ABSTRACT
Experimental investigations and testing have a strategic rule in maintenance of civil structures. They allow to improve knowledge about security level, performance and maintenance of structural system. They require to be applied within a rational approach, in order to operate according to the “optimal scenario”, that is the scenario which let to gather the maximum level of useful information with the minimum money investment. The problem of allocate the optimal number of tests to each structure is here approached with the method of Value of Information, applied to an Italian regional bridge database in an ideal working scenario. It will be shown how VoI could represent a useful support to understand if testing can bring to significant information about structural maintenance, and to estimate which is the optimal number of test repetitions.
