The three-dimensional flow of force in a damaged, skewed masonry arch railway bridge – Insights from fibre Bragg rosettes, videogrammetry, and modelling

Abstract

Masonry arch bridges are common, especially in the UK and Europe, but interpretation of their structural behaviour can be challenging and is often complicated by histories of damage over their long working lives. Assessing the performance of repair works at these bridges is vital, to provide confidence in their continued use. This paper presents novel applications of fibre-optic sensing and videogrammetry to measure and visualise the three-dimensional, dynamic structural response of a skewed masonry arch railway bridge in unprecedented detail. In particular, fibre-optic strain rosettes are used to map the distributions of principal strains, and hence force flow, throughout the arch, while videogrammetry reveals a secondary load path in the form of transverse arch bending. Monitoring results are then combined with simplified analytical models of this transverse bending, to study the effectiveness of intervention works aimed at restoring structural connectivity between the arch and its spandrel walls.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2025.120298
Divisions: College of Engineering & Physical Sciences > School of Infrastructure and Sustainable Engineering > Civil Engineering
College of Engineering & Physical Sciences
Aston University (General)
Funding Information: The monitoring project described in this paper was funded by Network Rail. This research formed part of a PhD, funded by an EPSRC Doctoral Training Partnership (Grant Number EP/M506485/1). The monitoring installation was performed with assistance from CSI
Additional Information: Copyright © 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ).
Uncontrolled Keywords: Masonry arch bridge,Skewed arch,Structural Health Monitoring,Fibre Bragg gratings,Fibre-Optic Sensing,Videogrammetry
Publication ISSN: 1873-7323
Last Modified: 05 May 2025 16:01
Date Deposited: 24 Apr 2025 09:21
Full Text Link:
Related URLs: https://www.sci ... 141029625006893 (Publisher URL)
http://www.scop ... tnerID=8YFLogxK (Scopus URL)
PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2025-07-15
Published Online Date: 2025-04-18
Accepted Date: 2025-04-09
Authors: Cocking, Sam
Alexakis, Haris (ORCID Profile 0000-0002-6588-2070)
DeJong, Matthew

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License: Creative Commons Attribution


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