ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Selected Ancient Stone Bridges with Corbelled False-Arch Structure
 
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1
Cracow University of Technology, Warszawska 24, Cracow, Poland
 
2
University of Structural Engineering and Architecture “Lyuben Karavelov”, Suchodolska 175, Sofia, Bulgaria
 
 
Online publication date: 2019-01-03
 
 
Publication date: 2018-12-01
 
 
Civil and Environmental Engineering Reports 2018;28(4):163-179
 
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ABSTRACT
The oldest man-made false-arch stone bridges are presented and briefly described. It is shown that this construction technique was based on the experiences of the first builders, formed at the junction of ancient Egyptian, Mycenaean as well as Assyrian and Babylonian cultures. Arches in such bridges have not yet been constructed in a classical manner, i.e. one that was later prevalent by the Romans, but these were only the primitive arch-like structures, with a false needle vault, that were shaped mainly by corbelling. This type of the structure, if it was used in bridges, turned out to be much more stable than the well-known at that time and commonly used in gateway passages oval “true-arch” built from sun-dried mud bricks.
 
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eISSN:2450-8594
ISSN:2080-5187
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