Forces – Stone Arch Bridges

Capping Stone Walls

The stones atop of a stone wall are fairly easily dislodged, especially for mortarless builds. Here are some ideas to help keep everything in place.

Here are several ways to strengthen a stone arch bridge, ranging from distributing loads over the arch to relieving the bridge from load altogether.

To determine how to strengthen a stone arch bridge, it helps to understand how it behaves when overloaded in order to understand the forces at play.

Mortarless stone retaining walls have to resist the perpetual thrust of the soil they are withholding. Here are several ways this can be done.

Mortarless stone arch bridges need extra care to ensure they are not overwhelmed by foliage and that friction between stones remains high.

A key concern when maintaining a mortarless stone arch bridges is how stones can be worked loose by vibration. There are ways to prevent this.

Stone arch bridges must have substantial and properly designed abutments in order to resist the enormous thrust of the arch without yielding.

Using solid backing material behind the arch of a stone arch bridge is a sure way to increase the structure’s durability.

Basket-handle arches have some unique, beneficial characteristics as well as some serious weaknesses as a result of their unusual shape.

Do to how weight is loaded onto the arch of a stone arch bridge, long individual spans present an intriguing and difficult challenge.