IF articles

The Santhià viaduct on the Turin-Novara

section of the high-speed, high-capacity Turin-Venice railway

line, which has been in function since February 2006,

is composed of 25 and 20.50 m spans, simply supported

on the piers, for a total length of 3,783 m; the deck is made

of single-cast box girder. The measurements of the track

level carried out evidenced a particular trend in longitudinal

level along the viaduct, with depressions over the piers

and peaks at the centres of the spans. This phenomenon

was attributed to the fact that the curing times of the concrete

before regulation of the track were so reduced that

part of the viscous deformation of the deck, that relative

to pre-compression and self weight, occurred after the

track was laid. This phenomenon is illustrated herein, and

an analytical evaluation of the abovementioned hypothesis

was carried out by definition of creep curves from the

most evolved international technical regulations. Finally,

an evaluation of any future repercussions on the use of

the structure was carried out.