Dynamic Monitoring of the Vespucci Bridge in Florence

West Virginia is home to numerous bridges in need of closer oversight, with nearly 1 in 5 identified as requiring targeted structural improvements.

The Zambeccari bridge in Pontremoli was built in the early 1900s on the Verde stream. It is a reinforced concrete bridge developed on two spans of the same length. In May 2020, the closure to both vehicular and pedestrian traffic is ordered for structural checks. The objective of the temporary closure of the structure is to clarify the state of health of the bridge and its structural degradation. After verifying the state of the Zambeccari bridge by the Vega Engineering Company, the structure was reopened with a reduced carriageway. Vega has prepared, with the approval of the municipality, the insertion of a continuous and remote structural monitoring system.

The Vespucci bridge is one of the central bridges of Florence that allows you to join the San Frediano district to the rest of the city, separated by the Arno river. It is a structure in c.a.p. arch divided into 3 spans, with an overall length of 162m. Designed by Riccardo Morandi and built between 1954-1957, suffers from deterioration of the concrete, like many works of the time. This deterioration has affected the two piers even more markedly, especially the one on the left (San Frediano side) due to the erosion of the riverbed by the currents of the Arno river. This structural deterioration required continuous monitoring and safety works.

The bridge located on the Scrivia river, one of the arteries of the homonymous valley, is a structure all about 160 meters long and is divided into 7 spans with lowered arches, in reinforced concrete. Built-in the early 1900s, it served as a road and rail bridge for years. In 1980 the extension of the bridge over the Scrivia (structure in reinforced concrete with slab and beams) was carried out and also a shift of the railway network to its own site, thus splitting the two uses. To monitor the health of the bridge, a wireless sensor network was installed consisting of DECK to monitor displacement and Triaxial Tiltmeter to monitor the inclination of the […]