LIMIT AND NON LINEAR ANALYSIS OF A SLENDER ARCH BRIDGE. A COMPARATIVE STUDY.

A slender arch bridge has been studied by means of two approaches based on completely different assumptions: the Non Linear Analysis, suitable to represent the evolution of the structural behaviour in terms of both displacements and internal forces, all along the load path until the collapse, and the Limit Analysis, which highlights the mechanism of collapse and determines the ultimate value of the load multiplier. Within the limits of the two methodologies, the results are compared and discussed, outlining the effects on the numerical solutions of the concrete effectiveness factor and of the steel strain hardening.