Adrian Long

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.

Adrian Long
Born	Dungannon, County Tyrone
Nationality	British
Occupation	Engineer
Engineering career
Discipline	Civil, structural
Institutions	Institution of Civil Engineers (president)
Significant design	FlexiArch
Awards	ICE Gold Medal

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 Institute for the Advancement of Engineering.[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 Macrete, 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. "Annual Dinner & Conference Proceedings 2015". ARCHES - Attractive Alternatives. Concrete Bridge Development Group. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
3. "NEWS IN BRIEF: Professor Adrian Long". New Civil Engineer. 10 January 2002. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
4. "Adrian Long". Queen's University Belfast. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
5. 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. Crawford, Mark (6 August 2015). "A Precast Masonry Arch Bridge that Lasts Centuries". American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
9. "The Longest Flat-Packed Bridge". Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining. Materials World magazine. 1 March 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2020.