Modes of failure of multi-ring masonry arches under fatigue loading

Multi-ring masonry arches represent a significant proportion of the UK bridge stock. More than 60% of those bridges are over 100 years old. Due to the constantly increasing weight of road and rail traffic their is increasing demand for better understanding of their life expectancy, capacity under cyclic loading and for identifying failure mechanisms. There have been a number of small and large-scale tests carried out on masonry arches but most of them have under static loading. There has been however very little work done on trying to identify their load capacity and behaviour under cyclic loading.

The present work reports a series of large-scale tests on multi-ring masonry arches subjected to cyclic loading, their modes of failure and associated cyclic load capacity. Considerations for an endurance limit for masonry arches have been presented.

While four-hinge mechanism is considered as the main form of failure under static loading, ring separation has been identified as the main form of failure under cyclic loading and also in certain cases under static loading. Some theoretical approaches describing the causes of failures have also been discussed.

• Background and Context

• Material Properties

• Test Results

• Shear Testing

• Modelling and Assessment Methods

• Conclusions

• Acknowledgements

• References