CONTRIBUTION OF D.I. ZHURAVSKY AND S.V. KERBEDZ TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF BRIDGE DESIGNS AND CALCULATION METHODS IN RUSSIA

Abstract

The article presents the contribution of two outstanding Russian engineers Stanislav Valerianovich Kerbedz and Dmitry Ivanovich Zhuravsky to the development of the national school of bridge construction. (Research purpose) The research purpose is revealing the personality features of two outstanding Russian engineers S.V. Kerbedz and D.I. Zhuravsky, the general and higher engineering education they received, which allowed them to become the founders of the application of scientific methods to the calculation of bridges and bridge structures. (Materials and methods) We carried out a historical and scientific study, in which the authors relied on scientific articles by S.V. Kerbedza and D.I.Zhuravsky, archival materials, published information about the development of the Institute of the Corps of Railway Engineers, biographical information. (Results and discussion) They noted the great role of the high level of teaching at the Institute of the Corps of Railway Engineers in the formation of bridge scientists. In one of the first textbooks of the Institute in Russian, S.V. Kerbedz published his four scientific works, including "A note to the drawings of the Stone Bridge", which can be considered the first historical and technical research on bridge construction in Russia. Showed that D.I. Zhuravsky first developed a general method for calculating bridge trusses with parallel belts, which are commonly called Gau-Zhuravsky trusses, analyzed the effect of tangential stresses in the beam during its bending, which allowed us to derive a formula for determining these stresses. The main achievements of S.V. Kerbedz related to the design and construction of bridges across large rivers in the Russian Empire were revealed. The designs of superstructures in the form of iron lattice trusses used by Kerbedz were recognized worldwide as the most perfect. (Conclusions) We determined the features of higher engineering education in Russia during its inception, which allowed graduates of the Institute of the Corps of Railway Engineers S.V. Kerbedz and D.I. Zhuravsky to become the first scientists to apply and develop scientific methods for calculating bridges and bridge structures in Russia.