MATHEMATICAL MODELING AND FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF MASONRY ARCH BRIDGES

ABSTRACT Historical structures, which constitute a very important part of our cultural heritage, should be well protected. Full comprehension of the structural behavior of historical structures is of prior importance for their protection. Due to the typical arch behavior, which is easily figured out, masonry arch bridges are the most suitable structures to be studied in the analysis methods that would be developed for masonry structures. The most appropriate analysis method for the masonry structures of brick and/or stone is the finite element analysis. For an accurate structural analysis, the model should be exactly defined. In this study, mathematical modeling techniques on a prototype model of a common arch bridge under different loading conditions are studied. Key Words: Masonry arch bridges, Mathematical modeling, Finite Element Analysis