Dynamic Identification and Monitoring of a New Highway Bridge

The structural behaviour of viaducts under traffic or seismic excitations can be evaluated using Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) methods, which can also be usefully employed to evaluate their health state under service conditions. These methods allow the calibration of suitable FEM models, based on accurate information on both material properties and structural elements, which are used to both design and evaluate the effectiveness of consolidation interventions, if needed. In the paper, static and dynamic testing procedures applied to a multi-span bridge, called Adda viaduct, along a new highway link inaugurated in 2014 in Northern Italy, are inspected. The structural performances of the investigated viaduct are evaluated based on both experimental static and dynamic loading test results. In particular, Operational and Experimental Modal Analyses are used, and their results are compared to each other. From the comparison it is shown that the dynamic load test can complement the static load one for the structural evaluation of new viaducts and can also be taken as an alternative for the monitoring of operational viaducts.