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Following the recent collapse of a cable‐stayed bridge in Genoa, Italy, an interest has arisen to understand if it would have been possible for unknown localised material deterioration and/or decrease in prestress levels to introduce noticeable changes in the dynamic behaviour of RC stays. As such, in this study we start by reviewing past research work, experimental and analytical, on the effects that prestress level may or may not have on the dynamic response of RC beam elements. We then review also available analytical formulations used to determine the natural frequency of vibration of prestressed beams, and, subsequently, complete the preliminary investigation on the effects of prestress levels, and local damage, through the analysis of finite element models of prestressed beams and stays. The comparison of analytical and numerical estimations with results obtained from an in‐situ dynamic characterisation campaign on a RC bridge stay is also undertaken. In the second part of the study, we explicitly consider the Morandi bridge case‐study, for which finite element models of the stays alone, as well as of the full bridge, are developed and analysed. The obtained results are then also compared with the observations made in pre‐collapse in situ dynamic characterisation endeavours. All results obtained and discussed lead to the conclusion that, most regrettably, dynamic characterisation endeavours do not have the capability of providing insight on possible localised material deterioration or partial reduction of the average state of compression in this type of structural elements.

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