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BRIDGE|50 RESEARCH PROJECT
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BRIDGE|50 is a research project recently launched in Italy in the context of the Torino-Ceres construction works for realization of a new infrastructure system, urban redevelopment, and sub-services renewal in the northern area of Turin. The research project includes a wide experimental campaign with full-scale load tests on the structural members of a 80-span concrete viaduct dismantled after a lifetime of about 50 years. To this purpose, a group of 29 PC deck beams and two pier caps has been moved and stored in a testing site. Each structural member will be tested and investigated in depth using conventional and innovative experimental techniques to determine the structural performance up to collapse. Mechanical and chemical characteristics of the materials will be also investigated based on laboratory tests. The full scale tests will be performed using an experimental equipment specifically designed to this purpose.
The project proposal started in 2017 under the initiative of Lombardi Engineering and Politecnico di Milano and was finally established in 2018 jointly with Politecnico di Torino based on a research agreement also involving several public authorities and private companies: S.C.R. Piemonte, Lombardi Engineering; Piedmont Region; City of Turin; Metropolitan City of Turin; Torino Nuova Economia; ATI Itinera & C.M.B.; ATI Despe & Perino Piero; Quaranta Group. The research activity is carried out jointly and in close cooperation by Politecnico di Milano and Politecnico di Torino. The testing site is located in Turin in a restricted area owned by TNE and managed under the responsibility of Politecnico di Torino.
The BRIDGE|50 research project is potentially of unique value for the variety of information which it could provide to support the safety assessment and residual lifetime evaluation of many existing RC/PC bridges built worldwide over the last decades. The results of the project can represent a framework of basic data concerning the long-term performance of existing structures for public authorities involved in the management of bridges and transportation networks. Moreover, the results can be exploited for the calibration of methods for safety assessment of existing structures and for the development of life-cycle structural design frameworks able to properly consider the effects of aging of materials and deterioration phenomena. In this way, BRIDGE|50 is expected to contribute a modern approach to life-cycle design of bridges and to improve safety, maintenance, and management of existing infrastructure systems.
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