Geometric issues and ultimate load capacity of masonry arch bridges from the northwest Iberian Peninsula

This paper reports the results from a geometrical survey carried out on 59 segmental masonry arch bridges from Portugal and Spain, with a focus on the adjacent geographical areas of northern Portugal and north-western Spain. Historical empirical rules are briefly presented and further compared again...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Engineering structures 2010-12, Vol.32 (12), p.3955-3965
Main Authors: Oliveira, Daniel V., Lourenço, Paulo B., Lemos, Cláudia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Arch bridges
Arches
Assessments
Bridges
Bridges (structures)
Buildings. Public works
Collapse mechanism
Computation methods. Tables. Charts
Empirical rules
Exact sciences and technology
Legislation
Limit analysis
Masonry
Masonry arch bridges
Masonry bridges
Northwest
Physical properties
Structural analysis. Stresses
Ultimate load
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This paper reports the results from a geometrical survey carried out on 59 segmental masonry arch bridges from Portugal and Spain, with a focus on the adjacent geographical areas of northern Portugal and north-western Spain. Historical empirical rules are briefly presented and further compared against the bridges’ geometrical data. Departing from a detailed discussion of the geometrical results, eight reference bridges were defined as representative of the sample. Subsequently, the paper deals with a parametric assessment of the load-carrying capacity of the reference bridges and a discussion of results. It was found that arch thickness and physical properties of the fill are of paramount importance in terms of ultimate load-carrying capacity. Furthermore, the results indicate that the bridges from the sample are structurally safe with respect to applicable legislation.
ISSN:0141-0296
1873-7323
DOI:10.1016/j.engstruct.2010.09.006