Aizanoi or Azan antique city was first established by Phrygians and later become a part of Roman Empire. This city was the first city in the world to construct the flood protection measures such as dams and embankment walls. Out of the four stone masonry bridges, two masonry bridges are remaining and they are still used today. The authors carried out some site investigations and surveying of these remaining stone bridges. In this study, the response and stability of stone bridges are investigated using finite element method under various loading conditions. Furthermore, some Eigen value analysis utilizing the FEM were also carried out, and the results of the investigations and analyses are presented and discussed.
The antique city called Azan in Phrygian or Aizanoi in ancient Greek, located in Kütahya Province of Turkey, was established by Phrygians at 3000 B.C. and become a part of Roman Empire in 133 B.C. and then become of a part of Seljuk in 13th Century, later Ottoman Empire and finally Modern Turkey (Figure 1). One can find traces of various civilizations in this city. This city was the first to introduce the fundamentals of the modern stock exchange and modern civil engineering principles.
This city was also the first city in the world to construct the flood protection measures such as dams and embankment walls. In other words, it is the city of the birth of the hydraulic engineering of modern civil engineering. The city had four stone masonry bridges made of marble. The bridges have performed very well even under very heavy trucks of modern times. However, the traffic has been recently restricted to light vehicles such as cars and they are still in use.
The authors have performed some site investigations and surveying on two remaining stone bridges constructed during the Roman period. In this study, the response and stability of stone bridge denoted as Bridge-L are investigated using finite element method under various loading conditions in order to find out why these stone bridges performed very well so far since their construction about 1850 years ago. Furthermore, some modal analysis utilizing the FEM were also carried out. The results of the investigations and analyses are presented and discussed in this paper.
