Design of effective structural health monitoring platform for Paderno d'Adda Bridge (1889)

This paper aims to outline the fundamental steps for the design of an efficient platform for Structural Health Monitoring (SHM), which shall serve as a methodological reference for an enlightened and conscious monitoring and conservation of the “state of health” of structures characterized by a significant historical and architectural value. Reference application structure is constituted by the Paderno d’Adda bridge, an impressive railway iron arch bridge built in Italy in 1889, which is still in service. The paper describes the fundamental steps for the establishment of an efficient SHM platform for the bridge, considering a multiplicity of targets, including: assessment of the current structural condition; development of consistent modeling approaches for the structural behaviour; model updating based on measuring; fatigue prediction and predictive approaches for life-cycle management. The outcome of this work shall display a rather broad impact, extending to efficient management of architectural masterpieces, in terms of their effective, long-lasting preservation.