Textile reinforced concrete (TRC) is a promising high-performance material that has been employed with success in new constructions, as well as a strengthening layer of existing structural components. In this work, we document the optimisation procedure of textile-based composites for new construction and for the seismic retrofitting of under-reinforced concrete elements and masonry buildings. The study, aimed at maximising the material performances avoiding waste of economic resources, was addressed by means of a series of uniaxial tensile tests conducted on a wide set of alkali-resistant (AR) glass fabrics and TRCs. The samples differed in terms of cement-based matrices, embedded textiles and addition of dispersed microfibers. The results highlight the effects of fabric characteristics and introduction of short fibres on the mechanical behaviour, proposing novel comparison parameters based upon the load bearing capacity and the deformation response of the composites. The application of simplified analytical models borrowed from the literature finally revealed the limitations of the available predictive approaches, suggesting future lines of investigation.

Textile Reinforced Mortar (TRM) is a composite made by fine grained matrix and glass fabric reinforcement. The main advantages of this material are the reinforcement orientation in the tensile stress direction, no concrete cover requirement against corrosion and the capability to produce thin and light weight elements. Special attention was given by researchers to the time dependent loss in strength of AR-glass reinforcement embedded in a cement based matrix. Some research has shown durability models to calculate the amount to the strength loss related to material, humidity and temperature. Nevertheless, the behaviour of TRM when exposed to high temperature requires further investigations. A suitable experimental programme was planned to investigate the behaviour of TRM when exposed to high temperatures. Uniaxial tensile tests were performed after thermal cycle on 400 mm x 70 mm specimens 6 mm thick, reinforced with 2 layer of AR-glass fabric. Several thermal thresholds (20, 200, 400 and 600°C) were considered for the mechanical characterization in fire condition. Thermal cycles were performed in an oven using a heating rate of 30°C/h up to the maximum temperature and by a cooling branch at 15°C/h after a stabilization phase at the maximum temperature.

In 2018 a collaborative project between Politecnico di Milano (PoliMI) and Regione Lombardia (RL) was launched to join forces and expertise toward the improvement of the regional transport infrastructures maintenance management. One of the project goals was the development of regional guidelines aimed to support the design and implementation of monitoring systems for bridges. The focus of this paper is on the illustration of the Monitoring Regional (MoRe) guidelines and of their implementation on nine pilot monitoring systems designed and deployed within the project. The (MoRe) guidelines tackle the entire monitoring process from the analyses of the monitoring goals and the preliminary investigations needed to the identification of the phenomena and relevant indicators to monitor, up to the selection of monitoring devices and the presentation of results. A short illustration of the permanent monitoring systems installed on nine exemplary bridges in the Lombardia region concludes the paper.

The study investigates the seismic response of the Azzone Visconti Bridge, which is a fourteenth century stone arch bridge crossing the Adda River in northern Italy. Based on previous extensive three-dimensional (3D) geometric surveys and mechanical characterization of both the soil constituting the riverbed and the masonry constituting the piers, a detailed 3D finite-element (FE) model was built. On-site ambient vibration tests have allowed dynamic characterization of the bridge. A preliminary sensitivity analysis on soil–structure interaction (SSI) parameters pointed out the key role of this boundary condition in the fitting of the mode shapes and their frequencies. Fully nonlinear dynamic analysis including the SSI have highlighted the safety levels for the structure and for the foundations.