Flying buttress
Flying buttress
!Arching above a [side aisle roof, flying buttresses support the main vault) of St. Mary's Church, in Lübeck, Germany.](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/79/L%C3%BCbeckMarienkircheStrebeb%C3%B6gen.jpg/330px-L%C3%BCbeckMarienkircheStrebeb%C3%B6gen.jpg)
Flying buttress
The flying buttress (arc-boutant, arch buttress) is a specific form of buttress composed of a ramping arch that extends from the upper portion of a wall to a pier of great mass, to convey to the ground the lateral forces that push a wall outwards, which are forces that arise from vaulted) ceilings of stone and from wind-loading on roofs.
Flying buttress
The namesake and defining feature of a flying buttress is that it is not in contact with the wall at ground level, unlike a traditional buttress, and transmits the lateral forces across the span of intervening space between the wall and the pier. To provide lateral support, flying-buttress systems are composed of two parts: (i) a massive pier), a vertical block of masonry situated away from the building wall, and (ii) an arch that bridges the span between the pier and the wall – either a segmental arch or a quadrant arch – the flyer of the flying buttress.
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