Marco Polo describes a bridge, stone by stone. “But which is the stone that supports the bridge?” Kublai Khan asks. “The bridge is not supported by one stone or another,” Marco answers, “but by the line of the arch that they form.” Kublai Khan remains silent, reflecting. Then he adds: “Why do you speak to me of the stones? It is only the arch that matters to me.” Polo answers: “Without stones, ...

Progressive collapses of arch bridges have repeatedly occurred in recent years, resulting in many casualties and significant property losses. Based on an actual recent and serious progressive collapse of a stone arch bridge, this paper simulated the complete progressive-collapse process using the general purpose finite element (FE) program, MSC.Marc. The simulation adopted a 3D FE model and per...

The aim of this work is to design and optimize a 2D Arch Bridge with reliability based optimization concept that is commonly used in transportation. After the arch bridge is modeled according to its original layout, the formulation of reliability-based optimization and other optimization techniques used in the work are presented. Then the bridge is optimized using various optimization methods u...

The typical diseases of stone arch bridge in the Three Gorges Reservoir area are summarized through the investigation, and four kinds of typical diseases of stone arch bridges are investigated and evaluated by spatial finite element software. Based on these investigations, the limited value index of the security and the identification technology of the four typical diseases of the bridge are ob...

Abstract—The seismic response of special-shaped arch bridge was different from conventional arch bridge with obviously spatial coupling effect, researched the spatial seismic behavior of Tongtai bridge which in Zhangjiakou by finite element theory, analyzed the effect of seismic response peak on this bridge under longitudinal, horizontal and vertical three directions seismic wave propagation, p...

This paper presents a stability investigation of a special-shape arch bridge with a span of 180 m. Its structure and mechanics are significantly different from normal arch bridges because of its single arch rib skewing across the girder, its hangers hanging unevenly along the arch rib with different aslant angle, and its arch rib being subjected to massive axial compression force, bending momen...

Abstract The wide range of survey of road dangerous existing stone arch bridge in service in Three Gorges reservoir area, reveals that there has been a wide range of diseases, which seriously affected the safety of their use. A wide range of diseases, from different angles, respectively, to varying degrees, affected the performance of the stone arch bridge. In this paper, multi-level fuzzy synt...

Structural health monitoring (SHM) technology for surveillance and evaluation of existing and newly built long-span bridges has been widely developed, and the significance of the technique has been recognized by many administrative authorities. The paper reviews the recent progress of the SHM technology that has been applied to long-span bridges. The deployment of a SHM system is introduced. Su...