Author

ASUNCION MORALES HORTELANO and TERESA GONZALEZ LIMON Central Laboratory of Structures and Materials. CEDEX

Abstract

In this paper, the influence of the deformations of a masonry arch bridge’s vaults in the obtaining of the line of thrust and the ultimate point load through limit analysis is analysed.
Five cases of real bridges with two different types of geometry were used; first considering the deformed real geometry, and second the ideal geometry, that is to say the probable geometry at the time of construction. In the first type, the point load is considered acting on the front or the back, and consideration is given to the different geometry of the two longitudinal elevations.
The influence of the employment of the more approximate ideal geometry of the arches (the more frequent situation) as opposed to the exact geometry is analysed.