Structural calculation of existing masonry arch bridges

Abstract

AbstractFor masonry bridges with small spans built before 1900, there are often no documents available since such bridges were often built from experience. Surveying is often restricted to the visible parts of the structure. Geometrical assistance in the form of drilling cores is only ever at points, which inevitably have to be interpolated. Large parts of these structures are in the ground (abutments, foundations) and are largely inaccessible for adequate geometrical recording. The constitutive laws for the existing masonry can only be described with reasonable effort through minimum values from regulations. The article describes a procedure with additions to the missing documents from experience to obtain statements about the load‐bearing capacity based on approximate models, which permit categorisation into decisive bridge classes based on the regulations for the structural analysis of existing road bridges and also enable usable results for the comparison between the result of categorisation and special load cases for heavy transport.