Dynamic Assessment of a Curved Cable-Stayed Bridge at the Malpensa 2000 Airport, Milan, Italy

Theoretical and experimental investigations of a curved cable-stayed bridge are described in this paper. Full-scale tests were conducted to measure the dynamic response of the bridge, and two excitation techniques were considered: traffic-induced ambient vibrations and free vibrations. Since the modal behaviour identified from the two types of tests correlated very well, the validity of the ambient vibration survey is assessed in view of future monitoring. In the theoretical study, vibration modes were determined by means of a three-dimensional finite-element model of the bridge and the information obtained from the field tests provided a detailed assessment and validation of the model formulation and accuracy.