BELLIER

FRANCE (see also List of Individuals)

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21.7.1905 Paris/F - 11.6.1986 Garches/F

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Jean Bellier graduated from Ecole Polytechnique in 1928 and from Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées in 1930. He subsequently devoted all career to dam engineering. After having initiated with Société Hydroélectrique de la Cère during the time when the Saint-Etienne Cantalès Dam was erected, he joined shortly before World War II the Service of the Haute-Dordogne River then directed by Coyne. After Coyne had passed away, Bellier reorganized his office as the head of the technical affairs. Bellier developed various procedures of dam engineering relating to concrete technology and telemetry. He was awarded Officer of Légion d'Honneur.

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Bellier's name is associated with that of André Coyne (1891-1960), one of the most outstanding dam designer. The company was founded in 1947, with the two partners being responsible for a number of outstanding dam designs. These include on the one hand the Malpasset Dam in Southern France taken into service in the early 1950s, but failing in 1959 resulting in a large dam break wave that destroyed the city of Fréjus close to Nice, and leaving back some 300 fatalities. Malpasset Dam was the thinnest arch dam worldwide that failed due to geotechnical reasons. Kariba Dam located in Zambia was another scheme designed by Coyne et Bellier in the late 1950s. The arch dam on the Kariba River has a height of 129 m and a length of 579 m. Kariba supplies 1,320 MW of electricity to Zambia's copper belt and to Zimbabwe. The Kariba Lake is 280 km long and has a capacity storage of 180 km3. Kariba Dam had problems with a large scour hole that developed due to high speed jets of the spillway right from the beginning.

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_{Anonymous (1955). Jean Bellier, Ingénieur-Conseil, Bureau Coyne et Bellier, Paris. 5 ICOLD Congress Paris 1: 80. P}

_{Anonymous (1970). Jean Bellier. 10 ICOLD Congress Madrid: 142. P}

_{Bellier, C. (2004). Jean Bellier. Personal communication. P}

_{Bellier, J., Migny, D. (1948). Mesures extensometriques du barrage du Pas du Riot. 3 ICOLD Congress Stockholm Q9(R33): 1-7.}

_{Bellier, J. (1955). Barrage du Gage: Projet. Travaux 39(1): 62-64.}

_{Bellier, J. (1961). Le barrage de Kariba. Regards sur la France 5(14): 269-272. Bellier, J. (1967). Le barrage du Malpasset. Travaux 50(7): 363-383.}

_{Bellier, J. (1967). Barrages. Techniques de l'Ingénieur. Presses Universitaires de France: Paris. Bellier, J. (1982). Les barrages. PUF: Paris.}