Description
Many historic masonry arch bridges within the road and railway systems across Europe and the United Kingdom remain operational despite exhibiting structural deficiencies. In the United Kingdom alone, there are more than 70,000 masonry arch spans have undergone design modifications and load adjustments over the years. These modifications typically entail incorporating new materials and bearing elements, with compliance to modern standards being rare. Such circumstances lead to limited understanding of these structures, impacting the accuracy of the bridge capacity assessments. This study is dedicated to the examination of a composite bridge composed of two spans with limited accessibility, located in Waverley Abbey, Surrey. The research delves into two primary aspects: firstly, the diagnostic phase involving in-situ non-destructive methods such as Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and more intrusive techniques like slit trenches. The second phase entails a numerical assessment using a three-dimensional Finite Element model and kinematic static analysis. To improve the structural reliability, a conventional rehabilitation method is assessed numerically. This involves reinforcing the intrados of the arch and the bridge piles using repointing and jacketing, respectively. As the Waverley bridge serves as a representative example of the numerous structures predominantly found in the Surrey region, this investigation can be extended to include bridges sharing similar material, geometry, and shapes.
