Non-linear characterisation of the physical model of an ancient masonry bridge

This paper presents the non-linear investigations carried out on a scaled model of a two-span masonry arch bridge. The model has been built in order to study the effect of the central pile settlement due to riverbank erosion. Progressive damage was induced in several steps by applying increasing settlements at the central pier. For each settlement step, harmonic shaker tests were conducted under different excitation levels, this allowing for the non-linear identification of the progressively damaged system. The shaker tests have been performed at resonance with the modal frequency of the structure, which were determined from a previous linear identification. Estimated non-linearity parameters, which result from the systematic application of restoring force based identification algorithms, can corroborate models to be used in the reassessment of existing structures. The method used for non-linear identification allows monitoring the evolution of non-linear parameters or indicators which can be used in damage and safety assessment.