Structural monitoring<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The theme of structural monitoring<\/strong> is closely connected with the risk management related to the entire life cycle of a civil infrastructure<\/strong> and has recently returned to the limelight of the news and political actions after the collapse of the Morandi Bridge in Genoa. Following this terrible incident, Legislative Decree No. 430\/2019<\/strong> entered into force on 21 November 2019, Morandi Decree, which established a National Computer Archive of Public Works and legislated a system of control of Italian public works throughout their life cycle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The regulatory development regarding the safety of civil infrastructure has been the engine of a strong push to technological innovation and today the professionals in the sector have more and more advanced tools and technologies able to monitor the status of health of a work and that allow you to plan targeted maintenance and conservation of the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To date, in the field of non-destructive testing, dynamic testing<\/strong> is used to assess the behaviour of civil infrastructures<\/strong> as fully as possible, throughout the life cycle of the work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The dynamic tests allow to evaluate and verify the design hypotheses, ensure during testing if the work meets the requirements of safety and reliability, identify in operation if there is structural damage that affects the static structure of a structure. The dynamic method allows to evaluate how a structure reacts to continuous dynamic actions<\/strong> such as loads, accelerations, speeds, vibrations and oscillations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In essence, the dynamic tests give a general picture of the structural integrity of the work and provide an important parameter for evaluating its degradation and safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this regard, Non-Destructive Controls<\/strong> have a decisive role in structural diagnostics<\/strong> and monitoring of civil works. The Non-destructive Controls are non-invasive techniques and procedures, that is, such as not to compromise the functionality, used for the purpose of evaluating the physical conditions of a material<\/strong> and through which it is possible to detect any discontinuities in the object under assessment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n More generally and with respect to the subject we have discussed so far, Non Destructive Controls are used in the civil sector in order to assess integrity and reliability, improve the design process, identify possible maintenance interventions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The main non-destructive diagnostic techniques<\/strong> are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Non-Destructive Tests are therefore all those examinations and reliefs that allow to ascertain, measure structural discontinuities and possible defects<\/strong>, without compromising the integrity of the work under examination. This type of investigation can be carried out on different materials, metallic and non-metallic. One of the most important aspects of structural monitoring, conservation and durability of civil structures, concerns concrete surveys<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The aging and degradation of concrete works<\/strong> is a real emergency in our country and for this reason, in the field of non-destructive tests, concrete tests<\/strong> have a primary role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the concrete construction the structural elements undergo the degradation of time and the tests on the material, for example through ultrasound tomography<\/strong>, allow you to inspect the internal structure, identify cavities, gaps, cracks, delaminations, filling inclusions and leaks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The GPR methodology<\/strong> is also used in concrete structural surveys to monitor uniformity and assess the stability of concrete walls or floors. Another important parameter in the investigations concerning concrete is the assessment of its resistance. For this purpose, pull-out tests<\/strong> are carried out which consist in the extraction of a post plug inserted connected to an oleodynamic jack driven by a hydraulic pump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Among the tests on masonry<\/strong> are also widely used sonic tests<\/strong> through the propagation of mechanical waves and the measurement of their speed return a qualitative data on the consistency of the masonry, the presence of any discontinuities such as voids or fractures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Non-Destructive Controls are also used in the investigation of other materials such as wood and rock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rock tests <\/strong>are carried out to determine the characteristics of permeability, deformability, resistance and elasticity of the rock<\/strong>; through ultrasonic instruments, digital radiography or GPR methodology, it is possible to detect defects, cracks, cavities, voids and inclusions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The detection of the state of health and conservation of wooden structures<\/strong> also has a specific field of non-destructive investigation: non-destructive tests on wood<\/strong> allow to measure the resistance, the deformability, bending and other mechanical characteristics of the object under analysis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The load test is a Non-Destructive Test that allows to evaluate the behavior of structural element<\/strong>s such as beams, slabs, roofs, wooden structures and roads, railways and viaducts, subjecting them to stresses with loads in operation.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The load test may be carried out in two modes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The control of the foundation poles<\/strong> is also a decisive aspect in the control of the behaviour of the load-bearing structural elements<\/strong>. Surveys of foundation piles may be carried out during the project phase on pilot piles, during testing and during operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A common methodology for assessing the quality of foundation poles is the cross-hole<\/strong>, a tomographic technique that uses ultrasound and measures the speed of wave propagation in the investigated object, returning a very accurate and detailed integrity check.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe dynamic tests<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Non-Destructive Controls<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhat are non-destructive tests and what are they for<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The non-destructive diagnostic techniques<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Non destructive Controls: Material Investigations<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Non-destructive tests: load tests<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Non-Destructive Controls: Foundation Poles<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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