University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository Honors Theses and Capstones Student Scholarship Spring 2012 Arched Bridges Lily Beyer University of New Hampshire - Main Campus Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/honors Part of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons Recommended Citation Beyer, Lily, "Arched Bridges" (2012). Honors Theses and Capstones. 33. https://scholars.unh.edu/honors/33 This Senior Honors Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses and Capstones by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE CIVIL ENGINEERING Arched Bridges History and Analysis Lily Beyer 5/4/2012 An exploration of arched bridges design, construction, and analysis through history; with a case study of the Chesterfield Brattleboro Bridge. UNH Civil Engineering Arched Bridges Lily Beyer Contents Contents ..................................................................................................................................... i List of Figures ........................................................................................................................... ii Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter I: History of Arched Bridges ....................................................................................... 3 What is an Arch .................................................................................................................... 3 Arch Forms ........................................................................................................................... 7 Roman Arches ....................................................................................................................... 9 Middle Ages ........................................................................................................................ 11 Asian Bridges ...................................................................................................................... 14 Steel Arches ........................................................................................................................ 15 Reinforced Concrete ........................................................................................................... 18 Chapter II: Design of an Arch ................................................................................................. 27 Shape of the Arch................................................................................................................ 27 Arch Ribs ............................................................................................................................ 29 Behavior under load ............................................................................................................ 34 Construction ........................................................................................................................ 37 Chapter III: Analysis of an Arch ............................................................................................. 42 Three-pinned Arch Analysis ............................................................................................... 43 Two-pinned Arch Analysis ................................................................................................. 50 Influence Line to Reaction .................................................................................................. 58 Chapter IV: Chesterfield Brattleboro Bridge Analysis ........................................................... 59 History of the Bridge .......................................................................................................... 59 Analysis............................................................................................................................... 61 Dead Load ........................................................................................................................... 66 Live Load ............................................................................................................................ 71 Axial Force.......................................................................................................................... 73 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 75 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 77 i UNH Civil Engineering Arched Bridges Lily Beyer List of Figures Figure 1: Forces in an arch ........................................................................................................ 3 Figure 2: Arched beam.............................................................................................................. 4 Figure 3: Corbelled Arch .......................................................................................................... 4 Figure 4: Arch End Conditions ................................................................................................. 5 Figure 5: Steel hinge at the end of an arch at UNH’s Wittemore Center ................................. 6 Figure 6: Mike O'Callaghan - Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge ................................................... 6 Figure 7: Typical Barrel Arch ................................................................................................... 7 Figure 8: Arched Bridge, Westford MA ................................................................................... 7 Figure 9: Typical Arch-Deck Bridge ........................................................................................ 8 Figure 10: Robert Maillart's Bridge at Salginatobel ................................................................. 8 Figure 11: Typical Tied Arch Bridge........................................................................................ 9 Figure 12: Sydney Harbor Bridge ............................................................................................. 9 Figure 13: Pont du Gard Aqueduct ......................................................................................... 10 Figure 14: Ponte Rotto in Rome ............................................................................................. 11 Figure 15: Pont d'Avignon ...................................................................................................... 12 Figure 16: Section of a Gothic Cathedral ............................................................................... 13 Figure 17: Bridge at Neuilly by Perronet ................................................................................ 13 Figure 18: Zhaozhuo Bridge ................................................................................................... 15 Figure 19: Ironbridge .............................................................................................................. 16 Figure 20: Garabit Viaduct ..................................................................................................... 17 Figure 21: Västerbron (West Bridge) in Stockholm ............................................................... 18 Figure 22: Hennebique system for reinforced concrete .......................................................... 19 Figure 23: Stauffacher Bridge by Maillart ............................................................................. 20 Figure 24: Hollow Arch System by Maillart .......................................................................... 21 Figure 25: Tavanasa Bridge by Maillart ................................................................................. 22 Figure 26: Schwandbach Bridge ............................................................................................. 23 Figure 27: Tunkhannock Viaduct ........................................................................................... 24 Figure 28: Plougastel Bridge .................................................................................................. 25 Figure 29: Krk Island Bridges................................................................................................. 26 Figure 30: Hanging chain forming a catenary shape .............................................................. 28 Figure 31: Three types of arches, with varying rib thickness ................................................. 30 Figure 32: Maillart's bridge at Vessy - note the variation in rib depth ................................... 31 Figure 33: Pinned Abutment Connection for Truss Bridge .................................................... 32 Figure 34: Steel hinges in concrete arch ................................................................................. 32 Figure 35: Reinforced concrete hinge at springing of Salginatobel Bridge ............................ 33 ii UNH Civil Engineering Arched Bridges Lily Beyer Figure 36: Imperfectly fitted arches, resulting in pinned behavior ......................................... 34 Figure 37: Arch bending under unbalanced load .................................................................... 35 Figure 38: Actions of a deck stiffened