John R. Hillman

John Hillman, P.E. (born 1963) is an American structural engineer who invented the hybrid composite beam (HCB) and founded the HC Bridge Company. In 2010, he was recognized with the Award of Excellence from Engineering News-Record.

John R. Hillman
Born1963 (age 56–57)
Grand Forks, North Dakota
Alma materUniversity of Tennessee, Virginia Tech
Known forInvention of a hybrid composite beam
AwardsENR Award of Excellence
Scientific career
FieldsStructural engineering
InfluencesJean M. Muller

Education and career

Born in North Dakota and raised in east Tennessee,[1] Hillman received a bachelor's degree from the University of Tennessee in 1986[2] and a master's degree in civil engineering (MSCE) from Virginia Tech in 1990.[3] Hillman has worked at several well-known bridge companies including Figg & Muller (see Eugene Figg), Jean Muller International (see Jean M. Muller), and VSL. He is currently employed at Teng & Associates in Chicago.[2]

Development and design of the hybrid composite beam

At one point in his career, Hillman worked on developing fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) bridges. This led to his idea of the hybrid composite beam: combining a concrete and steel tied arch structure within an FRP box. A $320,000 grant from the Transportation Research Board's Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) program paid for the first HCB's to be constructed.(insert ENR ref tag) These beams were installed on a railroad test track (the Federal Railroad Administration's Facility for Accelerated Service Testing (FAST) loop at the Transportation Technology Center near Pueblo, Colorado). There the beams successfully supported a heavily-loaded train.

The hybrid composite beam is single structural element, a beam. It is constructed as a composite of three materials steel strands, concrete, and fiber reinforced polymer. The materials are arranged in a manner that the materials act as what would traditionally be separate structural elements. The concrete is in the shape of an arch and carries compressive load internal to the beam. The steel strands act as a tie for the arch and carry the tensile load internal to the beam. The FRP shell carries the shear and bending moment internal to the beam. This means that the beam acts structurally in a hybrid nature, somewhere between a tied-arch and a beam.

Awards and distinctions

Patents

See also
  • High Road Bridge - the world's first road bridge built using the hybrid composite beams

References
  1. "Bridge Engineer Wins ENR Award" (Flash video). Engineering News-Record. New York.
  2. Cho, Aileen (April 12, 2010). "Award of Excellence Winner 2010 John Hillman". Engineering News-Record. New York: McGraw-Hill. 264 (11): 34–41. ISSN 0891-9526. Archived from the original on April 12, 2010. Second page; archived from the original on April 24, 2010. Third page; archived from the original on April 24, 2010. Fourth page; archived from the original on April 24, 2010. Fifth page; archived from the original on April 24, 2010. Sixth page; archived from the original on April 24, 2010.
  3. Moen, Estela (January 19, 2010). "John R. Hillman (MSCE '90) recognized as ENR Top 25 Newsmaker of 2009". Virginia Tech Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Archived from the original on March 26, 2010.
  4. 2007 Invent Now Challenge, National Inventors Hall of Fame.
  5. 2007 Modern Marvel of the Year Announced Archived 2011-07-25 at the Wayback Machine, American Society of Civil Engineers.
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