New Contribution to Concrete Arch Bridge Construction.

True reinforced concrete arches are discussed from the aspects of the structural materials, the structural system, the shape of the arch, and construction methods. Four large concrete arch bridges were built on the Adriatic Sea coast in Croatia from 1965 to 1980. The degradation of those bridges and their maintenance problems are discussed. The designs for two new large arch bridges are presented. The shapes of the arches were designed so that the bending moments under permanent actions would be minimized. This was done by the use of a computer program developed for the purpose.