The Structural Behavior of Bridge Arches Under Collapse Load

Abstract

Many of the bridges designed by Mimar Sinan, the leading architect of the Classical Ottoman Period, has continued to exist today thanks to their materials and construction techniques. The reason that arch forms are generally preferred on these bridges is that they are constructed from natural materials with low tensile strength. In the study, 10 bridges and 48 arches in these bridges designed by Mimar Sinan were analysed statistically. Depending on this analysis, 25 arches with varying lengths and heights were modeled by finite element method. For these arches; hinge conditions, collapse loads, maximum displacements, ductility and energy dissipation capacities were examined and regression analyses were performed. Equations have been proposed which gives maximum displacement and collapse load for examined arches.