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Pont du Gard Three-Tier Roman Stone Arch Aqueduct
Monumental Roman ashlar masonry aqueduct viaduct (3 lower arches + 3 middle arches + 9 upper arcade arches) with triangular cutwaters, cornices, and U-shaped specus channel.
The Pont du Gard in southern France is the highest surviving ancient Roman aqueduct bridge, built in the 1st century AD without mortar using precision-dressed dry-stone limestone blocks (ashlar masonry). Spanning 2,400 mm in our scaled model, the viaduct rises across three tiers: the lower tier (3 major arches R = 260 mm, pier cutwaters), the intermediate tier (3 aligned arches R = 240 mm with recessed spandrel panels), and the upper tier (arcade of 9 small arches R = 70 mm carrying the enclosed water conduit specus). WebCAE calculates compression thrust trajectories, arch intrados tensile stress checks, and lateral overturning resistance under water weight and crosswind.
1. Geometry & FEA Mesh
- •B-Rep geometry: 3 stepped masonry tiers (total length 2,400 mm, width 280 mm at tier 1, 180 mm at tier 2, 120 mm at tier 3) with protruding classical cornice belt courses.
- •Arch architecture: 3 lower semicircular arches (R = 260 mm), 4 triangular river pier cutwaters (starlings), 3 middle arches (R = 240 mm), and 9 upper arcade arches (R = 70 mm).
- •Water conduit: U-shaped stone water channel (specus, 64 mm wide, 80 mm deep) running along the entire upper crest.
- •Mesh discretization: 41,795 1st-order tetrahedral solid elements (TET4), 11,243 nodes, totaling 33,729 structural degrees of freedom in a continuous solid body.
2. Loads & Boundary Conditions
- •Fixed base supports (u_x = u_y = u_z = 0) at all 4 pier footings on riverbed level (z = 0) and the two valley bank abutment end faces.
- •Vertical water weight and live maintenance load (-2.4 MN in -Z) distributed along the bottom floor of the upper specus conduit.
- •Lateral aerodynamic wind force (+450 kN in +Y) acting across the windward facade face of the slender upper arcade.
3. Simulation Results & Findings
- ✓Maximum static displacement |u| = 3.22 mm at the center of the upper arcade crest under combined gravity and wind shear.
- ✓Peak localized von Mises stress σ_vm = 58.0 MPa located at the lower arch intrados and pier cutwater corners, remaining well within stone compressive limits.
- ✓Global vertical foundation reaction matches total applied water gravity within 0.56% relative balance error.
WebCAE enables civil engineers, historical preservation teams, and masonry arch specialists to perform 3D solid FEA on complex multi-tiered arch viaducts, verifying thrust lines, pier stability, and masonry stress levels in standard web browsers.
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