One of the principle problems with the acceptance of new approaches to bridge assessment is the combination of suitable pre and post processors, to allow easy application and interpretation of the results and an acceptable analysis 'engine'. The move from assessments based solely on ultimate load towards assessments undertaken on the basis of serviceability requires the development of suitable 'transparent' elastic based assessment tools. This paper contains details of the application of Castigliano energy thinning method to the analysis of single span masonry arch bridges using a standard spreadsheet. The use of a standard spreadsheet allows the assessment engineer to have full access to all the elements of the analysis within the assessment process and this transparent approach can be used to simulate either a load controlled ultimate load analysis or can be used to simulate the passage of a load train over the structure and thus find the critical load location. The paper details the main elements of the analysis and presents an example application with the standard graphic output from the spreadsheet.
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