Structural Control and Health Monitoring Contributions to Service-life Extension of Bridges

Transportation Infrastructure networks are acknowledged as crucial for economic growth, territorial coherence, and social change. Unfortunately, some of this vast system's most important structural elements, like the bridges, are rapidly aging while the load conditions that these systems were designed to withstand are now being exceeded as a result of various threats, including natural disasters and newly discovered man-made phenomena. Considering that a large amount of the existing bridge stock was built many years ago, if countermeasures are not taken, deterioration phenomena and an increase in service conditions larger than those used in the original design may have contributed to diminishing the dependability level. Hence, it becomes crucial to evaluate the existing status of transportation infrastructure, make predictions about its future state, and safeguard it from outside threats. This contribution focuses on an in-depth investigation of the impact of Structural Control and Health Monitoring in increasing the structural resilience of transportation infrastructure and subsequently its life-cycle.