Freyssinet Test Arch

{{Short description|1909 concrete arch}}

{{Sources exist|date=July 2022}}

{{Infobox monument

| name =

| native_name = Arche d'essai Freyssinet

| image = File:Arche d'essai Freyssinet en 2022.jpg

| image_size =

| caption = The arch is largely buried and enclosed in vegetation

| location = Moulins, Allier France

| mapframe =

| designer = Eugène Freyssinet

| type = Arch

| material = Prestressed concrete

| length = {{convert|50|m}}

| width = {{convert|2.5|m}} (max)

| height = {{convert|2|m}}

| weight =

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| visitors_year =

| begin = 1909

| complete = 1909

| dedicated =

| open =

| restore =

| dismantled =

| dedicated_to = Strength test

| map_name =

| map_text =

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| map_relief =

| coordinates = {{coord|46.55597|3.33512|format=dms|type:landmark_region:FR|display=inline,title}}

| website =

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}}

The Freyssinet Test Arch (in French Arche d'essai Freyssinet) is a prestressed concrete arch built in 1909 in Moulins, Allier by Eugène Freyssinet. Its purpose was to test the resistance of this material to traction exerted on very flat and long-range arches.{{Base Mérimée|PA03000064}} Freyssinet wanted to validate this prestressed concrete technique which he had perfected before the construction of three road bridges over the Allier river which he was to undertake in the following years: the {{ill|Veurdre Bridge|fr|pont du Veurdre}}, the {{ill|Boutiron Bridge|fr|Pont Boutiron}} and the Châtel-de-Neuvre bridge. As the first testimony to this innovative technique, the arch has been registered as a Monument historique since October 2021 with Boutiron Bridge, the only existing original bridge of the three.