Exploiting the resilience of masonry arch bridge infrastructure: a 3D multi-level modelling framework

砖石拱桥仍然是英国交通基础设施的支柱；英国铁路和区域公路网上近50%的桥梁跨度是砖石结构。然而，一些突出的故障表明，我们可能正处于一个临界点--由结构日益老化的完美风暴、新的交通负载需求、气候变化效应将结构推向新的极限以及严格限制维护预算而引发的。为了应对未来充满挑战的时代，有必要对真实桥梁的行为有更多的了解，超越传统的2D理想化，并确定桥梁在循环荷载下能够自动愈合的程度。这一点很重要，因为目前，面对受损桥梁的桥梁工程师根本没有做出知情评估决定所需的工具，即使实际上可以以相对较低的成本修复结构，也可能不必要地加固或拆除结构。其目标是为负责桥梁管理的人员提供一套强大的分析建模工具和一个坚固的多层次框架，能够应用于当今在役的各种砖石拱桥(即未损坏、损坏和修复的)。为实现这一目标，组建了一支经验丰富、专业知识互补的研究小组。将使用中型和大型实验测试来开发和验证不同复杂程度的分析工具，具有高水平、高保真的模型，能够模拟实际的砌体粘结和材料响应，用于校准适合快速实用评估的新的中级和低级工具。

Masonry arch bridges still form the backbone of the UK's transport infrastructure; approaching 50% of bridge spans on the UK rail and regional highway networks are masonry. However, a number of prominent failures suggest we may be at a tipping point - brought about by a perfect storm of the increasing age of the structures, new traffic loading demands, climate change effects pushing structures to new limits and severely restricted maintenance budgets. To respond to the challenging times ahead there is a need to develop a much greater understanding of how real bridges behave, moving beyond traditional 2D idealisations and identifying the extent to which bridges are capable of 'autogenously healing' under cycling loading. This is important as, currently, bridge engineers faced with a damaged bridge simply do not have the tools needed to make informed assessment decisions, and may needlessly strengthen or demolish a structure even if it could, in reality, be repaired at comparatively modest cost. The goal is to provide those responsible for the management of bridges with a powerful suite of analysis modelling tools and a robust overarching multi-level framework capable of being applied to the diverse population of masonry arch bridges in-service today (i.e. undamaged, damaged and repaired). To achieve this a team of experienced researchers with complementary expertise has been assembled. Medium and large-scale experimental tests will be used to develop and validate analysis tools of different levels of sophistication, with high-level, high-fidelity models, capable of simulating the actual masonry bond and material response, used to calibrate novel intermediate-level and lower-level tools suitable for rapid practical assessment.