Research Article Inspection and Numerical Analysis of an Ottoman Railway Bridge in Jordan Amin H. Almasri 1 and Qusai Fandi Al-Waked 2 1 Department of Civil Engineering, Jordan University of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 3030, Irbid 22110, Jordan 2 Structural Engineering, Coventry University, Priory Street, Coventry CV1 5FB, UK Correspondence should be addressed to Amin H. Almasri; ahalmasri@just.edu.jo Received 24 January 2016; Revised 8 April 2016; Accepted 13 April 2016 Academic Editor: Carlo Santulli Copyright © 2016 A. H. Almasri and Q. F. Al-Waked. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Te construction of bridges represents a big challenge, since they require enormous economic efort and specialized technical skills. Bridges were historically important as they help connecting people and thus difusing cultures, sharing ideas, and providing the backbone of transportation networks. Tis study focuses on the inspection and structural analysis of a 20th-century Ottoman railway stone arched bridge located on the Hejaz railway network in Jordan. Te bridge has a very important cultural heritage value which stems from its history. Te bridge stone material was cut and tested to determine its strength, in order to be used in the analysis. Te structural analysis was carried out to assess the structural condition of the bridge and its suitability for reuse. Te study includes static analysis under gravity loads and seismic analysis under earthquake loads. Despite the existence of deterioration in the bridge body construction materials due to a combination of human and natural factors, the analysis results proved enough structural capability to sustain the imposed gravity loads, but not a strong earthquake. 1. Introduction Te Ottoman Empire ruled Jordan for more than 500 years, where an extremely unique heritage has been lef behind. Most of the remained tangible heritage is still standing and telling the history of the area. One of the main components of this heritage is the masonry and stone structures that are scattered all over the country. Some of these are the castles along the Hejaz railway [1], the Ottoman village at Umm Qais, the residential buildings, and the railway bridges along the Hejaz railway. Tese bridges represent the engineer- ing innovation coupled with local participation during the Ottoman period as well as the structural adaptation to the surrounding environment. In other words, the construction of these bridges was meant to utilize the available materials of construction, topography, and the least cost [1]. Te bridges on Marka Railway Station and Al-Zarqa’a Railway Station as well as other Ottoman railway bridges in Jordan have not been in use for about a century. Tis does not actually negate the need for a proper conservation and maintenance of these signifcant and historical relics. Con- servation of these structures includes detailed documentation and complete understanding of the structural behavior of these bridges; the outcome then would be introducing and preserving these heritage bridges to the future generations taking into consideration that these bridges are and will remain part of the Jordanian legacy and contribution to the world cultural heritage. Accordingly, this study focuses on the structural analysis of an Ottoman bridge in Marka, Al- Zarqa’a Railway. Tis bridge will serve as a model for future conservation plans of similar bridges in the country. Te literature contains many studies that dealt with his- torical bridges. To mention few, researchers studied the struc- tural behavior of a historical masonry bridge in Cesena, Italy [2], while others presented a historic inventory of masonry arch bridges in Virginia [3], in addition to other related studies [4, 5]. Methods of load capacity assessment of stone arch bridges in Sweden using inspections and calculations Hindawi Publishing Corporation Advances in Materials Science and Engineering Volume 2016, Article ID 9039483, 7 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/9039483