| Abstract: | The first welded steel bridges in Germany – on the rocky beginnings of welding technology. Welding technology – and here primarily arc welding – began to be used about 80 years ago on bridges; first for repairing and strengthening them, and then increasingly, for building new ones. Initially, this new joining technology that had been used since before WWI in mechanical engineering, was met with skepticism on the part of building and code enforcement authorities, and hence, also by many in the building industry. Finally, in the early 1930's, welding technology started its explosive development in steel construction. This euphoric state was dampened a few years later due to several spectacular failures on bridges made of high‐quality construction steel. After comprehensive scientific studies were able to determine the causes of these failures, by the 1960's, welding finally established itself as the most important joining technology in steel bridge construction. |
