Mathematical Problems in Engineering
Volume 2012 (2012), Article ID 495019, 18 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/495019
Research Article

Finite Element Modelling Tuned on Experimental Testing for the Structural Health Assessment of an Ancient Masonry Arch Bridge

DICAM Department, University of Bologna, Viale Risorgimento 2, 40136 Bologna, Italy

Received 22 August 2012; Accepted 30 August 2012

Academic Editor: Ivan Bartoli

Copyright © 2012 G. Castellazzi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

This paper presents the structural health assessment of a railway ancient masonry arch bridge located in Bologna, Italy. A three-dimensional finite element model of the entire bridge, tuned on in situ experimental tests, has been used for the assessment. In particular, the finite element model has been employed to evaluate the structural health of the bridge both in its actual state and in the hypothesis of a structural strengthening intervention.