Raimondo Betti

His main interests range from the development of numerical algorithms for the identification of high-fidelity models of buildings and bridges to the development of methodologies for the assessment of the internal conditions of main cables of suspension bridges and for the estimation of their remaining strength. 

In the area of structural system identification, Betti works in developing computer algorithms that use the recorded response of buildings and bridges to natural excitation (e.g. wind, earthquake, traffic) to determine numerical models of buildings and bridges that can be used either for future structural response prediction or for damage assessment. Today, modern buildings and bridges are built with a large number of built-in sensors that record the motion of the structures (e.g. acceleration, displacements) at various locations. Betti has developed a variety of novel techniques that analyze these data in order to obtain models that are representative of the actual conditions of the structure. By comparing models of the same structure corresponding to different times it is possible to locate and estimate the extent of structural damage, without this being visible to the naked eye.

In the area of condition assessment of main cables of suspension bridges, Betti has developed a multi-sensor network that can be installed in the interior of a main cable of a suspension bridge. These cables are made by tens of thousands of high-strength steel wires and are very difficult (and expensive) to inspect. The sensor network developed by Betti and his team measures environmental quantities like temperature and relative humidity, as well as corrosion rates at various depths in the cross section, and provides continuous monitoring of the cable conditions. By using these recorded data, Betti and his team have developed methodologies that are capable of estimating the remaining strength of such cables over many years of service.

Betti received a Laurea (Magna cum laude) in civil engineering from the Universita’ degli Studi di Roma, “La Sapienza” (Italy) in 1985 and a PhD in civil engineering from the University of Southern California, in 1991. He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and serves on the Board of Governors of the International Association of Structural Control and Monitoring. He also serves as Expert Advisor for Bridge Monitoring and Cable Corrosion for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 

Research Areas

• Structural Engineering
• Wind Engineering
• Resilience and Risk Analysis
• Smart Cities (Infrastructure)
• Sustainable Infrastructure
• Robotics and Automation
• Dynamics and Vibrations
• Computational Mechanics
• Dynamic Behavior of Structures
• Structural Health Monitoring