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Special Issue "Existing Bridges: From Inspection to Structural Rehabilitation"

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A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Materials Science and Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2023 | Viewed by 3981

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Pier Paolo Rossi

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Guest Editor

Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, University of Catania, Catania, Italy
Interests: Seismic analysis; design and retrofitting of steel and reinforced concrete buildings; seismic design and assessment of bridges; numerical modelling of steel and reinforced concrete members; seismic behaviour of in plan and in-elevation irregular buildings; capacity models of reinforced concrete members subjected to combined axial force; bending moment and shear force

Dr. Nino Spinella

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, University of Catania, Catania, Italy
Interests: shear behavior of lightly reinforced beams; high-performance concrete; fiber-reinforced concrete; nonlinear analyses of reinforced concrete structures; repairing and strenghtening of RC columns with FRP or FRCM; repairing and strenghtening of unreinforced masonry with stainless steel ribbons (CAM system); response of corroded RC and PC bridge elements (beams, gerber saddles)

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is open to all kinds of advances related to the civil engineering applied to existing bridges. In the last decades, this engineering area has gained unremitting and increasing attention from researchers, engineering companies and public administrations because, due to aging of structures and changes in codes, existing bridges are often not able to ensure the expected structural safety and performance.

Submitted technical articles and review papers should reflect original research studies on the following topics:

collection and processing of in situ inspection data
structural health monitoring and digital twins
management systems
laboratory tests on elements or sub-assemblages
numerical modelling
methods of analysis
performance criteria
structural assessment
rehabilitation and retrofit interventions
soil-structure interaction
life-cycle cost analysis
codification for safety of existing bridges

Please consider that the above topics are not exhaustive of all aspects of the civil engineering applied to existing bridges. So, feel free to submit your contributions on any additional topic that could be relevant to the above- mentioned subject.

Prof. Dr. Pier Paolo Rossi
Dr. Nino Spinella
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2300 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

existing bridges
monitoring
management
numerical modelling
rehabilitation

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

Open AccessArticle

A Methodological Framework for Bridge Surveillance

Luigi Petti

Carmine Lupo

and

Constanza Maria De Gaetano

Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(8), 4975; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13084975 - 15 Apr 2023

Viewed by 552

Abstract

The Italian “Guidelines for risk classification and management, security assessment and monitoring of existing bridges”, published in 2020 after the collapse of the Polcevera viaduct in Northern Italy, present a multilevel methodology that involves on-site operators and universities/research centers carrying out and validating a management process from on-site survey to the bridges’ condition assessment. The main goals of this process are to acquire appropriate knowledge of the current state and its evolution over time of the overall buildings that compose the infrastructures, with the aim to support the managing companies in a decision-making process and the purpose of guaranteeing service in full safety. In particular, the guidelines propose the use of engineered software platforms for data digitalization of the structures with the aim to create a Building Management System (BMS) in which the main historical and current state information is collected and can then be uploaded continually. In 2020, the CUGRI (Inter-University Research Center for the Prediction and Prevention of Major Hazards) and the SAM (Southern Highways Company) launched an innovative surveillance management model established on a multidisciplinary approach based on Geography Markup Language (GML), BIM tools, on-site interdisciplinary inspections, and multi-hazard analysis. The experimented methodology provides the on-site training of inspectors, the elaboration of suitable BIM models according to the above guidelines, and AINOP (National Archive of Public Infrastructures) requirements, and an expert judgement process for preliminary bridge assessment and data validation to support the maintenance managing process. The study presents an innovative operative model for the surveillance process, which integrates on-site expeditious inspections and multidisciplinary expert judgements by using an appropriate digitalization of the bridges with BIM and GIS technologies. The paper illustrates the experimental methodology performed on the A3 highway, which connects Naples to Salerno in Southern Italy, highlighting issues and opportunities, moreover in a first interdisciplinary contribution of object-oriented landslide mapping modelling. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Existing Bridges: From Inspection to Structural Rehabilitation)

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Open AccessArticle

Inspection and Structural Rehabilitation of an Existing Masonry Arch Railway Bridge

Francesco Bencardino

Roberta Curto

and

Vincenzo Scavelli

Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(5), 2973; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13052973 - 25 Feb 2023

Viewed by 701

Abstract

Masonry arch bridges are important structures of road and rail networks around the world. Over several decades of service life, they suffer deterioration and damage. In order to preserve their functioning, it is necessary to carry out a seismic vulnerability analysis to verify the current level of safety and, if necessary, take action to reach the standard required by current codes. For these reasons, a structural analysis of the existing railway bridge built with masonry arches, located on the San Nicola–Avigliano Lucania line in Potenza, Italy, was carried out. The seismic vulnerability of the bridge was assessed using the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) method by subjecting a properly discretized three-dimensional model of the entire structure to a non-adaptive nonlinear static analysis (pushover). The obtained results do not meet the minimums suggested by current European Standards. Therefore, a traditional structural rehabilitation intervention was designed and modeled. The intrados of the arches and the bridge piers were reinforced with a thin reinforced concrete slab and reinforced concrete jackets, respectively, all connected to the existing structure by steel bar connectors. By re-performing the pushover analysis of the reinforced structure using FEA software, it was observed that the new risk indexes satisfy the seismic vulnerability verification. Thus, the proposed structural rehabilitation is a valid, but not unique, solution to the problem affecting the existing masonry arch bridge analyzed in this study. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Existing Bridges: From Inspection to Structural Rehabilitation)

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Open AccessArticle

Large-Scale Experimental Static Testing on 50-Year-Old Prestressed Concrete Bridge Girders

and

Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(2), 834; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13020834 - 07 Jan 2023

Viewed by 769

Abstract

The heritage of existing road infrastructures and in particular of bridges consists of structures that are approaching or exceeding their designed service life. Detrimental causes such as aging, fatigue and deterioration processes other than variation in loading conditions introduce uncertainties that make structural assessment a challenging task. Experimental data on their performances are crucial for a proper calibration of numerical models able to predict their behavior and life-cycle structural performance. In this scenario, an experimental research program was established with the aim of investigating a set of 50-year-old prestressed concrete bridge girders that were recovered from a decommissioned bridge. The activities included initial non-destructive tests, and then full-scale load tests followed by a destructive test on the material samples. This paper reports the experimental results of the full-scale tests conducted on the first group of four I-beams assumed to be in good condition from visual inspection at the time of testing. Loading tests were performed using a specifically designed steel reaction frame and a test setup equipment, as detailed in the present work. Due to the structural response of this first group of girders, a uniform behavior was found at both service and ultimate conditions. The failure mechanism was characterized by the crushing of the cast-in-situ top slab corresponding to a limited deflection, highlighting a non-ductile behavior. The outcomes of the experimental research are expected to provide new data for the life-cycle safety assessment of existing bridges through an extended database of validated experimental tests and models. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Existing Bridges: From Inspection to Structural Rehabilitation)

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Open AccessArticle

Repair of Damaged Continuity Joints Using Ultra-High Performance, Fiber Reinforced Self-Consolidating, and Magnesium–Aluminum–Liquid–Phosphate Concretes

and

Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(24), 12775; https://doi.org/10.3390/app122412775 - 13 Dec 2022

Viewed by 682

Abstract

Bridge elements known to develop damage over time are individual continuity joints connecting girders. Replacing damaged joints is an expensive and invasive process and a need exists to design a less invasive repair method. This study focused on evaluating an encapsulation repair method for continuity joints that would not require extensive demolition of the bridge deck to implement and could potentially be constructed without bridge closure. Approximately half scale connected bridge girder specimens were constructed and purposely damaged to create similar crack patterns to those seen in bridges. Once damaged, a set of three specimens was repaired using the encapsulation method with three different high performance materials, ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC), fiber reinforced self-consolidating concrete (FRSCC), and magnesium–aluminum–liquid–phosphate (MALP) concrete. Of the three repaired specimens for each material, one was tested in positive moment bending and two in negative moment bending, similar to in situ conditions. The results appear to indicate that using each of the tested materials as an encapsulation repair for damaged continuity joints is viable to re-establish continuity and load capacity. However, the UHPC repairs’ resistance to cracking could indicate the best performance by further protecting the continuity joint reinforcing steel from water ingress. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Existing Bridges: From Inspection to Structural Rehabilitation)

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Open AccessArticle

Predicting the Influence of Shear on the Seismic Response of Bridge Columns

Rico J. Massa

William D. Cook

and

Denis Mitchell

Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(21), 10910; https://doi.org/10.3390/app122110910 - 27 Oct 2022

Viewed by 633

Abstract

In the seismic design and evaluation of bridges, a method is required for determining the shear strength of reinforced concrete columns to avoid brittle shear failures. In addition, detailed design and evaluation often require predictions of the complete hysteretic response of bridge columns to accurately model the nonlinear dynamic response of the bridge. Predictions of the shear strength of columns using the provisions of the AASHTO Specifications are compared with the reversed-cyclic loading test results of shear-critical columns. It is found that the Simplified Procedure results in very conservative predictions of the seismic shear strength. The General Procedure provides conservative and more accurate predictions of the seismic shear strength. It is suggested that the AASHTO reduction factor on the concrete contribution resisting shear for low compressive axial load levels be removed. Nonlinear finite element analysis predictions are made for a selection of rectangular and circular columns tested in reversed-cyclic loading and are compared with the experimental results. The ability of nonlinear finite element analysis to predict the reversed-cyclic loading responses of columns with a wide range of variables and having different failure modes is demonstrated. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Existing Bridges: From Inspection to Structural Rehabilitation)

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