PSI - Issue 84

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

ScienceDirect

Procedia Structural Integrity 84 (2026) 1264–1269

© 2026 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the Conference Abstract The Italian Guidelines for classification and management of risk, safety assessment and monitoring of existing bridges introduce a multi-level framework which, passing from inventory surveys to visual inspections and detailed assessments, aims to make network-scale management decisions consistent and traceable. However, the operational core of the framework depends for a decisive extent on observation quality: defect classification, identification of critical elements and selection of further investigations: Attention Classes (CdA) assignment is strongly influenced by visual inspections and subsequent organization of detected deterioration signs into interpretative patterns. In this step, perceptual organization mechanisms described by different Gestalt psychology levels are often implicitly activated. The lack of explicit acknowledgement of these mechanisms may generate personal discretion, inter-inspector variability and bias, which are well documented in international literature regarding the reliability of visual inspections. In fact, while the Italian Code doesn’t provide a mandatory prescription for inspecting people, many Italian Official Agencies provide strictly request in terms of a specific training path for this people. This work proposes a “soft”, non-invasive, integration of Gestalt principles along the operational workflow of the Guidelines, pursuing three objectives: (i) to make deterioration reading more reproducible through a shared perceptual lexicon; (ii) to improve the quality of field data by adopting acquisition and representation rules consistent with grouping principles; (iii) to reduce decision uncertainty in the L0– L1–L2–L3/L4 hierarchy transition by introducing concise perceptual metadata as a quality-control layer for evaluations. A proposal of a methodological framework compatible with the current regulatory system is outlined, designed to be integrable into information archives (like AINOP Infrastructure and Sustainable Mobility Ministry Database or other BMS Bridge Management Systems) and training pathways, without modifying the multi-level structure or introducing new mandatory provisions. III Fabre Conference: Existing Bridges, Viaducts, and Tunnels: Research, Innovation, and Applications Integrating Gestalt-Based Perceptual Mechanisms into the Italian Bridge Guidelines: A Critical and Applied Analysis Regina Finocchiaro a, *, Samuele Biondi a b “Gabriele d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara, viale Pindaro 42, Pescara 65124, Italy

* Corresponding author. tel.+39.3496845638 E-mail address: regina.finocchiaro@phd.unich.it

2452-3216 © 2026 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the Conference 10.1016/j.prostr.2026.06.161