After the success of the Masonry Arch Bridges Workshop organised at the initiation of the PoSE-Group by UIC at the Fundación de los Ferrocariles Españoles (Spanish Railways Foundation, FFE) in Madrid in June, UIC will organise a second Masonry Arch Bridges Workshop at the Mansion House in Bristol from 18 – 19 October 2018.

The up-to-date programme, practical information and registration form can be found at: https://events.uic.org/workshops-on-masonry-arch-bridges

Assessment of Masonry Arch Bridges
Railways in Europe possess more than 200,000 masonry arch bridges and culverts on their lines which represent almost 50% of their total bridge stock with an inestimable asset value.

Many of them have reached the end of their theoretical service lives when judged against current codes.

The replacement of these old structures is experiencing difficulties due to economic reasons and the fact that many of them belong to the civil engineering heritage of the railways.

Good solutions are therefore needed in optimised management and maintenance strategies and better assessing of the bridge stock.

UIC has conducted the Masonry Arch Bridges project to respond to these requirements. The principal objective of the workshop is to present the results, i.e.:

• Development of an assessment framework that enables bridge owners to determine the safe working load and residual life of Masonry Arch Bridges
• Development of tools for a predictive Life Cycle Management and Maintenance Planning of Masonry Arch Bridges
• Best practices, case studies and new developments regarding maintenance and repair of Masonry Arch Bridges

The results of the project are of interest to railway infrastructure owners, asset managers, bridge engineers responsible for the inspection, assessment or repair of masonry arch bridges as well as for contractors involved in masonry arch bridge projects.

This workshop will be free for UIC members and will cost 200€ for non UIC members.

Speakers:

• Dr Adrienn Tomor, University of West of England, UK, Senior Lecturer
• Dr José Antonio Martín-Caro, INES Consultores, Spain, General Director, Chief Engineer
• Dr Niamh Gibbons, University of Cambridge, UK
• Prof Matthew Gilbert, University of Sheffield, UK, Full Professor
• Prof William Harvey, Bill Harvey Associates, UK, Full Professor
• Dr Zoltán Orbán, University of Pécs, Hungary, Associate Professor

Schedule of the workshop:

18 October: 10.30-17.00
10.30 – 10.50: Welcome and introduction
10.50 – 11.10: General information on the UIC Masonry Arch Bridges project
11.10 – 11.50: Behaviour, inspection and assessment of masonry arch bridges
13.00 – 14.40: Inspection and testing for assessment
15:10 – 17.00: Analysis tools for assessment

18 October: 08.30 – 13.30
08.30 – 10.30: Serviceability, permissible load, life expectancy
10.45 – 11.30: Maintenance and repair
11.30 – 13.30: Case studies, new developments and discussions
Link to the full programme: https://events.uic.org/workshop-on-masonry-arch-bridges#Assessment-of-Masonry-Arch-Bridges