Aeroplastic model of pier P2 of the Millau Viaduct

Designed by the engineer Michel Virlogeux and the architect Lord Norman Foster, the Millau Viaduct is a spectacular feat of civil engineering. A crucial link in the north-south crossing of the Massif Central, it was the last section of the Clermont-Ferrand-Béziers motorway to be completed. Crossing the Tarn Valley between the Larzac plateau and the Causse Rouge, it required major preparatory work and a host of preliminary studies. This experimental model was made by the French building industry’s scientific and technical centre to carry out aerodynamic tests. The vibrations produced by the emitter at the base of P2, the tallest of the viaduct’s piers (343 metres high), enabled the laboratory to analyse the viaduct’s behaviour in gale force winds.