PSI - Issue 78

Gabriele Fiorentino et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 78 (2026) 245–252

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to extend outward from the piers in a balanced and self-supporting configuration. This technique was instrumental in sites with deep valleys, rivers, or urban environments where conventional scaffolding was impractical or intrusive (Iori and Capurso, 2019; Capurso and Martire, 2020).

Fig. 1. Picture (top) and longitudinal section, including the foundations (bottom) of the cantilever bridge viaduct. It is possible to notice the variations in the pier sections of the central cantilever piers.

The deck segments are higher near the piers and shorter at mid-span, following a parabolic profile. The cross section of the two decks is of the box-girder type. Each deck consists of 16 segments with heights ranging from 7 to 2.5 m and includes a 0.25 m-thick road slab, 0.35 m-thick external walls, and a bottom slab that varies in thickness from 0.5 m above the piers to 0.2 m at the end of the span. The piers are made of ordinary reinforced concrete and feature box-shaped sections with internal shafts of variable dimensions along their height. Each pier is divided into five segments, with dimensions in plan ranging from approximately 19 x 11 m at the base to 16 x 8 m at the top, and wall thicknesses decreasing from 2.16 m at the base to 0.45 m at the top. The central pier (Pier 5) reaches a total height of approximately 132 m, while Piers 4-6 are about 75 m, including the portions above the caisson foundations. The latter have an elliptical external section and consist of internal vertical shafts and external walls forming a cellular structure. The internal shafts are aligned so that the first segment of the pier above ground is a direct continuation of these internal shafts.