in the following structures & large-scale projects:

• Paris-Saint-Germain Railroad Line