PSI - Issue 44

Gianluca Costantino et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 44 (2023) 1220–1227 Gianluca Costantino et al. / Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2022) 000 – 000

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4. Database 4.1. A18: the Messina-Catania highway

The considered stock is a collection of bridges and viaducts of the highway A18, which connects the towns of Messina and Catania, in Sicily (Italy). The A18 has a double carriageway (round trip) and most of its path was built in the early 1970s and is now over 50 years of age. It is important to consider that this part of Sicilia region has historically been affected by seismic events of significant relevance (i.e. the Messina earthquake in 1908). However, bridges built before the 70s where designed with no seismic provisions.

Fig. 4. Example of queries results.

As an example, the results of some queries are reported in Fig. 4. They allow the knowledge of different information about the bridges of A18, especially with reference to the following parameters: • structural typology: simply supported beams is the mainly observed structural typology (99/142), followed by the post-tensioned technology (32/142). • construction material: prestressed concrete is the most common material-technology adopted (73/142), followed by regular concrete (22/142) and steel (9/142). • single span length is ranging from 10 and 52 m, while the total length varies between 10 and 437 m. 103/142 bridges have a straight route and 39/142 a curve route. 5. Classes of Attention The single CoA (Structural-Foundational, Seismic, Landslide and Flood) is obtained by the combination of three factors: hazard, vulnerability and exposure. The CoA is qualitatively estimated and can be high , medium-high , medium , medium-low or low . The Guidelines evaluate the single CoA as a function of some primary and secondary parameters. These parameters generally depend on bridge characteristics and inspection results. However, in some cases, the Guidelines do not provide a clear criterion to analytically define parameters on the basis of the available information. For example, for both Seismic and Structural/Foundational classes, the vulnerability is also a function of the level of defectiveness, which in turn is related to the results of the inspection activities. However, the Guidelines leave a wide range of interpretation, which can lead to different estimates of the level of defectiveness.