Assessing safety of a railway stone arch bridge by experimental and numerical analyses

Bridge response to predefined loading schemes is described and recorded by instrumenting the structure with deflectometers and accelerometers. Test results suggest that although vertical deflections of mid-spans are almost constant for all crossing speeds, the root mean square of acceleration values are positively correlated with the crossing speed. Field test results are then used to calibrate and verify the 3D finite element model of the bridge, and the latter is employed to assess behaviour of the structure at the serviceability limit state.