Structural Health Assessment of Bridges during and after FLOOD events

2026-07-22

"The project ""Structural Health Assessment of Bridges during and after FLOOD events"" (FLOOD-SHAB) aims to investigate the structural behaviour of critical infrastructures such as bridges, focusing on the studying and assessing the structural response of bridges during and after flood events. The main objective is to improve the understanding of bridge structural behaviour under various health conditions and enhance the capacity to detect structural damage caused by component failure or foundation scouring. Climate changes increasingly impact our life. It has become less predictable. Droughts, floods, and new temperature records are becoming more common worldwide, including in Europe. The rising global temperature intensifies the water cycle, which increases wet and dry extremes and affects the critical infrastructure essential for the functioning of a society and economy. Due to their significance, bridges need protection from potential hazards, including natural disasters and ageing. The increased water levels result in the additional force from fast-moving water, which can lead to structural damage, and scouring of bridge foundations. Regular inspections, continuous structural health monitoring (especially during flood events), and maintenance programs are vital to ensure bridges' structural integrity and safety. The bridge monitoring research focuses around addressing the challenges of data capture and data interpretation. In the aspect of floodings, there is a lack of knowledge about correct measuring techniques and data interpretation for these instantaneous phenomena. By comprehensive data collection of bridges’ structural behaviour on-site for the selected local case studies (at least 2 bridges) and further rigorous analysis, interpretation, and wide numerical simulations, the patterns and trends in the bridges’ structural behaviour, especially during and after flood events, and feature thresholds will be defined and established."

Italy

2025-10-01