Structural health monitoring and geometric survey informed by laser scanner and UAV mapping of an existing tall RC viaduct

The Ponte Lambro viaduct is located in the Como Province, and it is managed by the local public authority. The viaduct is a three-span RC tall structure with a simply supported skewed deck made by precast I-beams. It has been selected as one of the nine pilot bridges considered for design and implementation of Structural health monitoring (SHM) systems to support a joint project between Regione Lombardia and Politecnico di Milano for the definition of criteria and guidelines for maintenance and management of the regional roadway infrastructures. The SHM system consists of a set of MEMS tiltmeters aimed at continuously recording rotations of selected members. Due to limited availability of technical documentation about the bridge, a survey by laser scanner and topographic mapping using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) has been performed to obtain detailed information about the geometrical characteristics of both superstructure and tall piers to support the structural modelling, including geometrical features such as skewness and inclination of each bridge span and location of the support devices of the I-beams on the pier beam caps. This paper describes the results of the geometric survey of the viaduct and presents an update on the ongoing monitoring activities and data processing as a support to the framework for maintenance and management of the roadway infrastructure at regional scale.