The development of the Von Mises, Monocontentio and Bicontentio prototypes consists of applying a particular design philosophy used by Mario Guisasola in multiple bridges that can now be systematically implemented by other professionals.

Mario Guisasola’s design philosophy, synthesized in his doctoral thesis ‘Development of New Parametrized Shapes for Efficient and Elegant Footbridges’ is built on five basic fundamentals: integration in the geometry of the terrain, permanent search for simplicity, silhouettes that emerge from the structural behavior, unitary shapes and enduring details.

Structural efficiency is obtained by using shapes that emerge from the beam’s structural behavior, implementing the graphs that interpret such behavior as structural silhouettes.

An elevation that is based on the bending stress diagram enables to optimize steel, using reduced depth sections at minimum bending stress zones. At the most loaded zones, the stress value remains constant in wide steel plate surfaces. As a result, very dynamic and sleek elevations with a great sense of slenderness are achieved.

The typology implemented for all prototypes corresponds to a twin-girder steel bridge composed of two main box girders connected by transverse floor beams on which a deck slab that will serve as the support of the pavement is concreted. Main girders can rest on two, three of four support axes, depending on whether the bridge is Von Mises, Monocontentio or Bicontentio.

The embedding is set by providing each abutment two support axes: one under compression and the other under tension. The support under tension corresponds to a double bolt joint that restraints vertical movements and allows horizontal movements. These geometrically basic elements are located inside abutments and are designed to remain hidden in the terrain.