Rescue of a stone bridge with respect to current condition and standards

Abstract

A three span stone masonry bridge dating back to the middle of the 19th century, still in the roadway network, is assessed to prevent its demolition. Its industrial heritage value and ecological concerns were the principal reasons for the assessment. The carbon footprint of the stone arch replacement would be approximately 200 t CO₂ emission owing to 430 m³ reinforced concrete in the new structure. Besides the cultural monument, considerable energy, CO₂ emissions and natural resources can be saved in accordance with the sustainable development goals. Standards, guides and commercial software do not provide an adequate support for the assessment of masonry arch bridges, therefore an innovative two phase application of a commercial linear sttructural analysis code and an original in-house code was developed for the purpose. Thousands of stone ach bridges still in service worlwide give the case study more general importance.