A comparison between the MEXE and Pippard's methods of assessing the load carrying capacity of masonry arch bridges

Wang, J; Haynes, BJ; Melbourne, C

Abstract

The Military Engineering eXperimental Establishment (MEXE) method is a long established system of masonry arch load carrying capacity assessment. It has been subject to review in recent years and some shortcomings have been identified. There is now growing consensus that the current version of MEXE overestimates the load carrying capacity of short span bridges, but for spans over 12m it becomes increasingly conservative. In this paper Pippard’s elastic method and the MEXE method are used to investigate the significance of factors such as fill cover, ring thickness and effective width of arch barrel, and their effect upon the load-carrying capacity predictions in short and long span arches. Conclusions are drawn which establish directions of new research and offer guidance to assessors of short and long span masonry arch bridges.

Citation

Wang, J., Haynes, B., & Melbourne, C. (2013). A comparison between the MEXE and Pippard's methods of assessing the load carrying capacity of masonry arch bridges

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Conference Name: ARCH '13. Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Arch Bridges
• Conference Location: Croatia
• Start Date: Oct 4, 2013
• End Date: Oct 6, 2013
• Publication Date: Oct 4, 2013
• Deposit Date: Oct 14, 2013
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 5, 2016
• Journal: ARCH '13. Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Arch Bridges. Trogir-Split, Croatia. October 4-6, 2013.
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 1
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 589-596
• Keywords: Masonry arch, assessment, MEXE, long span.
• Additional Information: Additional Information : ISBN 9789537621162; Event Type : Conference; References : [1] Highway Agency. 2001. Highway structures: Inspection and maintenance. Assessment. Assessment of highway bridges and structures. DMRB Volume 3 Section 4 Part 4 (BA 16/97). London: HMSO. [2] Highway Agency. 2001. Highway structures: Inspection and maintenance. Assessment. The Assessment of highway bridges and structures. DMRB Volume 3 Section 4 Part 3 (BD 21/01). London: HMSO. [3] McKibbins, L., Melbourne, C., Sawar, N. and Gaillard, C.S. 2006. Masonry arch bridges: condition appraisal and remedial treatment. CIRIA C656. [4] Harvey, W.J. 2007. Review of the Military Engineering Experimental Establishment (MEXE) method. Report to the International Union of Railways. Paris, UIC Project I/03/U/285. [5] Wang, J., Melbourne, C. 2010. Mechanics behind the MEXE method for masonry arch assessment, Journal of Engineering and Computational Mechanics, Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Vol. 163, EM3, 187-202 [6] Heyman, J. 1982. The masonry arch. Chichester: Ellis Horwood Limited. [7] Pippard, A.J.S., Tranter, E. and Chitty, L. 1936. The Mechanics of the Voussoir Arch, J. ICE, Vol. 4, 281-306. [8] Pippard, A.J.S. 1948. The approximate estimation of safe loads on masonry bridges, Civil Engineer in War, Vol. 1, 365-372.; Funders : University of Zagreb, Croatia;Fuzhou University, China;University of Venice, Italy