A comparison of the UK and Italian national risk-based guidelines for assessing hydraulic actions on bridges

Pregnolato, Maria; Giordano, Pier Francesco; Panici, Diego; Prendergast, Luke J.; Pina Limongelli, Maria

Abstract

This paper compares the application of two recently published guidance documents for risk-based assessment of hydraulic actions on bridges, namely the UK Design Manual for Roads and Bridges and the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport’s Guidelines, to two case study bridges (Staverton Bridge, UK; Borgoforte Bridge, Italy). This work is one of the first to illustrate how to apply these guidelines. Both documents present risk-based methods for the assessment of hydraulic actions, while exhibiting fundamental differences. For example, the UK method prescribes calculations for local and constriction scour, water depth, and velocity at several cross-sections; by comparison, the Italian method does not prescribe calculations to assess the risk level. For the case studies in this paper, the hydraulic risk obtained for Staverton Bridge resulted as ‘High’ using both methods. The scour score for the Borgoforte Bridge resulted higher using the Italian method (Medium-High), as compared to the UK approach (Medium). This difference is due to how the guidelines assess the vulnerability associated with the minimum clearance. The comparison of these two risk-based approaches and the resulting discussion may serve as a useful resource for those wishing to develop new risk-based methods for assessing hydraulic actions on bridges.

Citation

Pregnolato, M., Giordano, P. F., Panici, D., Prendergast, L. J., & Pina Limongelli, M. (2024). A comparison of the UK and Italian national risk-based guidelines for assessing hydraulic actions on bridges. Structure and Infrastructure Engineering, 20(1), 117-130. https://doi.org/10.1080/15732479.2022.2081709

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 10, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Jun 3, 2022
• Publication Date: 2024
• Deposit Date: Mar 11, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 4, 2023
• Journal: Structure and Infrastructure Engineering
• Print ISSN: 1573-2479
• Electronic ISSN: 1744-8980
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 20
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 117-130
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15732479.2022.2081709
• Keywords: bridge scour; risk; hydraulic actions; infrastructure asset management; guidance documents 49
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/7571982
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15732479.2022.2081709