Evaluating the effect of climate change on snow load on structures

<p>As consequence of global warming extreme weather events might become more frequent and severe across the globe. The evaluation of the impact of climate change on extremes is then a crucial issue for the resilience of infrastructures and buildings and is a key challenge for adaptation planning. In this paper, a suitable procedure for the estimation of future trends of climatic actions is presented starting from the output of regional climate models and taking into account the uncertainty in the model itself. In particular, the influence of climate change on ground snow loads is discussed in detail and the typical uncertainty range is determined applying an innovative algorithm for weather generation. Considering different greenhouse gasses emission scenarios, some results are presented for the Italian Mediterranean region proving the ability of the method to define factors of change for climate extremes also allowing a sound estimate of the uncertainty range associated with different models.</p>

Roadway Deck of a Marine Terminal Facility in Egypt

<p>This paper presents the Ain Sukhna Product Hub, a marine terminal facility recently finished in the Red Sea, Egypt, including the design and construction of a 3 km long offshore roadway. Formed by 83 simply supported spans, the roadway structures are elements that can greatly impact on the construction planning. An overview of the fast track nature of design, procurement and construction of this significant offshore structure are presented, describing the main design works and construction methods and highlighting the importance of the coordination with construction team and reality of the specific conditions in the project’s country.</p>

Seismic Vulnerability Assessment of Multi Span Reinforced Concrete Bridges in Republic of Macedonia

<p>Being located in the central part of the Balkans, Republic of Macedonia has an economically strategic position for the region. Conditions of bridges are therefore significant in assessment of the entire seismic risk for the regional transportation network. This paper deals with vulnerability of road bridges typical for the Republic of Macedonia by use of an expanded multiple stripe analysis method approach. Typical bridges were selected based on an inventory study, which included statistical analyses of in situ collected data on all vital structures along the main roads and highways in the territory of the Republic of Macedonia. The results from the performed statistical analysis showed that most of these bridges represented reinforced concrete bridges with main girders. To define the vulnerability of these bridges, representative examples of variable geometrical characteristics were selected. Their values were adopted in combination with the values obtained from the statistical analysis. Vulnerability curves were obtained analytically by nonlinear dynamic analyses and use of different sets of ground motions scaled to different intensity levels. PGA was used as a measure of intensity. Based on nonlinear behaviour of the bridges and development of displacements in the bearings, four damage levels were defined. The soil-structure interaction was also taken into account in the analysis of the representative bridges. The seismic response of the typical reinforced concrete girder bridges was at an acceptable level.</p>