Sensitivity analysis of bridge structural vulnerability class based on Italian Guidelines

Optimal management of existing bridges over their service life is critical for infrastructure owners and practitioners who are called to guarantee adequate structural and functional performance of the transportation network they administrate. Documental analysis and visual inspections are valuable data supporting the decision-making process. A valuable support in the Italian context is provided by the “Guidelines for risk classification and management, safety assessment and monitoring of existing bridges” introduced in 2020. The guidelines promote a multi-hazard approach based on Attention Classes (ACs) defined from the combination of risk indicators regarding operating conditions from different perspectives, such as structural, seismic, hydraulic, and geological. This paper is aimed at providing a sensitivity analysis regarding the Structural Vulnerability Class (VC) defined by the Guidelines, with the aim of investigating the impact of epistemic uncertainties inherently biasing the bridge assessment, such as expert judgement subjectivity and missing historical data and asbuilt documentation.