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Relevant outcomes from the history of Polcevera Viaduct in Genova, from design to nowadays failure

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Abstract

Failures of structures are often tragic events, however represent an opportunity to improve the understanding of phenomena. In this paper, after the review of Bridge collapses, on August 14, 2018, the history of Polcevera Bridge is presented, starting from aging considerations done by its designer Riccardo Morandi in 1981, analyzing the outcomes of inspections in the years from mid ‘80s with references to Italian Regulations on inspections, the interventions done during bridge life, and finally some considerations on its collapse. The case is certainly a reference for reinforced concrete bridges built just after the 2nd world war in a highly corrosion-prone environment due to nearby sea and industrial as well as chloride pollution. Large reference is done to data included into the Report of the Commission of Italian Ministry of Infrastructures for the failure of Polcevera Bridge. Monitoring for assessment of performance decay due to corrosion is discussed with reference to the meaningful example considered.

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Acknowledgements

Ministry of Public Work, the member of the Ministerial Commission that worked at Polcevera Bridge Reports, ENEA which invited the author to present the considerations on monitoring of the case.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Roma Tre University, L.go G.B.Marzi 10, 00153, Rome, Italy

    Camillo Nuti & Davide Lavorato

  2. Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, China

    Camillo Nuti & Bruno Briseghella

  3. Tongji University, Shanghai, China

    Airong Chen

  4. Roma Tor Vergata University, Rome, Italy

    Tullia Iori

  5. G.D’Annunzio University, Chieti, Italy

    Ivo Vanzi

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  1. Camillo Nuti
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Correspondence to Camillo Nuti.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. Camillo Nuti is one of the members of the Commission of the Ministry of Public Infrastructures, Council of Public Workds: Linee Guida per il monitoraggio, la valutazione della sicurezza strutturale e la classificazione del rischio dei ponti esistenti—Guidelines for monitoring, structural safety assessment and risk classification of existing bridges.

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Nuti, C., Briseghella, B., Chen, A. et al. Relevant outcomes from the history of Polcevera Viaduct in Genova, from design to nowadays failure. J Civil Struct Health Monit 10, 87–107 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13349-019-00371-6

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