Concept of a beam prestressed by bending: Application to a footbridge in composite materials

This paper proposes the concept of a prestressed beam supported by a central cable. Due to the elastic energy stored in the beam, this cable is in tension and is able to act as a column. As long as the cable is in tension, it cannot buckle. Calculations show that composite materials are well suited for this concept. An example of a footbridge with three supports built with glass fiber reinforced polymer is shown and explained. Finally the construction of a full scale model is shown.