Robustness evaluation of a steel bridge in the district of Potenza (Italy)

Abstract

In the current paper the Pastorella bridge in Lauria (district of Potenza) has been investigated. Firstly, considering the inaccessibility of the bridge with the exclusion of the main deck as a walkaway, an aerial photogrammetric survey with a drone has been done for the acquisition of geometric data. Secondly, a three-dimensional modelling of the bridge in FEM environment has been carried out. Based on the corrosion level detected in the bridge structure, forecasts about the progress of the corrosion damage during the whole lifetime of the bridge have also been made considering appropriate thickness reduction of structural elements based on literature provisions. Therefore, other than studying the intact bridge, four different corrosion scenarios have been considered: 1) corroded upper deck elements, 2) corroded lower chord elements; 3) corroded main diagonals and 4) corroded vertical members. On these FEM models push-down and linear dynamic analyses have been performed, so to know the health state of the bridge in terms of robustness for different corrosion levels.