ABSTRACT
Steel bridges present frequent fatigue problems that reduce their load-carrying capacity and residual life. The increase of traffic flows and loads in the last decades has enhanced this problem, especially on ageing structures. This phenomenon is very dangerous because a conventional structural stress analysis might result in misleading conclusions about safety. In Europe, 15% of the 300 000 bridges are made of steel or concrete-steel composite structures, and approximately 68% of them need structural interventions. In the USA, figures are quite similar. In this paper the use of SHM for technical risk mitigation will be demonstrated in the case of the Mondalavia Viaduct in Italy in the H2020 RAGTIME’s project framework. For this viaduct a risk analysis was carried out. Fatigue failure was identified as one of highly ranked technical risks and a candidate for SHM as mitigation action.
