- The Exploiting the Resilience of Masonry Arch Bridge Infrastructure (ERMABI) project, led by the University of Sheffield, is a collaborative project that also involves Imperial College London and the University of Leeds, together with 15 partners from industry.
- A two-day workshop on masonry arch bridges was held on 5-6 September 2023 at Imperial College London.
- The workshop brought together practitioners and researchers involved in the assessment and/or design of masonry arch bridges.
The “Exploiting the Resilience of Masonry Arch Bridge Infrastructure (ERMABI)” workshop was sponsored by the ERMABI EPSRC Project, which focuses on developing a deeper understanding of the behaviour of masonry arch bridges – which, despite their age, continue to form the backbone of railway and regional highway networks of the UK and many other countries worldwide. The ERMABI project, led by the University of Sheffield, is a collaborative project that also involves Imperial College London and the University of Leeds, together with 15 partners from industry.
The ERMABI workshop was designed to bring together practitioners and researchers involved in the assessment and/or design of masonry arch bridges. Workshop presentations were made by both invited external speakers from industry and academia, and by members of the ERMABI academic project team.
The ERMABI Workshop provided a really valuable opportunity to bring together researchers and practitioners with an interest in masonry arch bridges. Almost half the bridge spans in the UK are masonry, yet their behaviour remains quite poorly understood. We had inspiring presentations and really fruitful discussions across the two days, with around 70 attendees from the UK and overseas. It was great to hear about key issues in the field, and also potential solutions
Professor Matthew Gilbert
Professor of Civil Engineering, ICAIR Director & Principal Investigator of the EPSRC funded ERMABI project
Day one
On day one the focus was on state-of-the-art practice, encompassing recent changes to assessment codes, how outcomes from research can inform assessment practice, and how masonry arches can be incorporated in low-carbon bridge designs.
Jon Shave (WSP), who led the drafting of the National Highways code for bridge assessment (CS454), outlined how the code was developed, and explained that the aim was to revise it regularly in the light of research findings. This had meant that the new permissible limit state (PLS) assessment method described in the recently published CIRIA C800 guidance on the assessment of masonry arch bridges was added as a permitted approach in the latest revision. Brian Duguid (Net Zero Bridges Group) later delivered an inspiring talk on how we as engineers have a pivotal role to play in tackling the climate emergency.
Presentations were also delivered by workshop co-organizers Professor Matthew Gilbert and Professor Lorenzo Macorini (Imperial College London), who provided respectively a general overview of the ERMABI EPSRC Project, and an explanation of how detailed numerical models are being used to inform an updated multi-level assessment framework for masonry arch bridges.
The day’s formal business was rounded off by a thought-provoking panel discussion on ‘identifying key industry needs’, chaired by Vasilis Sarhosis of the University of Leeds, with panellists Brian Duguid, Bob Humphreys (CSS Wales) and Kafui Klutse (Network Rail).
Day two
On day two the focus was on future research directions, with the emphasis being on cutting-edge developments in modelling and monitoring techniques for masonry arch bridges.
Invited talks were made by Enrico Tubaldi (University of Strathclyde), who described his research on the undermining of bridge supports by scour, one of the most common causes of bridge failure. Sinan Acikgoz (University of Oxford) then described novel methods of identifying damage in arch bridges whilst Ivo Caliò (University of Catania, Italy) described the numerical analysis method he has pioneered for masonry structures, which is now in use by bridge assessment engineers in Italy.
Presentations were also delivered by EPSRC ERMABI Project members Professor Colin Smith & Dr Serena Amodio (University of Sheffield), who described a programme of laboratory tests on medium-scale masonry arch bridges and Professor Vasilis Sarhosis, who described recent full-scale laboratory testing work. Dr Stanyslav Grossman and Mohamed El Ashri (Imperial College London) then described the high-fidelity models that are being developed for masonry arch bridges, which are being used in tandem with laboratory testing to help the team develop a deeper understanding of behaviour, whilst Drs Linwei He & Nicola Grillanda (University of Sheffield) presented details of fast-running 3D analysis models for masonry arch bridges, which are being designed to be usable by practitioners.
The workshop was brought to a close by another lively panel discussion, this time chaired by Matthew Gilbert, with panellists Ivo Caliò, Sinan Acikgoz and Hamish Harvey (Bill Harvey Associates). In this case the subject of the discussion was ‘key future research challenges’, providing plenty of food for thought.
Next steps
We are considering holding a further ERMABI workshop event, to take place upon completion of the ERMABI project in 2024. If you would be interested in attending and want to be added to our mailing list, please email civ-events@sheffield.ac.uk.
About CIRIA C800: Guidance on the Assessment of Masonry Arch Bridges
CIRIA C800 is a UK Department for Transport-funded guidance document on masonry arch bridge assessment, published in 2022 and co-authored by Professors Matthew Gilbert and Colin Smith of the University of Sheffield. The guidance describes a new approach to masonry arch bridge assessment, designed to allows engineers to identify bridges that are likely to be most susceptible to the damaging effects of repeated cyclic loading.
For more information, click here.
The new CIRIA guidance (CIRIAC800) can be freely downloaded from the CIRIA website: https://www.ciria.org.
About the Integrated Civil And Infrastructure Research (ICAIR) Centre
ICAIR is a national research facility that seeks to apply world leading research to the construction and infrastructure sectors, with the goal of delivering step changes in productivity and resilience. Funded jointly by the University of Sheffield, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), ICAIR brings together an interdisciplinary team of researchers to accelerate innovation and develop long-term collaborations between academia and industry. ICAIR’s ‘Intelligent Infrastructure’ laboratory houses the medium-scale masonry arch bridge test facility being used as part of the ERMABI EPSRC Project.
You can learn more about the Workshop and access recordings of the event here: https://ermabi.org/workshop.