The Partial Collapse of the Italia Viaduct

Abstract

On 2 March 2015, one span of the so-called “Italia Viaduct”, the second highest bridge in Europe, collapsed during some renovation works, killing one worker. This article describes in detail the forensic investigations developed by the authors acting as technical consultants (i.e. expert witnesses) to the Public Prosecutor. In cases similar to that under study, it is very common that the collapse is disproportionate to the original cause. Hence, in the investigation, a clear distinction between the triggering cause and the causes of the damage evolution was made. The purpose of the investigations was not only to determine the causes of such a collapse but also to give the Public Prosecutor sufficient data to identify the parties responsible. The aim of the article is also to discuss the methodology used for the investigations and the relevant results in order to trace general criteria useful for forensic structural investigations.

Keywords:

• forensic structural engineering
• structural failure
• structural collapse
• investigation
• bridge
• reinforced concrete
• post-tensioned concrete

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Giacomo Alicino, Francesco Saverio Cafagna, Giovanni Laterza, Pasquale Perilli and Massimiliano Scuro, who collaborated on the technical investigations, Geotek Plus S.r.l. for the terrestrial laser-scanning surveys, and Tecnoprove S.r.l. for the on-site and laboratory tests.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, Fabrizio Palmisano, upon reasonable request.