Collapse of Existing Bridges: From the Lesson of La Reale Viaduct to the Definition of a Partial Safety Coefficient of Variable Traffic Loads
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 148, Issue 11
Abstract
From the post-war period to present day, economic development and urbanization have led to various demands for infrastructure, including bridges and viaducts. However, especially in recent years, there have been reports of sudden and unexpected collapses of bridges and viaducts, associated with large economic losses and, unfortunately, loss of human lives. The study of the causes that have led to these disasters is of strategic importance because it allows for the deepening of the specific technical knowledge. For this reason, this paper presents the study of the causes that led to the collapse of one of the spans of the “La Reale” viaduct in the Piedmont region in Italy. The main reason for the collapse was to be found in the incorrect injection of cables, which led to the absence of grout inside the sheaths for a length equal to one third of the deck. In this region, cables were subjected to a highly aggressive environment with severe corrosion. This resulted in fragile failure of the deck, with no signs that could suggest such important structural problems during normal inspection operations. The only evidence was some white efflorescence. However, in light of the knowledge prior to the present study, this evidence could not be easily connected to the type of phenomenon in progress that led to the collapse. Based on the experimental tests carried out on the collapsed portion, this study highlights new symptoms not associated with any structural pathology previously studied. The main concern relative to the structural safety assessment in cases such as the one presented in this study is related to the lack of evidence on the current state of cable degradation. Therefore, objective data for numerical evaluations is coming from bridge load tests. In this regard, the evaluation of a partial safety coefficient of variable traffic loads according to two different approaches based on bridge load tests and safety factors suggested by structural codes is presented.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Some or all data, models, or code used during the study were provided by a third party. Direct requests for these materials may be made to the provider (CSI Bridge software).
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 148 • Issue 11 • November 2022
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 2, 2021
Accepted: May 13, 2022
Published online: Sep 7, 2022
Published in print: Nov 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Feb 7, 2023
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Bridge engineering
- Bridge failures
- Bridge tests
- Bridges
- Bridges (by type)
- Cables
- Design (by type)
- Disaster risk management
- Disasters and hazards
- Engineering fundamentals
- Equipment and machinery
- Failures (by type)
- Field tests
- Infrastructure
- Load factors
- Load tests
- Man-made disasters
- Structural design
- Structural engineering
- Structural safety
- Tests (by type)
- Traffic engineering
- Traffic management
- Traffic safety
- Transportation engineering
- Viaducts
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