Claudio Modena

Structural Analysis and Fatigue Reliability Assessment of the Paderno Bridge

The Paderno Bridge along the Adda river in the northern part of Italy is a relevant arch-bridge connecting Milan and Bergamo province in the northern part of Italy: the bridge is part of the Monza-Bergamo line and is in service from 1889. A stepwise and practical approach for evaluating the structural integrity of historical and deteriorated steel bridges, incorporating analytical, mechanical, and structural characterizations, is presented. Critical regions of hot spot members were identified using structural finite-element analysis, and fatigue reliability assessment analysis has been performed along with traffic estimation, taking into account various scenarios of traffic increase, in order to assess the possible remaining fatigue life. This analysis has evidenced that the structure might be kept in service at least for other 10 years. Appropriate retrofitting interventions are also indicated.

Structural Analysis of Historical Metal Bridges in Italy

In this paper different studies on the structural analysis, the fatigue assessment and the damage evaluation of metal bridges are reported. These work examples are related to a widespread amount of works conducted since the first of 2000 in the research area of bridge design and assessment. The most part of these researches are related to railway bridges and historical metal bridges, because of their particular vulnerability to damage decay during their life. The main research topics are presented and discussed.