The Behaviour of Multiring Brickwork Arch Bridges

A considerable amount of work has recently been carried out to provide a scientific basis for the analysis of masonry arch bridges. However, thefidure modes of multiring brickwork arch bridges in particular will often be very diflerent to those corresponding to bridges containing a single ring of blocks; this is because the constituent rings will often separate, causing premature failure of the bridge. Most analysis techniques developed to date make the implicit assumption that shear failure between rings will not occur; it is demonstrated that these methods are inappropriate for the calculation of the strength of multiring brickwork arch bridges.

Professor C. Melbourne and M. Gilbert