Adrian Long

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Adrian Long
Born
Dungannon, County Tyrone
NationalityBritish
OccupationEngineer
Engineering career
DisciplineCivil, structural
InstitutionsInstitution of Civil Engineers (president)
Significant designFlexiArch
AwardsICE Gold Medal

Adrian Long OBE is a British civil engineer. A professor at Queen's University Belfast, he has a particular interest in concrete structures and has patented FlexiArch, a pre-cast concrete arch product. He served as president of the Institution of Civil Engineers for 2002-03, the first Northern Irish engineer to do so.

Biography[]

Adrian Long was born in Dungannon, County Tyrone in Northern Ireland.[1] He states that he comes from a carpentry and blacksmithing background and has a degree in civil engineering.[2] Long became a professor of civil engineering at Queen's University Belfast (QUB) in 1976.[3] His work has largely been in the field of concrete structures; particularly in chloride resistance, maintenance problems and arch bridge structures.[4] Long has published 20 papers in journals managed by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and has won eight of the institution's medals for these, including the ICE Gold Medal.[5]

By 2002 Long was appointed dean of the faculty of engineering at QUB.[3] In November of that year he was appointed president of the ICE for the 2002-2003 session; the first Northern Irish person to hold that position.[3][6] Long is also a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and of the .[2]

Long was appointed an officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2006 New Year Honours for services to higher education and civil engineering.[7] He resigned as professor at QUB in 2006 but has remained since then as an emeritus professor in the School of Natural and Built Environment.[4][5] In 2015 the ICE Northern Ireland awards the Adrian Long medal to the best paper in an ICE journal to be authored by a Northern Ireland member. The medal features a bust of Long.[5]

FlexiArch[]

A FlexiArch bridge constructed adjacent to an existing structure in Soundwell, Gloucestershire

From 1997 Long worked on the FlexiArch, a pre-cast concrete arch in which the individual voussoirs are joined by a flexible polymeric membrane.[8][9] The arch arrives to site flat packed and when lifted into position by a crane the gaps between the voussoirs close under gravity and form the correct arch profile. Long patented the product, which is produced by Irish pre-cast manufacturer , in 2004.[9] The product can be constructed within a day and, containing no corrodable elements, has been stated to have a design lifespan of 300 years.[9] More than 50 FlexiArch bridges have been constructed in the UK and Ireland and spans up to 30m are possible.[8]

References[]

  1. ^ Masterton, Gordon (2005), ICE Presidential Address, archived from the original on 3 January 2011, retrieved 3 February 2020
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b "Annual Dinner & Conference Proceedings 2015". ARCHES - Attractive Alternatives. Concrete Bridge Development Group. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c "NEWS IN BRIEF: Professor Adrian Long". New Civil Engineer. 10 January 2002. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b "Adrian Long". Queen's University Belfast. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c McKibbin, Lilly (12 July 2015). "Professor Long medal encourages Northern Ireland experts to share their knowledge". Institution of Civil Engineers. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  6. ^ "Humanitarian needs highlighted". The Irish Times. 11 April 2003. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  7. ^ "No. 57855". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2005. p. 11.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b Crawford, Mark (6 August 2015). "A Precast Masonry Arch Bridge that Lasts Centuries". American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b c "The Longest Flat-Packed Bridge". Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining. Materials World magazine. 1 March 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2020.


Professional and academic associations
Preceded by
Mark Whitby 		President of the Institution of Civil Engineers
November 2002 – November 2003 		Succeeded by
Douglas Oakervee
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