Understanding masonry bridges: a historical perspective
Date & Time

21 November 2023
18:00 - 20:30 GMT

Location

Online and at The Alan Baxter Gallery, 75 Cowcross Street, London EC1M 6EL
View on Google Maps

Price

Free

Understanding masonry bridges: a historical perspective

Understanding masonry bridges: a historical perspective

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Author
Date published
Price
Lecture
Date & Time

21 November 2023
18:00 - 20:30 GMT

Location

Online and at The Alan Baxter Gallery, 75 Cowcross Street, London EC1M 6EL
View on Google Maps

Price

Free

The sixth of the History Study Group's autumn lecture series, celebrating it's 50th anniversary, will explore, 350 years after Hooke, why are masonry bridges still an unsolved problem.

After millennia of construction and use, masonry bridges are remarkably poorly understood. A robust treatment of the masonry arch at collapse is well established, but the behaviour of masonry bridges and viaducts – of which the arch is just one part – is another matter.

This talk will survey the development of a structural understanding of arch behaviour and how little that influenced the practice of masonry bridge and viaduct construction. It will consider the lacunae that remain in our knowledge, and the challenges these create for those now caring for these valuable and much-loved structures.
 

Reasons to attend

  • Learn how modern structural understanding of arching behaviour developed and how little it influenced practice

  • Gain an appreciation of the limitations of analysis in dealing with masonry bridges and viaducts

  • Consider how we can deal with the unavoidable uncertainties, without looking for "magic bullet" solutions

Intended for

The lecture is open to anyone and may be of particular interest to:

  • Engineers involved in assessing and caring for, or designing masonry bridges, viaducts, and other arching structures

  • Anyone interested in the history and future of these delightful structures (first year engineering mechanics will be helpful)

Speaker

Hamish Harvey Director, Bill Harvey Associates and Obvis

Hamish develops and supports the Archie-M masonry bridge assessment software through Obvis Ltd, and provides consultancy, including bespoke thrust analysis tools, through Bill Harvey Associates Ltd. Masonry bridges have pervaded Hamish’s life since childhood. Holidays included at least one detour to a bridge (his own son now suffers the same). His introduction to computing was a glowing green arch and thrust line drawn on the screen of an early personal computer. After all that, he avoided masonry bridges in his early career, but quickly succumbed to their fascination on joining Bill Harvey Associates.

Location

Contact

Email - [email protected]

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