The bridge in Poggio Renatico crossing the Reno river on the railway line between Bologna and Venice, consists of steel decks supported by masonry abutments and piers. After the 2012 Emilia Earthquake and accounting for the fluvial erosion below the piers, a structural assessment of the bridge was carried out. Although a sufficient capacity of the structure against the actual service loads resulted, the bridge showed some inadequacies with respect to the load models provided by both the national standard for constructions and the guidelines of the Italian railway network company. A retrofitting project, consisting of an improvement of the structural capacity of girders, piers and abutments, was conceived. An innovative retrofitting solution provides for the strengthening of the existing decks through a suspension system of cables anchored to steel towers standing on abutments and piers and creating a kind of partially suspended bridge. The retrofitting is compatible with the normal scheduled interruptions of the rail traffic thereby reducing the maintenance costs of the railway system. The retrofitting solution represents a model easily replicable to solve analogous situations along the railway network.
Advanced solution to retrofit steel railway truss bridges through a synergetic suspended system
Marco MEZZI;
2019
Abstract
The bridge in Poggio Renatico crossing the Reno river on the railway line between Bologna and Venice, consists of steel decks supported by masonry abutments and piers. After the 2012 Emilia Earthquake and accounting for the fluvial erosion below the piers, a structural assessment of the bridge was carried out. Although a sufficient capacity of the structure against the actual service loads resulted, the bridge showed some inadequacies with respect to the load models provided by both the national standard for constructions and the guidelines of the Italian railway network company. A retrofitting project, consisting of an improvement of the structural capacity of girders, piers and abutments, was conceived. An innovative retrofitting solution provides for the strengthening of the existing decks through a suspension system of cables anchored to steel towers standing on abutments and piers and creating a kind of partially suspended bridge. The retrofitting is compatible with the normal scheduled interruptions of the rail traffic thereby reducing the maintenance costs of the railway system. The retrofitting solution represents a model easily replicable to solve analogous situations along the railway network.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
