Development of a road bridge digital twin for simulating traffic loadings

The bridge over the Venoge, built in 1966 and extended in 1997, is a composite bridge located on the highway between Lausanne and Geneva. The aim of this thesis will be to develop a digital twin of this bridge, which consist of a digital representation as realistic as possible of the real structure by means of a connection with the real structute and an efficient data processing. The project will contribute to understand what are the steps and challenges to have a numerical model as close as possible to the real one and what are the most important parameters to consider. To obtain this digital twin, a BIM model of the bridge will first be built and then, using strain gauges and visual inspection of the bridge, the BIM model will be transformed into a digital twin. The results obtained show that the increase in concrete strength with age as well as the properties of the steel-concrete composite connection are the most critical parameters in order to reproduce as closely as possible the behavior of the real bridge. This project also aims at showing how to integrate such a model in the engineer’s daily life by inspection of the bridge and checking the structural fatigue by integrating an updated traffic load.