Structural Retrofit of Footbridge with Composite Materials

The objective of this study is to analyze the resistance and ductility increase following a structural improvement with various composite materials on a pedestrian footbridge. Footbridge is located in the city of Potenza (South of Italy), designed and built in the 1960s and made up of nine trestles of height equal to 11.9 meters from ground level. A extensive reinforcement with composite materials was executed in order to reinforce the structure and to improve its seismic behavior. A non linear analysis was conducted before and after intervention in order to evaluate the seismic behavior of footbridge and the results are here illustrated. Structure improves sensibly its resistance and ductility without variation of mass or stiffness.