Fatigue Life Prediction for a Concrete-Steel Composite Viaduct: A Process Based on Indirect Measurements

Traffic fatigue cycles generated in steel bridge components is one of the major issues that can affect these types of structures. This paper introduces a strategy aimed at the fatigue damage assessment and remaining fatigue life prediction of concrete-steel composite bridges under traffic loads using monitoring data. The novelty of the proposed approach consists in the possibility of performing the assessment by means of indirect measurements, i.e. predicting damage at structural sections different from sensors positions. The proposed predictive model can work with real monitoring data collected, providing information on the fatigue life of selected hotspots, thus contributing to plan lifetime maintenance. To support real-time life-cycle management of infrastructures, the acquired data and the corresponding fatigue predictions are visualized in the BIM model. The strategy has been developed in the context of the European Project RAGTIME European Commission Research and Innovation Action, Horizon 2020 [1] and has been applied on a real viaduct in the northern Italy, the Mondalavia viaduct.