Dillinger heavy plate for the
Passerelle Simone-de-Beauvoir

The thirty-seventh bridge over the Seine in Paris is named in honor of author Simone de Beauvoir, but has quickly become better known to Parisians as la lentille – the lentil. This nickname aptly characterizes the bridge’s unusual geometry; the center span crosses the river without external support, taking the form of a combined suspension and arch structure. The heavy plate needed, in thicknesses of up to 200 mm, and with improved deformation properties perpendicular to the surface for thicknesses up to 150 mm, was supplied by Dillinger Hütte. The design of the 106 meter long “lentil” meant that it could only be completely prefabricated as a single unit in a special steel fabricator’s workshop and then transported to its final location. The fabrication shop was situated far from Paris in the province of Alsace, in eastern France, however. The structure therefore needed to be as slender as possible, to facilitate the long journey to the bridge’s ultimate destination. All went well – in late 2005, the “lentil” traveled down the Rhine to the North Sea and then traversed the English Channel, to reach Le Havre, where it began its voyage up the Seine. It was installed directly from its delivery ship in Paris on January 28, 2006.