counterfort

American  

[koun-ter-fawrt, -fohrt] / ˈkaʊn tərˌfɔrt, -ˌfoʊrt /

noun

1. a buttress, especially one for strengthening a basement wall against the pressure of earth.

2. a cantilevered weight, as in a retaining wall, having the form of a pier built on the side of the material to be retained.

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counterfort British  

/ ˈkaʊntəˌfɔːt /

noun

1. civil engineering a strengthening buttress at right angles to a retaining wall, bonded to it to prevent overturning or to increase its bending strength

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Etymology

Origin of counterfort

1580–90; partial translation of Middle French contrefort, equivalent to contre counter- + fort strength (derivative of fort (adj.) strong)

Example Sentences

In a counterfort, the inclined rods are sufficient to take the overturning stress.

From Some Mooted Questions in Reinforced Concrete Design American Society of Civil Engineers, Transactions, Paper No. 1169, Volume LXX, Dec. 1910 by Godfrey, Edward

The manifest and only function of the rib or counterfort is to tie together the curtain wall and the horizontal slab.

From Some Mooted Questions in Reinforced Concrete Design American Society of Civil Engineers, Transactions, Paper No. 1169, Volume LXX, Dec. 1910 by Godfrey, Edward

Mr. Mensch states that "it would take up too much time to prove that the counterfort acts really as a beam."

From Some Mooted Questions in Reinforced Concrete Design American Society of Civil Engineers, Transactions, Paper No. 1169, Volume LXX, Dec. 1910 by Godfrey, Edward

Thus when an arch is built to bear against an upright wall, a buttress or other counterfort is applied in a direction opposed to the pressure of the arch.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3 "Brescia" to "Bulgaria" by Various

These rods are the vertical and horizontal rods in the counterfort of the retaining wall shown at a, in Fig.

From Some Mooted Questions in Reinforced Concrete Design American Society of Civil Engineers, Transactions, Paper No. 1169, Volume LXX, Dec. 1910 by Godfrey, Edward