The goal of this project is to develop a systematic framework for the probabilistic assessment of the impact of climate change on the structural health of existing bridges, by coupling climate risk evaluation and health monitoring techniques. Basically, we intend to integrate existing procedures for the assessment of climate change threats into the Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of bridges, leading to a climate-aware SHM framework.
Additionally, this project intends to present the latest technological updates on the SHM of bridges to the scientific community, technical staff of consultancy companies and public entities in Portugal and Norway, as well as to promote technological advances and business initiatives around the life-cycle management of bridges.
Various activities are planned under the ClimaBridge Project, namely: two three-day workshops (Lisbon and Oslo), a joint course on SHM, long-term monitoring of an existing railway bridge, several scientific meetings and a one-day conference.
Main conclusions: The project successfully delivered an integrated framework for assessing and supporting the adaptation of existing bridges to climate change, combining climate risk evaluation with SHM. The resulting methodology, including a general procedure for coupling climate modeling and SHM, was published in the Journal of Bridge Engineering (ASCE) in the paper “A roadmap for an integrated assessment approach for climate change adaptation of concrete bridges.” Knowledge transfer and engagement with the scientific community, infrastructure managers, public authorities, and industry were further promoted through a workshop in Lisbon, particularly the seminar “A Road for Adaptation of Bridges to Climate Change,” which discussed climate risks, adaptation measures, and strategies for bridge management and design. Although the planned workshop in Oslo could not be organized, the project generated important scientific outputs and contributed to advancing the discussion on climate-resilient bridge management.