Assessment of masonry arch bridges

Abstract

This paper is about the assessment of masonry arch bridges in the Netherlands. A large part of the public road network in old city centres is still formed by masonry arch bridges. The general question of the local authorities is “can masonry arch bridges withstand motorised traffic including busses and occasionally heavy trucks?” Nonlinear finite element analysis in PLAXIS is applied for the assessment of the failure behaviour of the structure and its limits related to cracking and failure loading. A proof-loading of a real bridge increased the reliability of the calculation methodology. To assess a large group of single span masonry arch bridges, suggestions for a risk-based approach are made.