Italy bridge designer warned in 1979 of risk of corrosion
ROME — The Italian engineer who designed the Genoa bridge that collapsed and killed dozens warned four decades ago it would require constant maintenance to remove rust given the effects of corrosion from sea air and pollution on the concrete.
RAI state television broadcast excerpts Sunday of the report that the late engineer Riccardo Morandi penned in 1979, 12 years after the bridge bearing his name was inaugurated in Genoa.
At the time of writing, Morandi said there was already a “well-known loss of superficial chemical resistance of the concrete” because of sea air and pollution from a nearby steel plant. He said he chose to write about it because the degradation represented a particular “perplexity” given the “aggressivity” of the corrosion that wasn’t seen in similar structures in different environments.
Morandi reaffirmed the soundness of the reinforced concrete bridge design he used but warned: “Sooner or later, maybe in a few years, it will be necessary to resort to a treatment consisting of the removal of all traces of rust on the exposure of the reinforcements, to fill in the patches.”
He recommended using an epoxy resin to cover the reinforcements with materials “of a very high chemical resistance.”
A huge section of the bridge collapsed Aug. 14 during a fierce storm, killing 43 people and forcing the evacuation of nearby residents in the densely built-up area.
The cause is under investigation, and a team of engineers has been appointed by the ministry of infrastructure.