Testing labs in Rivalta Scrivia

SOCIETA' INIZIATIVE NAZIONALI AUTOSTRADALI – S.I.N.A. SPA (known as SINA S.p.A.) is an engineering firm and member of the ASTM Group, one of Italy's foremost infrastructure conglomerates. SINA specializes in the study, design, construction, management, and maintenance of large-scale transportation infrastructure including motorways, railways, airports, and ports. Central to this mission is the Laboratorio Prove SINA (SINA Testing Laboratory), a dedicated materials testing facility that supports both SINA's internal engineering projects and third-party clients across the civil infrastructure sector. The laboratory is located at Strada Comunale Savonesa, 9, in Rivalta Scrivia (Alessandria province, Piedmont, Italy), near Tortona, and regularly hosts academic partners including students from the Politecnico di Torino (PoliTO) for technical training and applied research collaboration. The Laboratorio Prove SINA operates across seven primary material categories, providing a comprehensive testing scope that mirrors the diverse demands of large infrastructure projects. These categories are: cement (including Portland and specialty cement types); structural and reinforcing steel; bituminous materials (asphalt mixtures and pavement binders); soil (geotechnical characterization and behavior assessment); rock (geological and geomechanical evaluation); surface coatings and protective systems; and synthetic geo-materials, encompassing geosynthetics such as geotextiles, geomembranes, and geogrids. This breadth of capability positions the laboratory as a single-source resource for clients whose projects involve multiple material types within a single infrastructure scheme. Cement testing covers setting times, compressive and flexural strength, fineness, and consistency in accordance with EN standards widely adopted in Italian and European practice. Steel testing encompasses mechanical characterization including tensile strength, yield strength, elongation, and bend tests performed on reinforcing bars, structural profiles, and welded connections. Bituminous materials testing addresses binder extraction and recovery, Marshall stability and flow, void content, dynamic stiffness moduli, and resistance to permanent deformation (rutting) — parameters critical to pavement quality control on road and motorway projects. Soil testing includes grain-size analysis, Atterberg limits, standard and modified Proctor compaction, California Bearing Ratio (CBR), shear strength, and consolidation parameters essential for foundation design and earthwork verification under Italian technical standards and Eurocodes. Rock and geomechanical testing supports geological investigations required for tunnels, cuttings, slopes, and deep foundations, covering point load strength index, uniaxial compressive strength, and petrographic characterization. Coating and surface protection testing verifies adhesion, dry-film thickness, corrosion resistance, and substrate compatibility — particularly relevant for bridge and viaduct maintenance programs where protective systems must comply with EN ISO 12944 requirements. Geosynthetics testing assesses tensile properties, hydraulic transmissivity, puncture and tear resistance, and long-term durability of reinforcement and filtration products in accordance with applicable EN ISO geosynthetics standards. Together, these capabilities span the full spectrum of civil construction materials encountered across road, rail, port, and airport infrastructure projects. Beyond laboratory materials testing, the Laboratorio Prove SINA operates within SINA's broader Diagnostics division, which integrates non-destructive testing (NDT) and special structural inspections with materials characterization. SINA presented its NDT methodologies and approaches to special bridge inspections at the 14th European Conference on Non-Destructive Testing (ECNDT), held at Veronafiere in June 2026, reflecting active engagement with the international state of the art in infrastructure diagnostics. This integrated offering — combining laboratory analysis of extracted samples with in-situ NDT, structural health monitoring, and maintenance planning — positions SINA as a particularly capable partner for complex rehabilitation and condition-assessment mandates on aging infrastructure assets. The Laboratorio Prove SINA holds accreditation from ACCREDIA (Italy's national accreditation body and a signatory to the EA Multilateral Agreement) in accordance with UNI CEI EN ISO/IEC 17025:2018, the internationally recognized standard for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories. This accreditation confirms that the laboratory's management system, personnel competence, measurement traceability, and uncertainty estimation meet rigorous, independently audited requirements. SINA's broader quality management system is underpinned by further certifications including UNI EN ISO 9001:2015 (quality management), UNI EN ISO 14001:2015 (environmental management), UNI EN ISO 45001:2018/2023 (occupational health and safety), ISO 37001 (anti-corruption management), and UNI/PdR 74:2019 (BIM management system). SINA's project portfolio encompasses Italy's most strategically significant infrastructure assets: the Turin–Milan motorway corridor (Autostrada A4 TO-MI), the Port of Taranto (Porto di Taranto), the Naples Metro (Metropolitana di Napoli), and Naples International Airport (Aeroporto di Napoli), among many others. This depth of project experience means the laboratory's technical staff are intimately familiar with the materials quality requirements, specification frameworks, and acceptance criteria applied on major Italian public-works contracts, including those governed by the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport (MIT) and the Italian Council of Public Works (Consiglio Superiore dei Lavori Pubblici). For procurement managers, project engineers, and quality assurance professionals in the European civil infrastructure sector, the Laboratorio Prove SINA represents a well-accredited, technically specialized resource with verifiable expertise in construction materials testing across all major civil material families. Its embedding within a large engineering group with decades of delivery across highways, railways, ports, and airports gives it direct operational familiarity with the technical standards and contractual frameworks that govern large infrastructure projects, making it a credible and experienced testing partner for highway authorities, railway operators, port developers, and airport construction programs throughout Italy and Europe.