Design of stone masonry bridges in European treatises: part 1 – geometrical configuration

Stone and brick masonry bridges represent a significant portion of existing in-service bridges in Europe. A thorough understanding of their design and construction is essential to appropriately assessing, maintaining, rehabilitating and preserving these valuable structures. Unfortunately, the relevant literature is fragmented and incomplete, leaving masonry bridges orphaned of doctrine and of treatment in modern codes. Based on a comprehensive review of some European treatises, especially Spanish and French ones, published in the sixteenth through to the nineteenth centuries, this paper begins to mend the knowledge gap by summarising the configuration of geometrical bridges and the materials employed in their construction. Moreover, the initial steps of the design are illustrated, as an introduction for the second part of this two-part publication, relating to the construction process of masonry bridges.