Biographical Information
| Name: | František Faltus |
|---|---|
| Born on | 5 January 1901 in Vienna, Austria, Europe |
| Deceased on | 6 October 1989 in Prague, Czechia, Europe |
Short biography of František Faltus
František Faltus studied civil engineering from 1918 to 1923 at Vienna TH, where he gained his doctorate with the dissertation Beitrag zur Berechnung statisch unbestimmter Tragwerke. He started his professional career in 1923 with the steelwork fabricator Waagner-Biró-AG in Vienna and continued it in 1926 at the Škoda plant in Plzeň, Czechoslovakia. He was an enthusiastic advocate of the new method of jointing by welding and introduced it into steel bridges and other steel structures. Faltus thus became a pioneer of welding in structural steelwork. He designed the first welded trussed framework bridge in 1930 (in Plzeň), which was followed by the first fully welded arch bridge – also in Plzeň. His continuous steel bridge with a composite road deck erected in 1952 in Bytča, Czechoslovakia, also set new standards in structural steelwork. As early as 1938 he had been offered the chair of steelwork by the Czech TH in Prague, but owing to Germany’s occupation of Czechoslovakia was unable to take up this post until 1945. Faltus quickly progressed to become a leading personality in the field of steelwork in the former Czechoslovakia. He made important scientific contributions to the theory of designing welded structures, but also to buckling and arch theory. In doing so, he understood the need to couple his national and international consulting activities closely with scientific analyses. On the occasion of its 50th anniversary, the International Association for Bridge & Structural Engineering (IABSE) elected Faltus (one of its founding members) honorary member. Other honours followed: an honorary doctorate from Dresden TU, a state prize, corresponding membership of the Czechoslovakian Academy of sciences, and numerous medals.
Main contributions to structural analysis:
Svařování (welding) [1947/1955]; Prvky ocelových konstrukcí (steel elements) [1951/1962]; Joints with Fillet Welds [1985]
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. 730
Bibliography
- (1948): Les aciers pour constructions soudées: nouvelles prescriptions tchécoslovaques. Presented at: Troisième Congrès de l'AIPC = Dritter Kongress der IVBH = Third Congress of IABSE, Liège, 13-18 Septembre 1948.
- (1956): Ausgezahnte Stahlbauten: Diskussion. Presented at: Fifth Congress of IABSE = Cinquième Congrès de l'AIPC = Fünfter Kongress der IVBH, Lisboa-Porto, 25 de Junho - 2 de Julho 1956.
- (1960): Beitrag zur Berechnung von Kehlnähten, die von Scher- und Normalkräften beansprucht werden. Presented at: Sixième Congrès de l'AIPC = Sixth Congress of IABSE = Sechster Kongress der IVBH, Stockholm, 27 juin-1er juillet 1960.
- (1961): Beitrag zur Berechnung von Kehlnähten, die von Scher- und Normalkräften beansprucht werden. Presented at: Sixième Congrès de l'AIPC = Sixth Congress of IABSE = Sechster Kongress der IVBH, Stockholm, 27 juin-1er juillet 1960.
- (1968): Beitrag zur Frage der Optimierung von Tragwerken. Presented at: Huitième Congrès de l'AIPC = Eighth Congress of IABSE = Achter Kongress der IVBH, New York, NY, USA, 9-14 September 1968.
Relevant Publications
- (2008): The History of the Theory of Structures. From Arch Analysis to Computational Mechanics. 1st edition, Wilhelm Ernst & Sohn Verlag für Architektur und technische Wissenschaften GmbH, Berlin (Germany), ISBN 978-3-433-01838-5, pp. 730.
- (2018): The History of the Theory of Structures. Searching for Equilibrium. 2nd edition, Wilhelm Ernst & Sohn Verlag für technische Wissenschaften, Berlin (Germany), ISBN 978-3-433-03229-9, pp. 995.
- About this
data sheet - Person-ID
1009769 - Published on:
02/07/2013 - Last updated on:
22/07/2014
