Balance of nature and engineering requirements on existing arch bridges

Abstract

In order to sustain the equilibrium between the nature and requirements on structures based on contemporary standards, research on development of assessment procedures for existing arch bridges exposed to wind load and located in seismic active areas is developing through last few years in Croatia as a part of an extensive project to develop their appropriate maintenance strategy. In this paper an overview of assessment results for Adriatic arch bridges with spans ranging from 200 m to almost 400 m will be presented. More detailed assessment of the Krk Bridge spanning 244 m and exposed to severe wind load will be presented.