Strain analysis for pre-cast voussoirs in arched bridges

Abstract

It is a fact that masonry and concrete arch bridges are not built with a certain regularity any more. However it is important that the existing bridges and the future arched bridges are assessed with suitable equipment and know how. The aim of this dissertation is to consider masonry or concrete arch bridges which when subject to certain loading conditions will show predisposition to a mechanism failure. To help out in this purpose, strain gauges were employed to read the strain values. In this dissertation no destructive testing was carried out. Thus to recreate the point of failure one had to resort to the computer program Ring. Uni-Axial testing was needed to find out the compressive strength of the concrete in the arch bridge. The latter compressive strength was inputed in the Ring software program and gave a more accurate version of the failure mode. Two arch bridges were analysed: the Lion Road Bridge in Qormi and the Prince of Wales Bridge in Sliema. Uni-axial, Strain and Ring software testing were carried out on the Lion Road Bridge while only Ring software testing was carried out on the Prince of Wales Bridge.