An innovative strengthening system for dapped-end beams is studied numerically and experimentally in this paper. The system is developed for the half-joint regions of bridge beams also commonly called “gerber saddles”, but it can be adapted to different scenarios. The strengthening system consists of two steel plates that are clamped on both sides of the webs of the beams by means of bolts. The purpose of the system is to transfer the highest possible amount of shear from the concrete webs to the steel plate elements reducing the resistance demand of the concrete half joint. Shear is transferred by friction from concrete to steel plates. The system is designed to be applied on existing bridges without heavy work interesting the carriageway, therefore reducing the interference with the traffic. Some interesting considerations emerge from the study, including the influence of the flange web connection on the structural behavior and the possible presence of brittle failure mechanisms that are difficult to model numerically using f.e.m. simulations.

The data from a laboratory test on two aluminum rods are analyzed in this work. The rods are subjected to environmental excitation in an uncontrolled environment, attempting to replicate real operational conditions of structural health monitoring with external disturbances. Different damage levels are simulated on one of the two tension rods. Three of the most frequently used OMA methods are applied to evaluate the effects of the simulated damage on the dynamic behavior of the system. The complexity of the three applied OMA methods is gradually increased. The difference between the results from the different approaches is assessed. The aim of this work is to assess the performance of the proposed OMA methods, to understand their limits, and to assess the role of environmental disturbance parameters, such as temperature, in the evaluation of the health status of structures.