The Musmeci bridge was built in Potenza, southern Italy, in 1975 and is named after its designer Sergio Musmeci. It has an innovative shape with a curved reinforced concrete membrane designed to work in compression, with a reinforced concrete box girder on top. The focus of this case study is on the expansion joints in the box girder, which are deteriorating due to deicing salts and insufficient water drainage with consequential chloride induced corrosion. This detail has a critical role in the global structural capacity.
Object description
The Musmeci bridge was built in Potenza, southern Italy, in 1975 and is named after its designer Sergio Musmeci. It has an innovative shape with a curved reinforced concrete membrane designed to work in compression, with a reinforced concrete box girder on top. The focus of this case study is on the expansion joints in the box girder, which are deteriorating due to deicing salts and insufficient water drainage with consequential chloride induced corrosion. This detail has a critical role in the global structural capacity.
Civil engineering type
:
Year of construction
:
1975
Composed of materials
:
Location coordinates
:
40° 37' 38.67" N, 15° 48' 23.03" E
Country
:
Loading map...
{"minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"mappingservice":"leaflet","width":"auto","height":"350px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"zoom":false,"defzoom":6,"layers":["OpenStreetMap"],"image layers":[],"overlays":[],"resizable":false,"fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":true,"cluster":false,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clustermaxradius":80,"clusterspiderfy":true,"geojson":"","clicktarget":"","imageLayers":[],"locations":[{"text":"\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"mw-parser-output\"\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMusmeci bridge\n\u003C/p\u003E\u003C/div\u003E\u003C/b\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"mw-parser-output\"\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Musmeci bridge was built in Potenza, southern Italy, in 1975 and is named after its designer Sergio Musmeci. It has an innovative shape with a curved reinforced concrete membrane designed to work in compression, with a reinforced concrete box girder on top. The focus of this case study is on the expansion joints in the box girder, which are deteriorating due to deicing salts and insufficient water drainage with consequential chloride induced corrosion. This detail has a critical role in the global structural capacity.\n\u003C/p\u003E\u003C/div\u003E","title":"Musmeci bridge\n","link":"","lat":40.627408333333335,"lon":15.806397222222222,"icon":"/images/imsafe/c/c8/Blue-marker.png"}],"imageoverlays":null}
Object analysis
A mechano-chemical analysis was carried out to assess corrosion in the reinforcement induced by chlorides. No measurements on chloride content or corrosion were conducted, but parameters describing the corrosion process were instead taken from literature. The mechanical behaviour was analysed in the FE-program ATHENA. The proposed failure mechanism was crushing of concrete due to diagonal cracking in the upper part of the joint.
Object state
Dynamic response analysis was available from earlier studies and was used to verify the mechanical model. Concrete strength was evaluated from cores drilled at non-critical locations of the girder, other parameters were assumed from design documentation and literature.
Observed deterioration processes
:
Observed damage types
:
Performance indicators
:
Material mechanical properties
Images
Documents
This case study was contributed by Frida Liljefors of Norwegian University Of Science And Technology. Last edited by technical staff.
