ABSTRACT
The assessment of existing reinforced concrete structures is currently a critical task to be dealt with by engineers and practitioners. Specifically, bridges and viaducts, composing important links in the infrastructure system, are subjected to changes in structural capacity and demand in time, e.g., due to aging and structural deterioration processes as well as the evolution of intensity and frequency of structural loadings. Moreover, climate change may have a significant impact on this evolution. In this context, partial factor methods calibrated for the design of new structures may lead to unnecessary and expansive interventions when used for the assessment of existing structures. Therefore, the exploitation of semi-probabilistic methodologies tailored for existing structural systems is necessary. In this paper, methodologies developed for the evaluation of existing structures are presented and applied to the safety assessment of a cable-stayed bridge located in France. The obtained results are eventually compared with the outcomes of the assessment performed according to the original design and the current Eurocodes regulations, with a discussion on benefits and limits of the presented methodologies.
