THESIS SUPERVISOR FORM
Erasmus Mundus Programme
ADVANCED MASTERS IN STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF MONUMENTS AND HISTORICAL CONSTRUCTIONS 1 1. Identification of the student:
Student: Davis Lucy Jane
Thesis: LOAD RATING OF A MASONRY ARCH BRIDGE: COMPARISON OF 2D AND 3D FINITE ELEMENT MODELS
1st Institution: University of Minho
2nd Institution: Czech Technical University in Prague, Czech Republic Academic year: 2020/2021
2. Identification of the supervisor:
Name: Prof. Ing. Petr Řericha, DrSc., Doc. Ing. Petr Fajman, Csc.
Institution: Czech Technical University in Prague, Faculty of Civil Engineering Position: Professor, Associative Professor
3. General comments
The thesis deals with load rating and comparison of 2D and 3D FEM models of a prototype masonry arch bridge in Ponikla in the Czech Republic.
The thesis is divided in nine chapters. The first two chapters aim at the description of problems and literature review. Chapter three specifies the loading to be used In the comparative study. It is basically the EC standard load model 1. Further, the principal objectives and solution approaches are outlined. Chapter four deals with the geometrical and material characteristics of the bridge. The material properties were taken from the survey performed in 2019. Chapter five is the core of the thesis, it contains the linear 2D and 3D FEM models of a span of the bridge and the extract of numerous variant calculations mostly in graphic presentation. Chapter six presents an attempt to use the no tension material model available in the RFEM package. The full bridge 3D FEM model in the seventh chapter provides valuable information on the interaction of the three bridge spans. Masonry arch bridges should be analysed as 3D bodies. In spite of it, most practice oriented methods worlwide are still based on simple 2D models that do not account for the interaction of the barrel and the backfill. Even advanced non-linear finite-element packages fail in the 3D analysis of these bridges mainly due to the heterogeneity and anisotropy of the arch masonry.
The principal objective of the thesis was to assess the differences between 2D and 3D bridge models in a case study of a prototype bridge and possibly derive correction factors of the 2D solutions valid for
THESIS SUPERVISOR FORM
Erasmus Mundus Programme
ADVANCED MASTERS IN STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF MONUMENTS AND HISTORICAL CONSTRUCTIONS 2 bridges with similar space parameters. The candidate succeeded excellently in this respect and delivered additional useful information on the interaction of the bridge spans in case of a local live load. The results of the thesis make it possible to use advanced 2D analysis of a single span for the assessment of the load rating of the whole bridge that accounts for the 3D effects. They are applicable to bridges with similar space dispositions but these turn out to cover a considerable portion of the larger masonry arch bridges in our country.
Mrs. Lucy Davis has proven very good ability to collect, analyse and classify a large amount of diverse information. She prepared the thesis with a very little intervention from the supervisors. The student had to acquire advanced knowledge of modeling and FEM with commercial software Dlubal for advanced structural analysis. In general we can report that Mrs. Davis successfully coped with all tasks assigned to her.
We regard Mr. Davis as competent to solve advanced problems related to analysis of monuments and historical constructions and recommend her admission to the state exam and to process the defending act of her thesis.
We assess her thesis by 94 points out of 100, i.e. grade A on the ECTS scale (excellent).
4. Grade: __________A____________
Use the following scale
A (excellent) B (very good) C (good) D (satisfactory) E (sufficient) F (fail) CTU faculty of Civil Engineering in Prague
July 19, 2021 The Supervisors,
--- Petr Řeřicha, Petr Fajman
